ICCS 2009 Technical Report - IEA

Table 12.2: Item parameters for scales reflecting students’ behaviorsScale or Item Question/Item Wording Delta Tau(1) Tau(2) Tau(3)PoliticalDiscussionHow often are you involved in each of the following activities outside of school?IS2G13A Talking with your parent(s) about political or social issues 1.14 -0.70 -0.10 0.81IS2G13D Talking with friends about political and social issues 1.70 -0.69 -0.12 0.81IS2G13F Talking with your parent(s) about what is happening in 0.46 -1.25 -0.05 1.31other countriesIS2G13G Talking with friends about what is happening in other countries 1.15 -1.15 -0.04 1.1CommunityParticipationHave you ever been involved in activities of any of the following organisations, clubs, or groups?IS2P14A Youth organisation affiliated with a political party or union 2.30 0.99 -0.99IS2P14B Environmental organisation 1.57 -0.08 0.08IS2P14C Human rights organisation 2.12 0.43 -0.43IS2P14D A voluntary group doing something to help the community 1.28 -0.01 0.01IS2P14E An organisation collecting money for a social cause 1.04 -0.09 0.09IS2P14F A cultural organisation based on ethnicity 2.20 0.46 -0.46IS2P14H A group of young people campaigning for an issue 1.43 0.19 -0.19SchoolParticipationAt school, have you ever done any of the following activities?IS2G15A Voluntary participation in school-based music or drama 0.25 -0.27 0.27activities outside of regular lessonsIS2G15B Active participation in a debate 0.65 0.27 -0.27IS2G15C Voting for or -0.49 0.15 -0.15IS2G15D Taking part in decision-making about how the school is run 0.79 0.25 -0.25IS2G15E Taking part in discussions at a 0.69 0.32 -0.32IS2G15F Becoming a candidate for or 0.70 0.29 -0.29Question 15 asked students if they had participated in six different civic-related activities atschool either “within the last twelve months,” “more than a year ago,” or “never.” These itemspermitted derivation of a scale reflecting students’ civic participation at school (PARTSCHL), withthe positive values reflecting higher levels of civic participation. The scale reliability was 0.66for the international sample, and the cross-national reliabilities ranged from 0.53 to 0.75. Table12.2 shows the item parameters used for scaling.Figure 12.3 shows the results of the confirmatory factor analysis of these items. The RMSEAindicated a close model fit whereas NNFI and CFI suggested some lack of fit. The CFA showedmoderate positive correlations among the three latent traits, in particular between communityandschool-based student participation.SCALING PROCEDURES FOR ICCS questionnaire ITEMS167