January 2012 Volume 15 Number 1 - Educational Technology ...

any statistically significant differences among elementary students’ views toward importance, necessity, learning
environment of science and technology classes and teaching strategies of their science teachers in terms of the gender
variable.
Population and sampling
The population of this study comprised sixth-grade students from 20 elementary schools in Elazig, Turkey. The
stratified proportional random sampling procedure was used to select the schools. There are five education zones in
the city. The schools were stratified on the basis of education zones and their socioeconomic conditions. Then four
schools from each education zone were selected with three levels of socioeconomic status reported by the National
Education Office. The sample consisted of 1,558 (925 male and 633 female) sixth-grade students selected randomly
from those elementary schools. The simple random sampling procedure was used to select 318 students from each
elementary school. A total of 1,590 students participated in the study. However, out of these 1,590 students, 1,582
completed questionnaires. Of this total number, 24 were incomplete and were thus eliminated, leaving a sample of
1,558 students. The gender composition of the respondents is 59.4 % male and 40.6% female.
Data collection and analysis
Data was generated from a questionnaire in which a five-point Likert scale was used. Students were asked to rate
their opinions about the science and technology courses they were taking (Appendix A). The survey, administered in
the classroom, included 20 items derived from the review of the relevant literature. In some classes the researcher
administered the survey himself and in others, classroom teachers were trained to administer the survey. In all cases,
the same procedures were followed. Students were reminded that their answers would remain anonymous, and they
were asked to read the items carefully and answer honestly.
The survey, with responses of strongly agree, agree, partly agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, was first piloted on
415 students for the factor-analysis process. The pilot participants were similar to the target population in terms of
background. Factor analysis was used to examine the correlation between the items of each subscale. Factor analysis
revealed four subscales, namely: importance, necessity, learning environment, and teaching strategy.
Table 1.Cronbach’s alpha reliability scores for each subscale
Subscales Item No α
Importance 1, 3, 7, 11, 18 0.94
Necessity 2, 9, 10, 13, 14 0.94
Learning environment 4,5, 12, 15, 17 0.93
Teaching strategy 6, 8, 16, 19, 20 0.94
The internal reliability of the scale was calculated by using Cronbach’s alpha formula, the Spearman-Brown
reliability coefficient, and Guttmann’s split-half technique. Cronbach’s alpha for the importance subscale (α = 0.94),
necessity subscale (α = 0.94), learning-environment subscale (α = 0.93), teaching-strategy subscale (α = 0.94), and
overall scale (α = 0.98) showed satisfactory reliability because a Cronbach’s alpha scale greater than 0.70 was
considered acceptable for the internal reliability of the items associated with each proposed factor (Hair, Anderson,
Tatham, & Black, 1995). For the whole sample, the Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient for unequal lengths was
calculated to be 0.96, and Guttmann’s split-half technique revealed a reliability coefficient of 0.96. The Kaiser-
MeyerOlkin measure of sampling adequacy of the scale was measured to be 0.97, and Bartlett’s test was calculated
to be 37,063.668 (p < 0.05). According to the results obtained from the factor-analysis process, the scale was found
to be valid and reliable. In a prior examination, when the distribution of the data was found to be non-normal, the
non-parametric statistical technique Mann-Whitney U was used for testing gender differences. When the distribution
of the data was found normal, the parametric statistical technique, the independent groups t-test, was used. Results
with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
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