The major purposes of this study were (1) to construct a reliable and
valid scale for measuring writing self-efficacy levels in adult basic education
students, (2) to further test the scale's validity and reliability by administering
it to a second selected group of adult basic education students, and (3) to
demonstrate its utility by showing its use in correlational analyses.
In the first of three phases, 156-item statements were initially developed.
These statements were evaluated by a Delphi panel and reduced to a
77-item writing self-efficacy scale and administered to 490 adult basic education
students from ten community colleges located in Oregon. A systematic
procedure of statistical analyses was used that resulted in 25 item-statements
meeting criteria for acceptance into the revised writing self-efficacy scale.
The revised 25-item scale was administered to a second group of 239
ABE students from six other community colleges in Oregon. The same
statistical procedures, as in phase one, resulted in a 25-item writing self-efficacy
scale. Factor analyses resulting in a clustering of 21 out of 25 items
on two factors argued for some evidence of unidimensionality, but further
analyses were recommended. The scale's construct validity was demonstrated
by showing a strong divergent correlation with the Daly-Miller
Writing Apprehension Scale.
Having established evidence of the scale's validity and reliability, the
use of the writing self-efficacy scale in conducting correlational analyses was
demonstrated. Nine variables were studied, with two variables showing
strong relationships with writing self-efficacy, a negative one with writing
apprehension and a positive one with writing improvement.
It was concluded that the newly revised 25-item writing self-efficacy
scale showed preliminary evidence of reliability and validity but it was recommended
for further study with other selected groups of adult basic education
students. The scale's unidimensionality was also suggested for further
study, in order to analyze the underlying factors that make up the construct
of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students. Moreover,
the development of this scale offered a first step in assessing the important
construct of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students and
provided a useful tool in assessing such a construct. / Graduation date: 1995
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/32102 |
| Date | 27 September 1994 |
| Creators | Prickel, Donald O. |
| Contributors | Carpenter, Charles E. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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