Artistic Thinking Disposition Scale for Middle School Students: A Validity and Reliability Study

Year 2026, Issue: Advanced Online Publication , 193 - 226

Serkan Aslan , Mehmet Ali Gökdemir

https://doi.org/10.63612/ijesp.1903627

https://izlik.org/JA34KG29SF

Abstract

This study developed and validated a 19-item multidimensional scale to assess middle school students’ (Grades 5–8) disposition towards artistic thinking in visual arts education within a developmentally appropriate and domain-specific framework. Addressing the limited availability of such instruments, the study aimed to provide a theoretically grounded and practically useful tool for research and instructional evaluation purposes. Nine experts reviewed the initial pool of 28 items, yielding strong content-related evidence (CVR = .667–1.000; CVI = .988). Evidence pertaining to the response processes of 50 students indicated that the items were generally comprehensible (item-level indices = .85–1.00; overall index = .92). To examine the internal structure, exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring with Promax rotation was conducted on data from 499 students. The findings supported a three-factor structure explaining 38.232% of the extracted variance, with factor loadings ranging from .35 to .87. Confirmatory factor analysis on an independent sample of 389 students yielded acceptable model fit (χ²/df = 1.93; CFI = .914; TLI = .902; RMSEA = .049; SRMR = .051). Reliability and model-based validity findings generally supported the psychometric adequacy of the scale, and multi-group CFA indicated acceptable scalar invariance across genders. Overall, the artistic thinking disposition scale offers a valid, reliable, and developmentally sensitive measure of artistic thinking disposition.

Keywords

visual arts education , artistic disposition , artistic thinking , middle school students , scale development

Ethical Statement

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Süleyman Demirel University Beşeri ve Sosyal Bilimler. The ethics approval was granted on 11.12.2025 under the protocol number E.1170303. All procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with institutional and national ethical standards, the Helsinki Declaration, and applicable regulations. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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