Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of an Arabic Translation of the Shortened Form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online April, 2004
Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of an Arabic Translation of the Shortened Form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales
A sample of 480 (246 boys and 234 girls) students in Grade 11 in the United Arab Emirates completed an Arabic version of the shortened form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales. A factor analysis of the intercorrelations of responses to 51 items indicated the same general factors as in the original study. Internal consistency estimates of the reliability of scores on the total scale and on each scale for the short form were acceptable, with coefficients alpha ranging from .72 to .89.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AikenL. R. (1976) Update on attitudes and other affective variables in learning mathematics. Review of Educational Research, 46, 293–311.
2.
BrislinR. W. (1980) Translation and content analysis of oral and written materials. In TriandisH. C.BerryJ. W. (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology. Vol. 2. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Pp. 398–444.
3.
CattellR. B. (1966) The scree test for the numbers of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245–276.
4.
CohenJ. (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. (2nd ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
5.
ElliotJ. C. (1990) Affect and mathematics achievement of non-traditional college students. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 21, 160–165.
6.
FennemaE.ShermanJ. A. (1976) Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scale: instruments designed to measure attitudes towards the learning of mathematics by males and females. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 6, 31. (Ms. No. 1225)
7.
GorsuchR. L. (1983) Factor analysis. (2nd ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
8.
GorsuchR. L. (1997) Exploratory factor analysis: its role in item analysis. Journal of Personality Assessment, 68, 532–560.
9.
HocevarD.El-ZahharN. (1985) Test anxiety in the USA and Egypt: a paradigm for investigating psychometric characteristics across cultures. Advances in Test Anxiety Research, 4, 203–213.
10.
MulhernF.RaeG. (1998) Development of a shortened form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 295–306.
11.
PedroJ.WolleatP.FennemaE.BeckerA. (1981) Election of high school mathematics by females and males: attributions and attitudes. American Educational Research Journal, 18, 207–218.
12.
ShermanJ. (1983) Factors predicting girls' and boys' enrollment in college preparatory mathematics. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 7, 272–281.
13.
ShermanJ.FennemaE. (1977) The study of mathematics by high school girls and boys: related variables. American Educational Research Journal, 14, 159–168.
14.
StrickerL. J.RockD. A.BurtonN. W. (1993) Sex differences in predictions of college grades from Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 710–718.
15.
TobiasS. (1987) Succeed with math: every student's guide to conquering math anxiety. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.
