Aidiyet Hissi Ölçeğinin Türkçe Uyarlaması: Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışmaları*

Year 2019, Volume: 16 Issue: 1, 1 - 18, 01.04.2019

Seda Sevinç Tuhanioğlu Cem Ali Gizir

Abstract

DOI: 10.26650/hayef.2019.19002

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türkçe’ye uyarlanan
Aidiyet Hissi Ölçeğinin (AHÖ) psikometrik özelliklerini inceleyerek geçerlik ve
güvenirliğini sınamaktır. Çalışma verileri, bir devlet üniversitesinin farklı
fakültelerinde öğrenim görmekte olan ve seçkisiz örnekleme yöntemiyle
belirlenen 472 (295 kadın, 177 erkek) lisans öğrencisinden elde edilmiştir.
AHÖ’nün geçerliğini test etmek için çalışmada doğrulayıcı faktör analizi (DFA)
yönteminden yararlanılmıştır. DFA sonuçlarına göre ölçeğin Türkçe formunun,
“akran desteği”, “öğretim elemanı desteği”, “öğretim elemanlarının empatik
anlayışı”, “sınıf konforu” ve “izolasyon” olarak adlandırılan beş faktörlü bir
yapı sergilediği belirlenmiştir. AHÖ’nün güvenirliğinin incelenmesi sonucunda
ise ölçekte yer alan beş faktörün Cronbach alfa iç tutarlık katsayıları akran
desteği için . 72, öğretim elemanı desteği için .88, öğretim elemanlarının
empatik anlayışı için .92, sınıf konforu için .89  ve izolasyon için .66 olup, ölçeğin bütününe
ilişkin elde edilen iç-tutarlık değeri .85’dir. AHÖ’nün üç hafta arayla yapılan
ölçümler temelinde gerçekleştirilen güvenirlik analizi sonucunda ise
faktörlerin test-tekrar test güvenirlik katsayılarının .64 (izolasyon) ile .77
(sınıf konforu) arasında değiştiği görülmüştür. Ölçeğin toplam puanı kapsamında
elde edilen test tekrarı güvenirliği de .80 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Çalışma
sonucunda, AHÖ’nün Türkçe formunun orijinal ölçekte olduğu üzere beş faktörlü
bir yapı sergilediği ve güvenilirlik ölçütlerini sağladığı belirlenmiştir. 

Cite this article as: Sevinç Tuhanioğlu,
S., Gizir, C.A. (2019). Turkish adaptation of the sense of belongingness scale:
Validity and reliability studies. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 16(1); 1-18. 

Keywords

Aidiyet hissi, geçerlik, güvenirlik, üniversite öğrencileri

Turkish Adaptation of the Sense of Belongingness Scale: Validity and Reliability Studies

Abstract

DOI: 10.26650/hayef.2019.19002

The purpose of the study is to investigate
the validity and reliability of the Sense of Belongingness Scale (SBS) adapted
to Turkish culture. The sample of the study consisted of 472 (295 female, 177
male) undergraduate students enrolled in various faculties of a state
university in Turkey. The construct validity of the scale was examined using
confirmatory factor analysis. The result of the analysis showed that the SBS
was composed of five factors, namely “perceived peer support”, “perceived
faculty support”, “perceived empathy”, “perceived classroom comfort” and
“perceived isolation”. The reliability analysis also revealed that the Cronbach
alpha internal consistency coefficients of the factors were 0.72 for perceived
peer support, 0.88 for perceived faculty support, 0.92 for perceived empathy,
0.89 for perceived classroom comfort and 0.66 for isolation. The test-retests
reliability coefficients of the factors (after a three week interval) also
changed, ranging from 0.64 (perceived isolation) and 0.77 (perceived classroom
comfort). As a result, all the findings indicated that the Turkish adapted form
of the SBS has similar psychometric features to the original scale.

Cite this article as: Sevinç Tuhanioğlu,
S., Gizir, C.A. (2019). Turkish adaptation of the sense of belongingness scale:
Validity and reliability studies. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 16(1); 1-18. 

Keywords

Reliability, sense of belongingness, university students, validity

References

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• Extended Summary Higher education as an integral part of the economy and social life is accepted as a precondition for societies and individuals in order to take part in the global knowledge economy and keep up with competition conditions. This concern has led universities and researchers to investigate national and international higher education policies, seeing them focus on both quality and quantity in higher education. As a result of various studies on higher education, it became apparent that school belongingness is mainly related to the academic persistence of undergraduates being one of the most important goals for higher education institutions. Moreover, recent studies carried out on higher education showed that a lack of sense of belonging at school is one of the important factors of a student’s intention to leave and/or dropout from higher education (Morrow and Ackermann, 2012; Uslu-Gülşen, 2017). With this awareness of the importance of belongingness at school, universities and researchers focused on fostering a sense of community among undergraduates. Students’ sense of belonging in school refers to a feeling that a student attains when faculty members and other students in a university environment make him/her feel accepted, valued, and respected (Osterman, 2000; 2010). School belonging as one of the critical factors related to the positive facets of students’ school-related experiences is attained through mutually caring social interactions among peers and also between students and their teachers. However, it pointed out that poor interpersonal relations among university students are related to a low level of belongingness to others in the university environment, academic disengagement; social isolation and loneliness (Freeman, Anderman and Jensen, 2007; Wilson et al., 2015). Related research indicated that a faculty-student relationship in a university environment can be observed in various forms, such as social, academic, formal and informal, and impacts both positively and negatively on students’ numerous academic and social experiences or outcomes both. Some of the mentioned outcomes are sense of belonging, academic and social adjustment, satisfaction with college, attrition and persistence, academic achievement, and career aspiration (Ahmed et al., 2010; Cotten and Wilson, 2006; Hausmann, Schofield and Woods, 2007; Micari and Pazos, 2012; Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005; Pittman and Richmond, 2008). In addition to the relationships between faculty and students, research results revealed that peer relations in an educational context is one the most important factors in terms of students’ social integration into university (Freeman, Anderman and Jensen, 2007). Finn (1989) emphasizes that school belonging is based on the identification of a student him/herself as an important part of the school environment through mutually beneficial relationships including acceptance, respect and support. Moreover, it is stated that a sense of school belonging promotes persistence, social integration, self-esteem, academic and social adjustment and academic motivation, although a low level or inadequate sense of school belonging is associated with alienation, school disengagement, a sense of isolation and school dropout (Cemalcılar, 2010; Gizir, 2019; Pichon, 2016; Uslu-Gülşen, 2017; Vincent, 2016). The concept of the sense of belonging has been examined under various headings and there has been an ongoing debate on its conceptual structure in literature. This situation causes confusion among researchers about the assessment and evaluation of the concept and leads them to use different instruments (Tovar, 2013). Some instruments approach this concept as unidimensional, such as institutional fit, commitment to university (Bean and Metzner, 1985), while some treat it as multidimensional (Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, and Salomone, 2002; Tovar and Simon, 2010; Hurtado and Carter, 1997). The Sense of Belongingness Scale (SBS) as a multidimensional scale, was developed by Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, and Salomone (2002), considering mainly faculty-student interaction, peer interaction, and in-class interactions. In this respect, the SBS includes five dimensions called “perceived peer support”, “perceived faculty support”, “perceived empathy”, “perceived classroom comfort” and “perceived isolation”. The SBS as the first scale developed by a perspective regarding the sense of belonging as a multidimensional construct seems to bring an important standpoint for higher educational researchers (Tovar and Simon, 2010). Considering the aforementioned importance of a sense of school belonging for university students, this study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Sense of Belongingness Scale (Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, and Salomone, 2002) when adapted to Turkish. Method The sample of this study consisted of 472 (295 female, 177 male) undergraduate students enrolled in a state university in Turkey. The Sense of Belongingness Scale (SBS; Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, & Salomone, 2002) includes 26 items and five factors to which participants reply on a 5-point Likert scale. These factors are namely, “perceived peer support”, “perceived faculty support”, “perceived empathy”, “perceived classroom comfort” and “perceived isolation”, respectively. The overall SBS scores range from 26 to 130, with upper scores indicating a greater tendency towards a sense of belongingness. The construct validity indications of the SBS adapted for Turkish culture was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Findings, Conclusion, and Discussion The confirmatory factor analysis for the established model of the SBS revealed the following fit indexes: χ2 (286) = 598.69, χ2/sd = 2.09, SRMR = 0.049, RMSEA = 0.048, CFI = 0.94, GFI = 0.91 ve AGFI = 0.89. The scores obtained from the fit indexes were highly acceptable and the adapted structure of the Turkish SBS demonstrated a similar psychometric structure to the original one. The reliability coefficients predicted by Chronbach alpha for the five factors of the adapted SBS were 0.72 for perceived peer support, 0.88 for perceived faculty support, 0.92 for perceived empathy, 0.89 for perceived classroom comfort and 0.66 for perceived isolation. The test-retests reliability coefficients of the factors (after a three week interval) also changed, ranging from 0.64 (perceived isolation) to 0.77 (perceived classroom comfort).This result indicated that the reliability evidence for the Turkish SBS was also sufficient. Consequently, the findings of the study supported that the adapted form of the Turkish SBS has similar psychometric properties to the original scale.