1. Validating Common Measures of Self-Efficacy and Career Attitudes within Informal Health Education for Middle and High School Students
- Author
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Karen Peterman, Rachel Boulay, and Kelley Withy
- Subjects
Male ,Adolescent ,Applied psychology ,MEDLINE ,Science education ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Article ,Education ,Age groups ,Health science ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Statistical analysis ,Students ,Health Education ,Self-efficacy ,Schools ,Career Choice ,4. Education ,05 social sciences ,050301 education ,Reproducibility of Results ,Self Efficacy ,050106 general psychology & cognitive sciences ,Attitude ,Health education ,Female ,Psychology ,0503 education ,Career choice - Abstract
A common challenge in the evaluation of K–12 science education is identifying valid scales that are an appropriate fit for both a student’s age and the educational outcomes of interest. Though many new scales have been validated in recent years, there is much to learn about the appropriate educational contexts and audiences for these measures. This study investigated two such scales, the DEVISE Self-Efficacy for Science scale and the Career Interest Questionnaire (CIQ), within the context of two related health sciences projects. Consistent patterns were found in the reliability of each scale across three age groups (middle school, high school, early college) and within the context of each project. As expected, self-efficacy and career interest, as measured through these scales, were found to be correlated. The pattern of results for CIQ scores was also similar to that reported in other literature. This study provides examples of how practitioners can validate established measures for new and specific contexts and provides some evidence to support the use of the scales studied in health science education contexts.
- Published
- 2018