Psychometric Characteristics of the Social Justice Scale’s Turkish Form and A Structural Equation Modeling

Yıl 2015, Sayı: 61, 0 - 0, 01.04.2016

İlker Cırık

Öz

Problem Statement: In order to provide equal educational opportunities for students, teachers should encourage their students to have an effective voice concerning social justice. Studies reveal that teachers face trouble when transferring from the concept of social justice as theory to social justice as practice. A scale which will be developed on social justice may enable teachers to better comprehend the process of movement from attitude to action. Moreover, examining which factors affect teachers’ behaviors towards social justice will contribute to the arrangement of social justice studies in learning environments.

Purpose of the Study: The primary aim of the study is to analyze the psychometric characteristics of the Social Justice Scale’s Turkish form. The secondary aim is to determine the effects of social justice attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intentions. 

Method: The scale adaptation process was conducted with 515 participants (376 female, 139 male), and structural equation modeling was conducted with 410 (313 female, 97 male) participants. The data were collected through the Social Justice Scale. In analyzing the data, Pearson Correlation Coefficients, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach Alpha coefficients were utilized. The effects of social justice attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intentions were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

Findings and Results: Linguistic equivalence of the scale was obtained p=.00, p<.01. After confirmatory factor analysis, the fit indices χ²=671.15, df=246, χ²/df=2.72, GFI=.90, AGFI=.88 were found to be at an acceptable level; RMSEA=.05, NFI=.96, NNFI=.97, CFI=.97, SRMR=.04 indices demonstrated good fit. The internal and external consistency coefficients and corrected item-total correlations of the scale were found to be high. After the model test, the values of χ²=570.93, df=246, χ²/df=2.32, GFI=.90, AGFI=.87 showed that model data consistency was at an acceptable level; the values of RMSEA=.05, NFI=.95, NNFI=.97, CFI=.97, SRMR=.05 demonstrated a good fit.

Conclusion and Recommendations: It was determined that the Turkish form of the scale has 24 items that fall under four factors. The reliability coefficients of the scale were found to be high. It was revealed that the effects of attitudes towards social justice, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms on behavioral intentions were significant. It is concluded that the Turkish form of the scale will help measure prospective teachers’ views about social justice and thus will contribute to filling a gap in the field. Further researches are recommended to provide evidence for the concurrent validity of the scale.

Keywords: Equality, educational opportunity, confirmatory factor analysis, teacher education

Kaynakça

• Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
• Anderson, J.C., & Gerbing, D.W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411-423.
• Aydin, H., & Tonbuloglu, B. (2014). Graduate students perceptions’ on multicultural education: A qualitative case study. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 57, 29-50.
• Banks, J.A. (2009). Human rights, diversity, and citizenship education. The Educational Forum, 73, 100-110.
• Bell, L.A. (2007). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams, L.A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (pp. 1-14). NY: Taylor & Francis.
• Bentler, P.M., & Bonett, D.G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588-606.
• Bradley, J.M., Werth, J.L., & Hastings, S.L. (2012). Social justice advocacy in rural communities: Practical issues and implications. The Counseling Psychologist, 40, 363-384.
• Brown, K.D., & Brown, A.L. (2011). Teaching k-8 students about race: African Americans, racism, and the struggle for social justice in the U.S. Multicultural Education, 19(1), 9-13.
• Brown, T.A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. NY: The Guilford Press.
• Capper, C.A., & Young, M.D. (2014). Ironies and limitations of educational leadership for social justice: A call to social justice educators. Theory Into Practice, 53, 158-164.
• Colquitt, J. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386-400.
• Constantine, M.G., Hage, S.M., Kindaichi, M.M., & Bryant, R.M. (2007). Social justice and multicultural issues: Implications for the practice and training of counselors and counseling psychologists. Journal of Counseling & Development, 85, 24-29.
• Ersoy, A.F. (2014). Active and democratic citizenship education and its challenges in social studies classrooms. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 55, 1-20.
• Fouad, N.A., Gerstein, L.H., & Toporek, R.L. (2006). Social justice and counseling psychology in context. In R.L. Toporek, L.H. Gerstein, N.A. Fouad, G. Roysircar, & T. Israel (Eds.), Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology: Leadership, vision, and action (pp. 1-16). London: Sage Publications.
• Fraenkel, J.R., & Wallen, N.E. (2009). How to design and evaluate research in education. NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Frazier, P.A., Tix, A.P., & Barron, K.E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology. Research Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(1), 115-134.
• Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage (P. Clarke, Trans.). Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers.
• Fuentes, R., Chanthongthip, L., & Rios, F. (2010).Teaching and learning social justice as an “intellectual community” requirement: Pedagogical opportunities and student understandings. Equity & Excellence in Education, 43, 357-374.
• Garii, B., & Rule, A.C. (2009). Integrating social justice with mathematics and science: An analysis of student teacher lessons. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(3), 490-499.
• Goodman, L.A., Liang, B., Helms, J.E., Latta, R.E., Sparks, E., & Weintraub, S.R. (2004). Training counseling psychologists as social justice agents: Feminist and multicultural principles in action. The Counseling Psychologist, 32, 793-837.
• Goodman, R., & Burton, D. (2012). What is the nature of the achievement gap, why does it persist and are government goals sufficient to create social justice in the education system? Education, 40, 500-514.
• Goulet, L.M., & Goulet, K.N. (2014). Teaching each other: Nehinuw concepts and indigenous pedagogies. Vancouver: UBC Press.
• Hoyle, R.H., & Smith, G.T. (1994). Formulating clinical research hypotheses as structural equation models: A conceptual overview. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(3), 429-440.
• Hu, L., & Bentler, P.M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3(4), 424-453.
• Kline, R.B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. NY: The Guilford Press.
• Lalas, J. (2007). Teaching for social justice in multicultural urban schools: Conceptualization and classroom implication. Multicultural Education, 14(3), 17-21.
• Lemley, C.K. (2014). Social justice in teacher education: Naming discrimination to promote transformative action. Critical Questions in Education, 5(1), 26-51.
• Leonard, J., & Moore, C.M. (2014). Learning to enact social justice pedagogy in mathematics classrooms. Action in Teacher Education, 36, 76-95.
• Littenberg-Tobias, J. (2014). Does how students serve matter? What characteristics of service programs predict students’ social justice attitudes? Journal of College & Character, 15(4), 219-233.
• Page, M. (2009). Pedagogy of privilege: White preservice teachers learn about whiteness. Teaching & Learning: The Journal of Natural Inquiry & Reflective Practice, 24(1), 3-21.
• Prilleltensky, I. (2001). Value-based praxis in community psychology: Moving towards social justice and social action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(5), 747-778.
• Rasinski, K.A. (1987). What’s fair is fair-or is it? Value differences underlying public views about social justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 201-211.
• Rios, F., & Montecinos, C. (1999). Advocating social justice and cultural affirmation: Ethnically diverse preservice teachers’ perspectives on multicultural education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 32(3), 66-76.
• Schermelleh-Engel, K., Moosbrugger, H., & Muller, H. (2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of Psychological Research Online, 8(2), 23-74.
• Speight, S.L., & Vera, E.M. (2009). The challenge of social justice for school psychology. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 19, 82-92.
• Thomas, A.B. (2007). Supporting new visions for social justice teaching: The potential for professional development networks. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 5(1), 1-18.
• Tinkler, B., Hannah, C., Tinkler, A., & Miller, E. (2015). The impact of a social justice service-learning field experience in a social foundations course. Critical Questions in Education, 6(1), 16-29.
• Tomul, E., Celik, K., & Tas, A. (2012). Justice in the classroom: Evaluation of teacher behaviours according to students’ perceptions. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 48, 59-72.
• Torres-Harding, S.R., Siers, B., & Olson, B.D. (2012). Development and psychometric evaluation of the social justice scale (SJS). Am J Community Psychol, 50, 77-88.
• Torres-Harding, S.R., Diaz, E., Schamberger, A., & Carollo, O. (2015). Psychological sense of community and university mission as predictors of student social justice engagement. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 19(3), 89-112.
• Vera, E.M., & Speight, S.L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31, 253-272.
• Villegas, A.M. (2007). Dispositions in teacher education a look at social justice. Journal of Teacher Education, 58, 370-380.
• Wade, R. (2004). Citizenship for social justice. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 40, 64-68.