Abstract
Young people's attitudes towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are subject to interpersonal influence of significant persons—defined as those who influence a person's attitudes. This article presents the development of an instrument designed to measure different modes of significant persons’ influence on attitudes towards STEM. The questionnaire used in the pilot study was compiled based on Woelfel and Haller's theoretical perspectives on interpersonal influence, Nauta and Kokaly's instrument Influence of Others on Academic and Career Decisions Scale, and focus group interviews with Norwegian adolescents in an STEM mentoring programme. Drawing on Rasch analyses of data material from the 114 participants in the pilot study, the final instrument—Significant Person Influence on Attitudes towards STEM (SPIAS)—is presented. Based on results from the piloting and development of SPIAS, a conceptual discussion of significant persons and the ways they influence attitudes towards STEM is given, and it is suggested that SPIAS may be used in the process of evaluating and improving interventions aimed at changing adolescents’ attitudes towards STEM.
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