A Comprehensive Review of Instruments Measuring Attitudes Toward Science

Abstract

The development of attitudes toward science instruments has recently emerged in science education research. However, a comprehensive review of their psychometric properties, using currently accepted assessment standards, has not yet been completed. Consequently, this review discusses the validity and reliability of 18 measures published between 2005 and 2019 in leading science education journals. Findings showed that construct validity and internal consistency reliability was reported for all instruments; however, evidence for predictive validity and temporal stability reliability was rather scarce, which could limit their use in intervention and correlational type of studies. Similarly, content validity was found to be underreported. Consequently, the relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility of the items in some instruments are currently unknown and yet to be established in future studies. Finally, there is a gap in the literature regarding instruments that can be used across different countries and scientific disciplines, which could restrict accumulative and comparative results worldwide. Since the use of valid and reliable measurement instruments is a crucial aspect of educational research, the findings of this study could be useful in assisting researchers and practitioners in selecting the most appropriate measure for different research designs.