The psychometric efficiency of students’ attitudes scale towards online-learning in light of IRT

Abstract

This study aimed to construct a scale to investigate students' attitudes towards online learning in light of Item Response Theory (IRT). An analytical descriptive approach was adopted. A scale consisting of 33 items was developed, and after ensuring its validity and reliability, it was transformed into an electronic version via Google Drive. Social media websites were used to distribute the survey to the targeted population. The selected sample comprised 596 students from Jordanian universities during the academic year 2023/2024. After administering the scale to the main sample, exploratory factor analysis was conducted, revealing that a single trait underlies the performance on this scale, indicating the assumption of one-dimensionality. The scree plot supported this finding. Both content and construct validity were confirmed. The reliability coefficient, measured by Cronbach's Alpha, was 0.853, which is considered suitable for the study sample. Additionally, the standard measurement error was calculated at 0.005, indicating an appropriate reliability indicator. Reliability within the framework of IRT was also high, reaching 0.842. The results from Exametrika V55 software showed good fit indices for the scale items to the Graded Response Model (GRM), except for one item, which was omitted from the scale.