A Scale Development Study: Scientist Image, Gender of the Scientist and Risks of being Scientist

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 3, 235 - 256, 12.09.2020

Sedat Karaçam , Şahin Danışman , Volkan Bilir , Azize Digilli-baran

Öz

The aim of this study is to develop a scale to determine the scientist image of high school students
and their perceptions of scientist’s gender and the risks they have. Descriptive survey model, one of
the quantitative research techniques, was used in the study. 760 10th grade students participated in
the study. The study was conducted in the spring semester of 2018-2019 academic years. In data
collection, item pools were created for the following draft scales developed by researches: (1)
“Scientist in Images Scale (ImSca)” to determine students' images of scientists, (2) “Scale for the
Perception of Scientist’s Gender (GenSca)” to determine students' perceptions of scientist’s gender;
and (3) “Scale for the Perception of the Risks that Scientist has (RiskSca)” to determine students'
perceptions about the risks that scientists have. The construct validity of the scales was determined
by using exploratory factor analysis on the data obtained from the scales and reliability of the scales
was determined through internal consistency coefficients. As a result of the data analysis, the
following structures were formed: ImSca has a 26-item structure with 8 factors, GenSca has a 23-item
structure with 3 factors, and RiskSca has a 27-item structure with 6 factors. According to the results
of confirmatory factor analyses, the structure of all three scales formed within the scope of the study
was confirmed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Scientist image, perception of the risks of scientist, perception of the gender of scientist

Kaynakça

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