The Turkish Adaptation of the Statistics Anxiety Scale for Graduate Students

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to adapt the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS) developed for graduate students by Faber, Drexler, Stappert and Eichhorn to Turkish. The research was carried out on 375 students attending graduate education in any field in Turkey. In the study, construct validity of the SAS was investigated via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Parallel analysis method was also used in making decision about factor number of the scale. In the EFA and parallel analysis, a unidimensional structure was obtained in line with the results acquired in the factor analysis of the original form of the SAS. However; since the original form of the SAS was designed by foreseeing a three-dimensional structure of worry, avoidance and emotionality, both unidimensional and three-dimensional structures were tested in CFA. The fit indices reported in CFA were found to be within acceptable limits for both models. In the reliability analysis, Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated as .91 for the whole scale, and it was found to be .91, .83, and .91 for worry, avoidance and emotionality dimensions, respectively. It was determined that item correlations exceed the lower limit of .30 for all items in the scale. Ferguson Delta statistic, which provide evidence for the discriminatory power of the entire scale, was determined as .98. These results suggest that the Turkish form of the SAS yields valid and reliable measures.