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Although research has consistently highlighted the importance of school adjustment for high school students, validated tools for assessing this construct are currently lacking. To address this gap, our study aimed to develop and validate a scale to measure school adjustment among high school students. Employing a two‐stage approach, we first examined the concept of adjustment and generated scale items. Subsequently, we surveyed 1121 high school students, and randomly split the data into two groups for subsequent analyses. Through exploratory in the first stage and confirmatory factor analyses in the second stage, we identified two higher‐order factors within the scale: social adjustment and academic adjustment, with academic adjustment consisting of two sub‐factors, academic performance and, academic engagement. The results indicated that the scale has an excellent model fit, as well as adequate reliability and high construct validity. Overall, our study provides a valuable tool for assessing school adjustment in high school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Item stem formats can alter the cognitive complexity as well as the type of abilities required for solving mathematics items. Consequently, it is possible that item stem formats can affect the dimensional structure of mathematics assessments. This empirical study investigated the relationship between item stem format and the dimensionality of mathematics assessments. A sample of 671 sixth-grade students was given two forms of a mathematics assessment in which mathematical expression (ME) items and word problems (WP) were used to measure the same content. The effects of mathematical language and reading abilities in responding to ME and WP items were explored using unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory models. The results showed that WP and ME items appear to differ with regard to the underlying abilities required to answer these items. Hence, the multidimensional model fit the response data better than the unidimensional model. For the accurate assessment of mathematics achievement, students' reading and mathematical language abilities should also be considered when implementing mathematics assessments with ME and WP items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop an attitude scale of landowners towards seasonal agricultural workers. In order to test the developed scale's validity and reliability, 240 landowners living in the Bursa / Yenişehir district of Çeltikçi, Karasıl, Menteşe and Çardak village districts were applied. In the study, explanatory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, three factors were identified as 'negative attitude', 'emotional element' and 'positive attitude'. The fit index of the model was determined as 0.044. The internal consistency coefficient for the whole scale was .82. These results show that the scale can be used to reveal the attitudes of landowners towards seasonal agricultural workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether the linguistic complexity of items leads to gender differential item functioning (DIF) on mathematics assessments. Two forms of a mathematics test were developed. The first form consisted of algebra items based on mathematical expressions, terms, and equations. In the second form, the same items were written as word problems without changing their contents and solutions. The test forms were given to a sample of 671 sixth-grade students from 10 middle schools in Turkey. The tests were administered to the students with a 4-week interval. Explanatory item response modeling and logistic regression approaches were used to examine gender DIF. Several word problems were flagged as having gender DIF in favor of female examinees, whereas mathematically expressed forms of the same items did not function differently across male and female examinees. The verbal content of word problems seems to influence the way males and females respond to items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to test the effect of task level and item consistency when two conditions, with and without the assistance of a scoring guide, were used to score essays. The use of generalization theory was proposed as a framework for examining the effect of task variability and use of the scoring guide on achievement measures. Participants were 21 students in Grade 9 enrolled in regular Turkish language and literature classes. Of these students 11 were men and 10 were women. Ten teachers from the city were raters. In the past, raters of essays have given varied judgements of writing quality. Utilizing decision and generalizability theories, variation in scores was evaluated using a three-way (person×rater×task) analysis of variance design. The scoring guide was beneficial in reducing variability of evaluating grammar and reading comprehension but not as helpful when assessing knowledge of concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scoring rubrics are useful to serve performance assessment for learning and assessment because they can be created for a variety of subjects and situations. Rubrics look like more suitable and effective tools for summative and formative evaluation because they include qualitative description of the performance criteria. In recent years, rubrics have been accepted as most popular performance-based assessment tools. It has been recomended that rubrics can be used in the new educational program in Turkey which was revised and re-organized in the scoop of constructualism. It has also been stated at annual meeting of Ministry of Education that rubrics should be preferred for all lectures when implementing an effective performance-based assessment. But it is not an easy procedure to develop an effective rubric. Many of educational scientists have studied rubrics and thier properties. This article examines the guidlines and principles from the educational literature that are related to scoring rubrics. The purpose of this article can be summarized as follows: (1) Describe what is a scoring rubric and the different types of scoring rubrics. (2) To put forward the principles of consistent and successful scoring rubrics. (3) To discuss it's instructional design from the point of view of educational literature. (4) To contribute to rubric developers and educational literature aimed at improving the design of classroom assessment rubrics. At the same time, applications, considerations, and suggestion are given with clear examples and templates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vaccination is the most important public health practice for preventing infectious diseases and maintaining health. However, some parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children. Design: This study was designed as an instrument development study. Methods: This study aimed to develop a scale to measure the attitudes of parents with children aged 0–5 years towards vaccination and to evaluate the validity and reliability of this scale. The data were collected from 691 participants between November 2020 and January 2021. During the development of the scale, experts provided feedback on its technical, content and language dimensions. The data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for conceptual validity and Cronbach's α and item‐level test–retest analyses for reliability. Results: The developed scale is a reliable and valid tool for measuring attitudes towards vaccination among parents (Cronbach's α = 0.97, variance explained by these 28‐item two factors = 62.47%). Conclusion: This scale can be used as a guide in measuring the attitudes of parents towards vaccination and determining the direction of primary health‐care services based on the results of the measurement. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Vaccination plays an important role in health practice.Parents' attitudes towards vaccination affect their children's vaccination status.Increasing vaccination rates in children will contribute to the reduction of infectious diseases and mortality. What this paper adds? A new valid and reliable measurement tool for determining vaccine hesitancy has been developed.The validity and reliability of the scale of attitudes towards vaccination among parents of children aged 0–5 years were tested.The tool could be used to determine the attitudes of parents of children aged 0–5 years towards vaccination. The implications of this paper The scale may help in determining factors affecting parents' attitudes on vaccination.The scale can generate data to guide nursing practices to increase vaccination rates.The scale can be used to influence nursing practices to increase vaccination rates and promote vaccine awareness, trust and acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to develop a valid and reliable Videogame Addiction Scale for Children (VASC). The data were derived from 780 children who completed the Videogame Addiction Scale (405 girls and 375 boys; 48.1% ranging in age from 9 to 12 years). The sample was randomly split into two different sub-samples (sample 1, n = 400; sample 2, n = 380). Sample 1 was used to perform exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to define the factorial structure of VASC. As a result of EFA, a four-factor structure comprising 21 items was obtained and explained 55% of the total variance (the four factors being 'self-control,' 'reward/reinforcement,' 'problems,' and 'involvement'). The internal consistency reliability of VASC has found 0.89. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to confirm the factorial structure obtained by EFA in the remaining half of sample ( n = 390). The obtained fit indices from the CFA confirmed the structure of the EFA. The 21-item VASC has good psychometric properties that can be used among Turkish schoolchildren populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study is to develop a "social presence scale" for e-learning environments. A systematic approach was followed for developing the scale. The scale was applied to 461 students registered in seven different programs at Gazi University. The sample was split into two subsamples on a random basis (n1=261; n2=200). The first sample was used for Exploratory Factor Analysis, and the second sample for Confirmatory Factor Analysis. After the Exploratory Factor Analysis, the scale included 17 items and three factors. These factors were labeled as interactive, cohesive, and affective in light of the relevant literature. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale was found to be .84, whereas the values of Cronbach's alpha coefficient for individual factors of the scale ranged between .75 and .81. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted within the scope of the validity study of the scale confirming the structure of the 3-factor scale. The findings of the study revealed that the scale was a valid and reliable instrument for measuring social presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]