Differential item functioning of the career aspiration scale within Arab context

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the psychometric properties and the differential items functioning of short version of Career Aspiration Scale (CAS) in a sample of 2700 of Omani high school students. The results of the total score of CAS showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.67). An exploratory factor analysis yielded a support for nine items version identifying single construct. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis confirmed that there were differences on five items concerning gender. DIF analysis performed according to grade showed that the functioning of CAS items was consistent in both grades except for item four. Suggestions were provided for further psychometric investigation of the scale.   Key words: Career aspiration scale, differential functioning, gender, grade