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

Abstract

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 year. 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.