Turkish adaptation of questionnaire on attitudes towards engineers and scientists

Abstract

The aim of this research was to present the Turkish adaptation of the survey for Middle-School Students’ Attitudes toward Engineers and Scientists prepared by Lyons, Fralick and Kearn (2009) 32 items in a 5-point Likert type scale. The questionnaire was administered to 707 students receiving education in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades in state schools in the Ministry of National Education. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used to examine the structural validity of the questionnaire. SPSS 21 and LISREL 8.7 software were used for EFA and CFA, respectively. A structure consisting of 22 items and two factors, and accounting for 41.88% of total variance was obtained after the EFA. To evaluate the questionnaire’s reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha internal consistency coefficient, corrected-item total correlation and the significance of differences between item averages of meta-groups and subgroups (27%) were evaluated using t-test. Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be .83 for the overall questionnaire. As a result of the study, the Turkish adaptation of the questionnaire, prepared for determination of secondary school students’ attitudes towards scientists and engineers, was conducted and a valid and reliable measurement tool was obtained.