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 (4.0)

Supplemental Information:

n/a

Assessment Type:

40 5-point Likert scale items

Scale:

5-point Likert scale

Publication Date:

Nov 07, 2008

Respondent:

6th, 9th, and 12th grade students

Domain(s) Evaluated:

Engagement, Attitude / Behavior, Competence

Sample items:

Only highly trained scientists can understand science. The search for scientific knowledge is boring.

Reliability:

Cronbach's alpha: 0.78 Split-half: 0.81

Validity:

Present. For criticism of validity see: Munby, H. (1997). Issues of validity in science attitude measurement. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(4), 337-341.

Frequency:

Rarely

Administration time:

0 minutes

Requires a Computer:

No

Requires Internet Access:

No

Primary reference:

Moore, R.W. & Hill Foy, R.L. (1997). The scientific attitude inventory: A revision (SAI II). Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(4), 327-336.

Comments:

1) The author (Moore) of the SAI revised his original instrument in order to eliminate gender-biased references and words that have been criticized as difficult to read. He also shortened the instrument and changes the scale from 6-points to 5.

2) For Psychometric reevaluation of the tool, please see Lichtenstein M.J., Owen S.V., Blalock CL, Liu Y., Ramirez K.A., Pruski L.A., Marshall C.E., Toepperwein M.A. (2008). Psychometric Re-evaluation of the Scientific Attitude Inventory-Revised (SAI-II). Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 600-616.

A study using SAI II:
Munby, H. (1984). Thirty studies involving the “scientific attitude inventory”: What confidence can we have in this instrument? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 21(3), 341-342.

Other References:
Feist, G. J. (2012).
Predicting interest in and attitudes toward science from personality and need for cognition.Personality and Individual Differences, 52(7), 771-775.

Osborne, J., Simon, S., & Collins, S. (2003). Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications. International Journal of Science Education, 25(9), 1049-1079.

STEM Criteria

Science

Yes

Technology

No

Engineering

No

Math

No