Does the Farsi version of attitude toward plagiarism questionnaire have acceptable psychometric properties?

Abstract

This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Attitudes Toward Plagiarism Questionnaire (ATPQ) among Iranian medical sciences postgraduate students and faculty members. In this study, the ATPQ developed by Mavrinac et al. in 2010 was translated into Persian. After assessment of face and content validity, we distributed the ATPQ draft among 286 Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis were applied, and Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the ATPQ. All the items of our English version of the ATPQ were approved by the developer of the original ATPQ, and two were revised in the cognitive interview. Construct validity assessment showed that three items were not seriously involved in the extracted factors. The Persian version of the ATPQ had 26 items, five factors and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81%, and the combined value explained 38.24% of the total variance of this scale. Two new factors of “perceived control” and “attitude toward self-plagiarism” were extracted and incorporated into the Persian version. To conclude, the ATPQ is a valid, reliable, and convenient instrument to determine attitudes toward plagiarism among Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members.

Keywords

• Plagiarism; Translations; Attitude; Psychometrics.