VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF A SCALE FOR EVALUATING ATTITUDE TOWARDS MATHEMATICS TEACHERS IN ONDO STATE STUDENTS' POPULATION

Abstract This study developed and validated a scale on attitude towards Mathematics Teachers (ATMT) among secondary school students (male and female) in Ondo State, Nigeria. The attitude towards Mathematics (ATMT) Questionnaire (ATMT-Q) emerged from a review of the literature and expert consensus. The questionnaire was a subset of a larger questionnaire comprising several domains (cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions). Convergent and discriminatory validity was assessed in 2,424 students chosen from the population of 360,000 through stratified random sampling. Content and construct validity were determined through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlation coefficients arising from convergent and discriminant validity analysis. The predictive validity of the scale was confirmed through Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). Tests were carried out at the .05 level of significance. A principal component analysis was loaded one factor structure. Evidence for reliability of the questionnaire was good, and validity appeared satisfactory. It was concluded that there is evidence to believe that respondents understand the majority of questions in ATMT-Q and interpret them in the intended framework. Keywords: Attitude, Evaluation, Development, Validation, Mathematics