Internal Construct Validity and Reliability of a Quality of School Life Instrument Across Nationality and School Level

Abstract

A multi-scale quality of life instrument, initially designed for use in Australian high schools, was used to collect data on the quality of school life of students in Australian and Louisianian high schools and a Louisianian university. The internal construct validity and reliability of each of the six subscales across these three contexts was investigated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis procedures. The results indicate that all six of the subscales show internal construct validity and acceptable reliability across the three contexts, but that there is some variation in the reliability itself. The relevance of these findings to research making cross-cultural and cross-level comparisons of attitudes is discussed.