The school science attitude survey: a new instrument for measuring attitudes towards school science

Title
The school science attitude survey: a new instrument for measuring attitudes towards school science
Publication Date
2016
Author(s)
Kennedy, JohnPaul
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8126-7086
Email: jkenne41@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jkenne41
Quinn, Frances
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3144-3416
Email: fquinn@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:fquinn
Taylor, Neil
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8438-319X
Email: ntaylor6@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ntaylor6
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Routledge
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1080/1743727x.2016.1160046
UNE publication id
une:19591
Abstract
There have been many attempts over the last five decades to measure students' attitudes towards school science. Many of these studies investigated attitudes towards limited aspects of science and utilized large numbers of items to draw snapshot summaries of the educational landscape. An understanding of attitudes towards science, and how these change over time, is of particular importance to educators in Australia and farther afield, who are forming a response to the continued declines in enrolments seen in post-compulsory science courses. We identify a gap among the available instruments for a tool that can measure multiple facets of attitudes using a minimal number of items, while being suited for use in pre-/post-test and longitudinal studies. In this article we describe the definition, validation and statistical refinement of a digital survey tool using single-item web-based visual analogue scales to measure five key perceptions of school science that lead to the formation of a Science Attitude Profile. We suggest that a particular strength of the resulting data analyses is the ability to provide a comparative 'does it work?' critique of various interventions implemented by educators and inform local and national educational policy.
Link
Citation
International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 39(4), p. 422-445
ISSN
1743-7288
1743-727X
Start page
422
End page
445

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink