Scale development and validation study on the using YouTube as a learning environment in secondary education according to the technology acceptance model

Abstract

In today's technologies, in line with the needs of the age, social platforms have taken their place in education with increasing importance day by day. Especially in the pandemic process, which requires distance education, the tendency to social media has increased. Therefore, the attitudes of secondary school students towards the use of YouTube for learning purposes have gained importance. For this reason, it is aimed to develop the YouTube Usage Scale (YUS), which can be used to determine secondary school students' attitudes toward YouTube use. Thus, in the study, it was foreseen to determine the behavioral intentions of secondary school students to use YouTube as a Learning Resource and to reveal the factors affecting this behavioral intention. The research population consists of all secondary school students studying in the Malazgirt district of Muş province, located in the eastern part of Turkey, in the 2018-2019 academic year. The sample of the study is represented by 644 students selected by the random sampling method. The content validity of the YUS was provided by expert opinion. The construct validity was validated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For content validity, a 47-item draft YUS was submitted to the opinion of a group of 14 experts in the field. The content validity of the 42-item YUS was ensured. In the construct validity studies of YUS, EFA was performed with a total of 644 secondary school students studying in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. CFA was carried out with the participation of 311 secondary school students excluding the EFA sample group. EFA showed that YUS consisted of 4 sub-dimensions and 25 items. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.91 in the reliability analysis of YUS. Also, in reliability studies, it was determined that the subscales had summability and no response bias. The fit-order between the four-factor structure determined as a result of EFA and the sample data was examined using the AMOS 24.0 program within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). First- and second-order confirmatory analysis models were used in the data-model fit calculations. As a result of the study, the validity and reliability of the 24-items YUS scale were produced. Thus, the structures explaining the behavioral factors of secondary school students were defined, and the relationship of these structures with other factors was determined.