An Analysis of Scale Adaptation Studies in Science Education: Meta-Synthesis Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine scale adaptation studies in the field of science education in terms of content, method as well as to determine the general guidelines used in the scale adaptation process. The population of this study included a total of 145 journals published in the field of science education in Turkey. A total of 46 adaptation studies which were published in 25 journals were selected from this population by using the purposive sampling methods comprise of the study sample. Meta-synthesis method was used for the data analysis in this study. Results of the study showed that adaptation studies in Turkey were mostly conducted in the self-efficacy area. It was determined that all studies calculated the internal consistency coefficient and that likert-type scales were commonly used. This study also determined that the language validity stage was not sufficiently discussed and was only briefly mentioned in the examined adaptation studies. It was found that none of the studies translated original test guidelines to target language. This study concluded that all of the adapted studies did not get official permissions for the pilot study. In addition, it was found that the researchers preferred to use CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) and EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) methods together for the construct validity.