An attitude scale about graduate education: Reliability and validity study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to determine prospective teachers’ attitudes towards graduate education. For this reason the draft form with 44 items was applied on 685 prospective teachers being educated at Education Faculty at Mersin University. Exploratory factor analysis studies based on Varimax rotation revealed the scale had a structure with single factor and 4 components called as self-improvement, negative feelings, wishfulness and behavioral representation. Relating to the whole scale, Cronbach alpha reliability parameter was found as .939, and reliability parameters were found as . 909; .850; .835 and .821, respectively. Four components altogether explained 57,171% of the variance. The findings of the analysis done to determine whether any differentiation arose on their attitudes according to gender, department, etc. were accepted as the proof of scale’s validity. The findings revealed this scale was reliable and valid to determine prospective teachers’ attitudes towards graduate education.