Adaptation of scientific reasoning scale into Turkish and examination of its psychometric properties

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to adapt the Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS) into Turkish. The translated form has been provided to the students enrolled at different levels together with a form in which they were requested to present what they have understood and the reason of their responses. It was seen that the explanations of students to one item were inconsistent or insufficient, and an alternative item was added to the test. Investigations based on PCA and CFA revealed that the psychometric properties of the test containing the alternative item were better. Moderate and positive correlations were found between the SRS scores and the CCTDI and LCTSR scores. The applications carried out before and after the course on scientific research methods carried out during a term at the undergraduate level revealed that a significant increase in the SRS scores was achieved. It was seen that there was significant difference between the scores of the students enrolled at undergraduate and graduate levels. Average item difficulty was .40 and discrimination indices was .50 and over. As result, it is seen that SRS could be used for measuring the scientific reasoning ability of the undergraduate students.