Issues of validity in science attitude measurement

✍ Scribed by Hugh Munby

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 19 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4308
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199704)34:4<337::aid-tea4>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

This article explores the work that Moore and Foy (1997) did in revising and field testing the Scientific Attitude Instrument (SAI). I begin by showing that the empirical work with the revised instrument, the SAI II, raises doubts about the instrument's validity, and I suggest that these doubts seem to coincide rather remarkably with ones raised in an extensive study of science attitude instruments published in the early 1980s. I then consider the field testing of the SAI II in light of alternative approaches to validating instruments, and I show that the revisions made to the SAI leave its validity in question. I end by considering how we might develop guidelines for validating the instruments we use in science education research.