Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children: A Scale Adaptation to Turkish

Abstract

Epistemic curiosity is the desire to seek and acquire new information that motivates knowledge and exploratory behavior. While epistemic curiosity can stimulate positive feelings of interest related to novelty-seeking behavior and the intrinsic joy of discoveries (I-Type), it can also diminish unpleasant and uncertain experiences, which are associated with the feeling of being deprived of information (D-Type). Given the growing interest in epistemic curiosity and its implications in education, specific assessment tools are needed to measure early indicators of Type-I and Type-D epistemic curiosity, particularly in local contexts. In this study, the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children were investigated. The 10-item I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children was developed by Piotrowski and colleagues (2014) to assess children’s epistemic curiosity based on parents’ observations. The participants of the study were 636 children (F = 302; M = 334). The ages of the children ranged from 48 to 83 months (M = 68.34; SD = 7.96). Data were obtained from the mothers. The scale’s factor structure was tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results showed that the Turkish version of the scale also has a similar two-factor (I-Type/Y-Type) structure to the original scale. Furthermore, for construct validity, zero-order correlations reported a significant positive relationship between self-regulation and I-Type and D-type epistemic curiosity, as hypothesized. Additionally, a partial correlation between curiosity type and self-regulation highlighted the divergence of two I-Type and D-Type epistemic curiosity. These findings indicated that the 10-item, two-factor I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children is reliable and valid for assessing young children’s curiosity through mothers’ ratings.

Keywords

• Early childhood
• preschool
• epistemic curiosity
• scale adaptation

Küçük Çocuklar İçin Epistemik Merak Ölçeği: Türkçe Uyarlama Çalışması

Abstract

Epistemik merak, bilgiyi ve keşif davranışlarını ortaya çıkaran, yeni bilgileri arama ve edinme arzusudur. Epistemik merak, yeni keşiflerden duyulan içsel haz ve yenilik arama davranışına ilişkin olumlu ilgi duygusunu tetikleyebilir (İ-Tipi) ya da bilgi yoksunluğu hissinden kaynaklanan istenmeyen ve belirsiz deneyimleri azaltabilir (Y-Tipi). Epistemik meraka artan ilgi ve bunun eğitimdeki etkileri göz önüne alındığında, özellikle yerel bağlamlarda Tip-I ve Tip-D epistemik merakın erken göstergelerini ölçmek için özel değerlendirme araçlarına ihtiyaç vardır. Bu çalışmada Küçük Çocuklar için İ-Tipi/Y-Tipi Epistemik Merak Ölçeği’nin Türkçe formunun psikometrik özellikleri sınanmıştır. Küçük Çocuklar için 10 maddelik I-Tipi/D-Tipi Epistemik Merak Ölçeği, Piotrowski ve arkadaşları (2014) tarafından ebeveynlerin gözlemlerine dayalı olarak, çocukların epistemik merakını değerlendirmek için geliştirilmiş bir ölçektir (Piotrowski ve ark., 2014). Araştırmanın katılımcıları 636 çocuktur (K = 302; E = 334). Çocukların yaşları 48 ile 83 ay arasında değişmektedir (M=68.34; SS = 7.96). Veriler annelerden elde edilmiştir. Çalışmada çocuklara ilişkin veriler anneler aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Ölçeğin faktör yapısı Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi ile sınanmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, ölçeğin Türkçe formunun, orijinal ölçek ile benzer şekilde iki faktörlü (İ-Tipi/Y-Tipi) yapıya sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca, yapı geçerliliği için sıfır sıralı korelasyonlar, öz-düzenleme ile hem İ-Tipi hem de Y-Tipi epistemik merak arasında, varsayıldığı gibi, anlamlı pozitif ilişki olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Ek olarak, merak türü ile öz-düzenleme arasındaki kısmi korelasyon değerleri, iki epistemik merak türünün (İ-Tipi ve Y-Tipi) farklılığını göstermiştir. Bu bulgular, iki faktörlü I-Tipi/D-Tipi Küçük Çocuklar İçin Epistemik Merak Ölçeği’nin Türkiye bağlamında meraktaki bireysel farklılıkları ölçmek için geçerli ve güvenilir olduğuna dair kanıtlar sunmuştur.

Keywords

• Erken çocukluk
• okul öncesi
• epistemik merak
• Küçük Çocuklar için İ-Tipi/Y-Tipi Epistemik Merak Ölçeği

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