A Scale Development Study: The Evaluative Scale of Data-Based Management in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to assess the data-based management applications in education through the perceptions of school administrators. We live in the age of information and data serves as the main source of information. Therefore, data-based management is regarded as an important component of educational management practices today as it can add also to the effectiveness and efficiency of the management practices in education. In this regard, the scale developed through this study can play an important role for the evaluation as well as the improvement of the ongoing data-based management processes in education. The draft scale was formed of 55 items which were set through a detailed literature review. The data was collected in two phases, the first for exploratory factor analysis with participants of 227 school administrators and the second for the confirmatory factor analysis with 313 administrators. It was found out that the scale was formed of 21 items and two factors which were named as “data literacy and management” and “data-based management”.