Scale Development Study for Academic Title Perception

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to develop a scale tool (validity and reliability were tested) in order to determine the faculty members’ perceptions on their academic titles. The scale development study was started with a literature review, thus a draft form was developed. The draft form which consists of 42 articles were presented to the specialists to receive their opinions. In line with the feedbacks from the specialists, the content validity rates of items were determined. The items which had value under .80 content validity rate were excluded from the content of the study. Therefore, remaining 30 items trial form were applied to 195 faculty members who are working in the İnönü and Hatay Mustafa Kemal Universities. In the analysis of the research data, descriptive and predictive statistical methods were used. In the process of developing the scale; construct validity, content validity, scale validity, test-retest reliability, two-half reliability and Cronbach’s alpha reliability were tested. For the construct validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used. Based on the principal components analysis, it is seen that the articles of the scale can be gathered in a single factor or in five factors according to goodness of fit indicators in confirmatory factor analysis. In the confirmatory factor analysis, when the scale is considered as 5 dimensional, the standard fit indices are acceptable. Cronbach’s alpha reliability, test-retest reliability and two half reliability coefficients have also the values that show the scale is reliable. The findings that obtained as a result of the study show that the Academic Title Perception Scale can be used as a valid and reliable scale tool which can determine the perceptions of the faculty members about their academic titles.