Scientific Attitude Inventory: A Revision (SAI II)
Assesses students interest in science, their attitudes toward science, their views of scientists, and their desire to become scientists.
Average Review: 
(4.0)
by Matthew Minarchek,
Project Assistant, Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
The Scientific Attitude Inventory: A Revision (SAI II) instrument contains 40-Likertscale items intended to measure knowledge of the nature of science, attitudes, and interest in science. There is a 5-point scale of response labels: agree strongly, agree mildly, uncertain or cannot decide, disagree mildly, disagree strongly. The SAI II has been used on audiences ranging from 6th grade to college students and schoolteachers. The language is simple enough to be used with audiences as young as middle school. This instrument however, has mostly been tested in in-school settings, with some of the items focusing on science class, so additional testing is needed to determine whether this could work in informal environments. I would estimate the survey to take around 20 minutes to complete.
With regards to the evaluation of citizen science program or out-of-school programs, I believe this instrument could be used across program types and across populations.
The SAI II is based on revisions to the original SAI. According to the authors, the revisions were made "in response to published criticisms, Moore and Foy (1997) shortened the SAI from 60 to 40 questions, and changes were made to improve readability and eliminate gender-based language. In the original SAI, Moore had opted for a four-point Likert response scale with no midpoint. In the revision, they opted for the more common five-point response format, with the midpoint being 'neutral/undecided.' The underlying logical structure (six domains) and attitude direction (positive and negative) remained unchanged."
There are 3 subscales: Science is about Understanding and Explaining (Item #s 4, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 33); Science is Rigid (Item #s 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 38); and I Want to Be a Scientist (Item #s 1, 13, 14, 22, 27, 30, 36, 40).
