Validation of an adapted instrument to measure students’ attitude towards science

Research Design, Location, Population and Sampling

This study was carried out by using quantitative approach so that large amount of samples can be involved. On the other hand, it was carried out in the eight secondary schools in the stats of Penang, Malaysia. In Penang, there are five districts: North East District, South North East District, South West District, Central Seberang Perai District, Southern Seberang Perai District, and Northern Seberang Perai District. However, this study was carried out in North East District only due to time and cost constraint. A total of 749 secondary school students were selected randomly from eight secondary schools. They were selected based on the rationale that the content of ATS instrument used in this study is more suitable for secondary school students. Besides that, the instrument might be served as an important diagnostic tool in future to measure students’ ATS, especially during streaming consideration, in which the students will be assigned into science stream or arts stream students.

Research Instrument
The instrument used in this study is an adapted ATS measure, namely Attitude towards Science Test (ATST). It was adapted from existing ATS instruments under the consideration that creating a new instrument is time consuming. As supported by Kind, Jones, and Barmby (2007), rather than keep on constructing new ATS instruments, it is better to enhance the psychometric properties of existing ATS instruments. Furthermore, Blalock et al. (2009) also noted that existing instruments should be used in repeat studies and provide more reliability and validity evidences.

From literature review mentioned earlier, Krathwohl’s taxonomy encompasses behaviors characterized by feelings and emotions. It can be a useful general framework to help organize assessment of affective educational objectives. Based on the Krathwohl’s Taxonomy, Klopfer (1971) had presented a classification of scheme for the affective domain which is relative to science education, namely Klopfer’s Classification. Then, based on Klopfer’s classification, Fraser (1981) had developed a a Test of Science-Related Attitude (TOSRA). It matches with the theoretical framework underlies this study. It is one of the most widely used instruments in assessing ATS (Zhang & Campbell, 2010). Furthermore, it was designed to measure secondary school students’ ATS; and for the use of teachers, curriculum evaluators, and researchers. On the other hand, it is highly reliable (Fraser, 1981; Tegtmeier, 2009). Hence, researcher decided to adapt TOSRA in this study.

Although TOSRA is suitable to be used in this study, it was developed more than three decades ago. Recently, Kind, Jones, and Barmby (2007) had developed an Attitude towards Science Measure (ATSM) to measure students’ ATS. They had emphasized several important guidelines when developing ATSM, which are:

Upon the considering of appropriateness, theoretical framework, relevancy and psychometric properties, researcher had decided to adapt and combine TOSRA (Fraser, 1981) and ATSM (Kind, Jones, & Barmby, 2007). The adapted ATS measure is named as Attitude towards Science Test (ATST).

Table 4. Name and Classification of Constructs in ATST

Construct in ATST	Klopfer’s Classification (1971)
1. Self-concept in science 2. Social implications of science 3. Normality of scientists	a. The manifestation of favorable attitude towards science and scientist
4. Attitude to scientific inquiry	b. The acceptance of scientific enquiry as a way of thought
5. Adoption of Scientific Attitudes	c. The adoption of scientific attitudes
6. Enjoyment of Science Lesson	d. The enjoyment of science learning experiences
7. Leisure interest in science	e. The development of interests in science and science-related activities
8. Career interest and future participation in science	f. The development of an interest in pursuing a career in science or science-related work

Modifications were made to ensure that the ATST is suitable to be used in secondary schools in Malaysia. One of the modifications is that the ATST was adapted from source of language (English) to the target language (Malay) by following test adaptation guidelines by Hambleton and Patsula (1999). On the other hand, negative items were removed from ATST. Negative item refers to item that is phrased in the opposite semantic direction of a positive item. It has been used as an attempt to get more responses from respondents (Barnette, 2000). Originally, both TOSRA and ATSM consist of positive items and negative items. However, negative items on an affective scale can affect students’ response on the items. In the past, many studies have revealed some statistical problems regarding the use of negative item in a test (Barnette, 2000). As reported in the study by Schriesheim and Hill (1981), the use of negative item can impair response accuracy. In addition, negative item can also impair item response inconsistency (Fletcher & Hattie, 2005; Marsh, 1996). Furthermore, Chamberlain and Cummings (1984) found that score reliability of a test was higher when positive items were used solely. Besides, negative item can be difficult for respondents to understand and interpret (Fletcher & Hattie, 2005). Brown and Maydeau-Olivares (2011) also noted that although negative item provides the same information as positive item, but it can be confusing for respondents. Moreover, the use of mixed items (positive and negative items) could decrease the reliability of affective instruments (Pilotte & Gable, 1990). It is probably better that positive items are used solely in an affective test but not mixed with negative items. Hence, in the context of study, all negative items were removed.

Overall, ATST consists of eight distinct ATS constructs, each construct consists of five positive items. The total number of items in ATST is 40 items with five-point Likert Scale. The five responses are: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Not Sure (N), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree. The scoring involves allotting 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 for the responses of SA, A, N, D, and SD respectively.

Table 5. Constructs in ATST and Relative Items

Construct	Items
1. Self-concept in science	1. For me, science is very easy. 9. I get good marks in science. 17. I learn science quickly. 25. Science is useful in my life. 33. Science is one of my favorite subjects.
2. Social implications of science	2. Money spent on science is well worth spending. 10. Science helps to make life better. 18. Science can help to make the world a better place in the future. 26. The government should spend more money on scientific research. 34. Science is important for society.
3. Normality of scientists	3. Scientists usually like to go to their laboratories when they have a day off. 11. Scientists are about as fit and healthy as other people. 19. Scientists like sport as much as other people do. 27. If I met a scientist, he would probably look like anyone else I might meet. 35. Scientists can have normal family life.
4. Attitude to scientific inquiry	4. I would prefer to find out why something happens by doing an experiment rather than by being told. 12. I would prefer to do an experiment on a topic than to read about it in science magazines. 20. I like science experiment because you do not know what will happen. 28. I would prefer to do my own experiments than to find out information from teacher. 36. I learn science better when we do experiment.
5. Adoption of scientific attitudes	5. I enjoy reading about things, which disagree with my previous ideas. 13. In science experiments, I like to use new methods, which I have not used before. 21. In science experiments, I report unexpected results as well as expected one. 29. I am curious about the world in which we live. 37. I like listen to people whose opinions are different from mine.
6. Leisure interest in science	6. I would like to belong to a science club. 14. I like watching science programs. 22. I like reading science magazines and books during my holidays. 30. I would enjoy visiting a science museum at the weekend. 38. I would like to share about science with friend after school.
7. Career interest and future participation in science	7. I would like to be a scientist. 15. A career in science would be interesting. 23. I would like to study science at university. 31. I would like to have a job working with science. 39. I would like to teach science when I leave school.
8. Enjoyment of science lesson	8. Science lessons are fun. 16. School should have more science lessons each week. 24. I look forward to science lessons. 32. I enjoy in science lessons. 40. The material covered in science lessons is interesting.