Development, Validity and Reliability Study of the Play Preferences Scale (PPS) for Children Receiving Preschool Education

Abstract

The aim of the study is to develop a Likert-type scale to determine the play preferences of children attending pre-school education. The research was designed and carried out according to the survey research model. Data collected from 3 different study groups were used in the scale development process. The study groups consist of parents of children attending pre-school education in Istanbul Province in the 2022-2023 academic year. The 33-item and 8-dimensional structure obtained after EFA was also confirmed with CFA. Dimensions were determined as solitary play, parallel play, together play, collaborative play, building-building play, dramatic play, games with rules and digital play. It is seen that the reliability coefficients of the scale after EFA and CFA vary between 0.757 and 0.900. In order to distinguish between the lower and upper groups and to make comparisons between the groups, an independent group t test was performed, and it was revealed that there was a difference between the 27% lower and 27% upper groups (p <.05). It was determined that the test-retest values of the game type preferences scale were significant. According to these values, it was determined that the scale gave consistent results. When all studies were evaluated, it was concluded that the play preferences scale is a measurement tool that can validly and reliably measure the play preferences of children receiving preschool education.