Measuring attitudes to science: Unidimensionality and internal consistency revisited

Gardner, Paul L.

doi:10.1007/bf02357402

Cited by 139 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Educational change projects, research projects, and preservice or inservice training programs should therefore investigate the attitudes of teachers. Although such attitudes have been investigated in a range of scientific studies in many countries, scientific progress in this field has been slow due to several major theoretical and methodological issues (Bennett, Rollnick, Green, & White, 2001;Gardner, 1995;Kind, Jones, & Barmby, 2007;Osborne et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to (and probably also because of) the poor theoretical definition of what constitutes primary teachers' attitudes toward science, many researchers have used poorly designed measurement instruments or inadequate methods of analysis (for a review of these issues, see Blalock et al, 2008;Coulson, 1992;Gardner, 1995;Reid, 2006). In addition, most researchers failed to conduct pilot testing, validation, and evaluation of their measurement instrument according to current psychometric standards (Blalock et al, 2008;Coulson, 1992;Gardner, 1995;Reid, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, most researchers failed to conduct pilot testing, validation, and evaluation of their measurement instrument according to current psychometric standards (Blalock et al, 2008;Coulson, 1992;Gardner, 1995;Reid, 2006). These methodological problems have at least two important consequences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Primary teachers' attitudes toward science: A new theoretical framework

2011

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Attention to the attitudes of preservice and inservice primary teachers toward science is of fundamental importance to research on primary science education. However, progress in this field of research has been slow due to the poor definition and conceptualization of the construct of primary teachers' attitude toward science. This poor theoretical background has led to the use of a multitude of different concepts and measurement instruments. The main goal of this article is to present a new and comprehensive theoretical framework for primary teachers' attitudes toward science. The framework is based on an extensive review of previously used concept definitions of the construct. It is argued that this framework should serve as a necessary conceptual basis for future research and interventions in this domain, as well as for the construction of valid measurement instruments. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96:158–182, 2012

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Primary teachers' attitudes toward science: A new theoretical framework

2011

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“…Therefore on the unidimensional scales, a behavioural-related attitudinal response is treated the same as a cognitive-related attitudinal response and it is assumed that all data varies from unfavourable to favourable in the same way (McIver and Carmines, 1981). Clearly, scores on any single scale must vary along a common construct in order to be interpretable (Gardner, 1995;1996), but the extent to which attitude data is unidimensional or multidimensional had not reached a consensus despite the vast amount of research that has since assumed a unidimensional view. It should be noted that the semantic differential technique (Osgood et al, 1957) allows for multidimensional scaling, but was developed later than the other three techniques.…”

Section: The Growing Dominance Of the Unidimensional View Of Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firstly, if there are multiple components/dimensions to attitudes, what do results on a single scale indicate? Results from a single scale should represent a single construct for the data to be useful and interpretable (Gardner 1995;1996;Carifio and Perla, 2007). Specifically, the main assumptions when using the Likert scale is that there is a logical, conceptual or empirical underpinning to the items chosen for the scale (Likert, 1932;Carifio and Perla, 2007) and items are required to be replications of each other for the scale to be interpretable (Alphen et al, 1994).…”

Section: Some Outstanding Attitude Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Look at Our Old Attitude Problem

Samra¹

2014

Journal of Social Sciences

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Across the disciplines, attitudes are commonly measured through the use of unidimensional scaling (e.g., Likert scaling). Given that the Likert measurement scale (multiple equivalent items regarding an attitudinal target from which a summated score is produced) and the Likert response format (positive to negative judgements) were developed over 80 years ago, this article questions whether Likert scaling is still optimal for attitude investigation. In this article, it is argued that the lack of resolution of the debate around the dimensionality of attitudes has encouraged a simplistic view of attitudes (assumed unidimensionality of both attitudes and attitudes responses) to predominate, without empirical justification for this view.

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Localization of nitric oxide synthase in the central complex and surrounding midbrain neuropils of the locust Schistocerca gregaria

Kurylas

Ott

Schachtner

et al. 2005

J of Comparative Neurology

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Nitric oxide (NO), generated enzymatically by NO synthase (NOS), acts as an important signaling molecule in the nervous systems of vertebrates and invertebrates. In insects, NO has been implicated in development and in various aspects of sensory processing. To understand better the contribution of NO signaling to higher level brain functions, we analyzed the distribution of NOS in the midbrain of a model insect species, the locust Schistocerca gregaria, by using NADPH diaphorase (NADPHd) histochemistry after methanol/formalin fixation; results were validated by NOS immunohistochemistry. NADPHd yielded much higher sensitivity and resolution, but otherwise the two techniques resulted in corresponding labeling patterns throughout the brain, except for intense immunostaining but only weak NADPHd staining in median neurosecretory cells. About 470 neuronal cell bodies in the locust midbrain were NADPHd-positive positive, and nearly all major neuropil centers contained dense, sharply stained arborizations. We report several novel types of NOS-expressing neurons, including small ocellar interneurons and antennal sensory neurons that bypass the antennal lobe. Highly prominent labeling occurred in the central complex, a brain area involved in sky-compass orientation, and was analyzed in detail. Innervation by NOS-expressing fibers was most notable in the central body upper and lower divisions, the lateral accessory lobes, and the noduli. About 170 NADPHd-positive neurons contributed to this innervation, including five classes of tangential neuron, two systems of pontine neuron, and a system of columnar neurons. The results provide new insights into the neurochemical architecture of the central complex and suggest a prominent role for NO signaling in this brain area.

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Measuring attitudes to science: Unidimensionality and internal consistency revisited

Cited by 139 publications

References 8 publications

Primary teachers' attitudes toward science: A new theoretical framework

Primary teachers' attitudes toward science: A new theoretical framework

A New Look at Our Old Attitude Problem

Localization of nitric oxide synthase in the central complex and surrounding midbrain neuropils of the locust Schistocerca gregaria

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