Examining scientific attitude scales in India: Development and validation of a new scale

Abstract

In India a multitude of scientific attitude scales are available through various channels. The scales are standardized under local settings and most of the Indian researchers utilize these national level scales for the assessment of scientific attitudes. In this work 23 such Indian scales are reviewed over their psychometric properties. The study showed that most of the scales lack theoretical foundations and psychometric evidences. A scale by Bajwa & Mahajan (2012) is selected over its appropriate theoretical background. But many of the items are inappropriate, they failed in the validity check-up through 11-experts and 218-student tryout. Thus, a new scale is developed by retaining some of the items of the scale. The developed scale is standardized and validated through 200, 312 and 641 student tryouts. All statements in the developed scale show high item to scale correlation values. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) confirms the five sub-scales namely rationality, curiosity, open-mindedness, aversion to superstition and confidence in scientific method. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value of the scale is high i.e. 0.79. The scale establishes its content, construct, concurrent and discriminant validities. This study results in to a valid scientific attitude scale that can be utilized in further researches. Keywords: scientific attitude, scale development, factor analysis