Evaluation of Validity and Reliability of Self-efficacy Questionnaire among University Pre-Service Biology Teachers in North-West, Nigeria

This study focused on the psychometric validation of the Pre-Service Biology Teachers' Self-Efficacy Questionnaire Pre-service BITSEQ developed for use among undergraduate biology education students in state universities within the North-West zone of Nigeria. Grounded in Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, the research addressed the critical need for culturally and contextually robust assessment tools to measure pre-service science teachers' instructional confidence. Adopting a descriptive survey research design, a sample of thirty (30) pre-service biology teachers was selected using a multistage sampling technique combining simple random and stratified sampling. The validation process evaluated face validity, content validity, construct validity (convergent and discriminant), and internal consistency reliability. The results established a strong logical face validity index of 81.8% among a panel of experts. For content validity, an expert review of the initial twenty items resulted in fifteen retained items, yielding an overall scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) of 0.89. Construct validity was successfully demonstrated through a significant positive convergent correlation (r = 0.76) with the General Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and a weak discriminant correlation (r = 0.32) with an academic procrastination measure, confirming the instrument's distinct construct measurement. Furthermore, the internal consistency reliability yielded an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.70, with strong subscale coefficients ranging from 0.85 to 0.98. The findings confirm that the PBTSEQ possesses high psychometric rigor, making it a reliable and valid instrument for assessing teacher self-efficacy in science education research.