Belief scale towards learning : Study of validity and reliability

Abstract

The aim of this research was to develop a measurement tool for determining teachers’ beliefs towards learning and also to examine the psychometric properties of the scale. The study group of research consists of 233 teachers who work at primary school in the city centre of Gaziantep during the First Semester of 2011-2012 Academic Year. Content validity of the scale was provided via expert judgment. Exploratory Factor Analyses were done for construct validity. Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that there were 34 items in the scales loaded under 4 factors. Identified factors were named as “Social constructivism”, “Traditional”, “Cognitive Constructivism” and “Radical constructivism”. As for in the scope of reliability study for Belief Scale towards Learning, the reliability coefficient that is obtained by Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient and split-half method has been examined. As a result of reliability analysis, the internal coefficient is determined as .86 for “Traditional Constructivist” subscale, .85 for “Social constructivist” subscale, .74 for “Cognitive constructivist” subscale and .73 for “Radical constructivist” subscale. 85. The reliability coefficients for subscales assessed by the way of split-half method are .77 for social constructivist subscale, .84 for traditional subscale, .66 for cognitive constructivist subscale, and .67 for radical constructivist subscale. These results indicate Belief Scale towards Learning is at the level of sufficient reliability. Corrected item-total correlations ranged .27 to .68, and according to t-test results differences between each item’s means of upper 27% and lower 27% points were significant. Based on these results, it can be concluded that belief scale towards learning can be used as a valid and reliable tool for determining the beliefs of teachers towards learning.