Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi (Jan 2019)
The Validity and Reliability Studies of Multidimensional Scale of Life Skills
Abstract
The study was conducted in order to assess the validity and reliability of the “Multidimensional Scale of Life Skills Education in Late Childhood”, developed by Kobayashi et al. (2013), in Turkey. The main scale was written in English, under a seven-factor structure with 24 items. These factors are problem solving and synthesis, relations with peers, personal experience, decision making and future planning, self-learning, gathering and using information, and leadership. Prior to the scale being adapted, it was translated from English to Turkish, and then submitted for the review of experts in the area with regards to its language, content, and its appropriateness in the area of assessment and evaluation. Following some changes to the scale in accordance with the suggestions of experts, the scale was applied on a group of students at four-week intervals in order to test its comprehensibility and to determine whether the English meanings were carried over to the Turkish version. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was calculated in order to test the consistency between the scores received in both scales and it was determined as 0.89. Accordingly, a highly positive and significant relationship was determined between the English and Turkish versions of the scale. Once the linguistic equivalence of the scale was achieved, it was applied to a total of 149 junior high students studying in the central district of Nizip. The Cronbach Alpha Internal Consistence Coefficient was determined as 0.84, while the test-retest reliability was determined as 0.97. The results of the factor analysis performed demonstrated that, unlike the original scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Life Skills Education (LSE) in Late Childhood has a five-factor structure, and that it is comprised of 16 items, contrary to the 24 items of the original scale. The validity and reliability analyses showed that the scale is a valid and reliable tool that can be used in order to determine the perceptions of life skills education among students studying in state schools run by the Ministry of Education in Turkey.
Keywords
