A Review of Articles Concerning Scale Adaptation in the Field of Education

Abstract

This study aims at reviewing the articles written on scale adaptation in the field of education based on certain criteria. A total of 108 articles published in 10 journals indexed in SSCI and/or ULAKBIM during 2005–2014 were analyzed for this study. The “Scale Adaptation Process Check Form” developed by researchers was used in the analysis of the articles.

The results demonstrated that the purpose of the tools of measurement was stated and that the theoretical bases of the structures to be measured were described in the studies of scale adaptation. Conversely, in studies of linguistic equivalence, while the back translation method was normally used, the translated target forms were usually administered only to the target groups. It was concluded that the EFA and CFA were used in combination in most of the studies for determining the construct validity, whereas the criterion validity was not studied generally. The method of internal consistency was usually preferred in calculating the reliability of the scale adapted.

It was observed that the construct validity was generally similar to the one in the original scale, and that when an item was removed from the scale, no item was recommended as replacement for the removed item.