Evaluation of Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a widely used instrument designed to measure student attitudes toward physics and learning physics. Previous research revealed a fairly complex factor structure. In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review special topics. Physics education research 2014-11, Vol.10 (2), p.020128, Article 020128
Main Authors: Douglas, K. A, Yale, M. S, Bennett, D. E, Haugan, M. P, Bryan, L. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude Measures
Attitudes
Colorado
Educational Attitudes
Factor Analysis
Factor Structure
Goodness of Fit
Introductory Courses
Item Analysis
Learning
Physics
Pretests Posttests
Problem solving
Program Validation
Psychometrics
Science Education
Scientific Attitudes
State Surveys
Student Attitudes
Students
Test Items
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a widely used instrument designed to measure student attitudes toward physics and learning physics. Previous research revealed a fairly complex factor structure. In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from an undergraduate introductory physics course (n = 3844) to determine whether a more parsimonious factor structure exists. Exploratory factor analysis results indicate that many of the items from the original CLASS have poor psychometric properties and could not be used in a revised factor structure. The cross validation showed acceptable fit statistics for a three factor model found in the exploratory factor analysis. This research suggests that a more optimum measurement of students' attitudes about physics and learning physics is obtained with a 15-item instrument, which describes the factors of personal application, personal effort, and problem solving. The proposed revised version of the CLASS offers researchers the opportunity to test a shortened version of the instrument that may be able to provide information about students' attitudes in the areas of personal application of physics, personal effort in a physics course, and approaches to problem solving.
ISSN:1554-9178
1554-9178
2469-9896
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020128