Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Online Education Student Satisfaction Scale: A Methodological Study.

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Assessing student satisfaction is essential in evaluating the quality of education. The number of valid and reliable tools that measure students' satisfaction with online education is limited. This methodological study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the online education student satisfaction scale. Methods: Eleven academicians from the nursing field provided expert opinions on content validity. Separate 25 students evaluated the language clarity of the draft scale. The study sample included 525 third- and fourth-year nursing students. Finally, a group of 30 nursing students different from the sample participated in the test-retest. The study created an item pool based on the recent literature. The researchers calculated the items' content validity rates and the scale's content validity index by taking the experts' opinions. In addition, item-total score correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, discrimination analysis, stability test, and internal consistency analysis were performed. Results: An item with a low-correlation value was excluded from the scale. The correlation coefficients of the remained items were between .536 and .811. In the second round of exploratory factor analysis, a five-factor structure emerged that explained 72.1% of the total variance. In addition, item discrimination, stability, and internal consistency test results ensured that the scale was valid and reliable. Conclusions: The online education student satisfaction scale with five subdimensions containing 28 items is a valid and reliable tool. Researchers, educators, and managers may use it to evaluate students' satisfaction with online education.