A Psychometric Study of the Faculty’ Attitudes Towards Research Scale in Iran University of Medical Sciences

In modern world, attitudes of people are considered more important than their experiences and academic preparation. A positive attitude towards research is a key factor for success and progress in societies.

This study was psychometric assessment with 141 faculty member from Iran university of medical sciences. Initial instrument with 10 –items was translated to Persian after getting After permission from the developer of scale. Instrument validation procedures included impact item score, content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) of the judgment of 12 experts. Structural validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis and internal reliability of the scale was determined by alpha Cronbach coefficient and with the test-retest method the external consistency of a test was evaluated.

Of the original 10 items, all of them based on impact item index over 1.5, CVR over 0.56, and CVI over 0.7 were kept in instrument. Due to exploratory factors analysis, 9 items remained in instrument. By considering a minimum eigenvalue of 1 for each factor, the two factors were extracted “For me research academic is positive” and “For me research academic is negative”. These factors were capable to predict 41.895% of the variances of total scale. Based on the confirmatory factor analysis, he extracted factors was approved.

The results of this study indicated the strength of the factor structure and reliability of an instrument for measuring faculty attitudes toward research scale. The results of study can assess faculty attitude in universities and other educational institutes.