The Psychometric Characteristics of Task Cost Scale in High School Students in Qom

Task cost and its dimensions in the theory of expectance-value are important antecedents to achievement behaviors. The present study aims to validate an instrument to measure the task cost in high school students.
The participants were 363 high school students (172 Male, 191 Female) in second and third grades who were selected through random multistage sampling and completed task cost scale of Fluke et al, Pintrich's questionnaire of task value, Vallerand's Questionnaire of academic motivation, and Semnan's questionnaire of task value. Data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis.
The results show that a four-factor structure (the inside effort cost, the loss of valued alternatives cost, emotional cost, and outside effort cost) fits the structure of cost task. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.97 and for the subscales of the inside effort cost 0.87, the loss of valued alternatives cost 0.90, emotional cost 0.91, and outside effort cost 0.93. Correlation analysis shows that there is a significant relationship between the scores of subscales of task costs and task value in the range of -0.39 to -0.48. The scores of achievement value, value of internal interest, and value of external interest have a significant relationship with components of task cost in the range of -0.35 to -0.56. Furthermore, the subscales of task cost and reluctance have a significant relationship in the range of 0.22 to 0.29.
The Persian version of the task cost scale has acceptable psychometric characteristics for the students and can be used as a valid instrument in psychological researches