Psychometric Properties of Science Items Comprehension Test

Abstract

This study aimed to develop Science Items Comprehension Test (SICT), which can be used for the purpose of measuring to what extent students can understand the written content involving 8th grade science items of SBS (national placement test), and determine its psychometric properties. In this survey study, 259 eighth grade students enrolled in elementary schools in Antalya constituted the participants. SICT was developed with thirty reading comprehension items with science items of SBS implemented in 2012 and 2013. Field experts’ opinions were asked and necessary corrections were made based on experts’ feedbacks. In order to determine psychometric properties of instrument, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out with data collected from the research group. In accordance with factor analyses and results related to item discrimination, nine items were excluded from instrument, and the instrument took its final form with twenty one items. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that within the scope of single-factor structure, construct validity is high for target characteristics to be measured. In addition, reliability of scores acquired with SICT is high with regard to internal consistency.