Validity and reliability study of the materialistic tendencies towards the environment scale for preschool teachers

This study was conducted to find out whether or not materialistic tendencies towards environment of preschool teachers show any significant difference according to demographic variables by conducting validity and reliability study of the Materialistic Tendencies Scale towards the Environment (MTSTE) for these teachers. Sample group of this descriptive survey study consisted of 300 preschool teachers, who were working at independent kindergartens and nursery classes within the body of primary schools affiliated with Ministry of Education in the central districts of Şanlıurfa city. A "General Information Form" and the "Materialist Tendencies Scale towards the Environment" for prospective teachers, which was developed by Saraç & Sarıkaya (2018), were used to collect data. CFA was carried out for the validity study by considering the model structure of the scale in its original version. Before conducting CFA, statistics of both KMO and Barlett's test of sphericity were calculated to determine whether or not the sample was suitable to perform the factor analysis. The findings obtained from the analysis revealed that the KMO value was 0.96 and the Barlett's test of sphericity was significant (𝜒2 = 7532.988; p = 0.00 <0.05). Moreover, Mahalanobis distances were calculated to find out whether or not there is any multivariate extreme value in data. Based on Mahalanobis values, no multivariate extreme values were observed in items. In order to apply factor analysis, another assumption was examined: the problem of multi-collinearity. For this problem, the Pearson's correlations between the items in the scale were calculated. When examining the binary correlation results calculated between the items, it was observed that none of the values obtained were higher than 0.70. Therefore, it can be asserted that there was no multi-collinearity problem between any of the items at all. The assumptions were hypothesized, and CFA was conducted. Maximum likelihood estimation method was used to estimate what model parameters in CFA. As a result of CFA, χ2/sd, RMSEA, SRMR, NFI, NNFI, GFI, AGFI, and CFI fit indices were used to assess model-data fit of the model. All of the fit index values obtained related to the CFA model/data fit of MTSTE made for preschool teachers were found to meet the criteria values. As a result of CFA, the t values of the items were examined. The t values of all the items were observed to be significant at significance level of 0.05. Then, standard factor loading values and error variances were examined. The factor loading values of items ranged between 𝜆=0.44 and 𝜆 = 0.88 and error variances ranged between ε=0.22 and ε=0.80. The scale's Cronbach's 𝛼 reliability coefficient was 0.96. The results showed that MTSTE can be used to identify materialistic tendencies of preschool teachers towards the environment. Later, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test was conducted for normality assumption of the data. Non-parametric statistics were used in the analyses because the total scores of the scale did not show any normal distribution. Accordingly, Mann Whitney U-Test was conducted to compare two unrelated groups. A Kruskal Wallis H test was conducted to compare more than two unrelated groups. Non-Parametric multiple comparison tests were conducted to find out between which groups there was a significant difference. In conclusion, the findings showed that preschool teachers had low materialistic tendencies towards the environment. Moreover, their materialistic tendencies towards the environment created a significant difference based on age, seniority, where they lived for the longest term, and marital status. However, their materialistic tendencies towards the environment did not show a significant difference based on type of institution they work at, whether they live with their families or they live alone, the education level of their parents, whether they had taken courses on the environment, and whether their family and their friends influences their decisions when they make purchases.