Psychometric properties of the spatial skills self-efficacy scale: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable spatial skills self-efficacy scale for middle school students. To this end, the study sampled 5th-, 6th-, 7th-, and 8-grade students in the spring term of the 2021–2022 academic year. The data were collected from 1369 students for the pilot study and the validity and reliability analysis to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale. Twenty-five subject matter experts were asked for opinions and Lawshe's content validity ratio (1975) was used to measure the content validity of the scale. The results of the exploratory factor analysis conducted for the construct validity yielded a four-factor structure consisting of seventeen items, which accounted for 41.37 % of the total variance. The factor loadings of the scale items ranged from 0.41 to 0.75. When the fit indices of the model were examined as a result of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, it was determined that the firstorder multifactor structure were within the excellent or acceptable value ranges. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.77 for the total scale. The results of the independent samples t-test for the upper and lower 27 % groups showed a significant difference between the groups for all scale items. The correlation coefficients of the subscales with one another and with the total scale showed significant positive moderate and high correlations. The test–retest reliability coefficients also showed significant positive moderate and high correlations. These results indicate that the Spatial Skills Self-Efficacy Scale is a measurement tool that produces valid and reliable measurements and can be used to determine the spatial skills self-efficacy of middle school students.