Development of The Nature of Science Scale for Academics

Background: It is clear that the steps that can bring a perspective to science and enlighten our path with new changes can be provided by academics who have grasped science and the nature of science. The aim of this research is to develop a scale by which the views of academics on the nature of science can be evaluated. Results: The study was carried out with the voluntary participation of 682 academics at four different universities using a quantitative, methodological research design. As a result of the factor analysis, 19 items were grouped under five factors: "Definition of Science," "Systematicity and Reality," "Subjectivity in Science," "Openness to Change," and "Falsifiability in Science." These factors explained 52.709% of the total variance. The scale was found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of 0.615. Conclusions: The Nature of Science Scale for Academics is useful for determining how academics perceive science and its nature, considering the shift from a positivist-objective understanding of science to a subjective one, and the impact of post-modernism on the hierarchical structure of values within cultural codes.