Adaptation of critical thinking disposition scale and testing factor structure according to different variables

Information and technology age resulted in a rapid change and transformation in the education system, thus creating qualified individuals that choose, organize and use information; think critically and innovatively, make researches, solve problems, calculate probabilities and make inferences. Critical thinking, one of the most important characteristics that an individual should have, is a complex and comprehensive process in which high-level skills are used. Use of critical thinking skills on appropriate occasions can only be realized by having the disposition of critical thinking.The scale of Emotional Intelligence Critical Thinking Disposition (EMI) which was developed by Ricketts and Rudd (2005) was adapted to Turkish and tested for validity and reliability in the present study. Moreover, the factor structure of the scale was examined according to different variables, and the study was conducted via 1500 first grade high school students studying in the 2011-2012 academic year at Ankara. The participants were randomly chosen from Altındağ, Yenimahalle and Çankaya, which have low, medium and high socio-economic levels. Data collection tool EMI is a five-point Likert scale consisting of 26 subject matters.The first aim of the study was the adaptation of the scale to Turkish culture; thus the subject matters were translated into Turkish by three experts in accordance with the adaptation criteria, and then the English and Turkish scales were applied to a group knowing both languages well every four weeks. The correlations between the two languages which were obtained from the group?s scores of the English and Turkish forms were evaluated, and the difference between the scores was examined via the t-test, thus determining the language equivalency of the scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to obtain evidences regarding the structural validity of the scale, the correlations between the sub-scales were calculated, and the relationship between the present scale and a similar scale was examined. The exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Turkish version of the scale has the same components as the original scale, while the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of the scale, which was also found to be related to the scale of California Critical Thinking Disposition, a similar scale used to determine validity. The validity of the scale was tested via Cronbach-alfa reliability coefficient which was used to determine the internal consistency of the scale and the sub-scales and the test-retest method. As a result of the analyses regarding validity and reliability, EMI was determined to be a valid and reliable scale for the measurement of the critical thinking dispositions of the students.A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to determine the equivalency of the three-factor structures of the groups distributed according to gender and socio-economic levels. In the groups distributed according to gender was determined not to differ for factor loadings and factor correlations of the confirmatory model; and also, was determined to differ for error variances of the confirmatory model. By the way, in the groups distributed according to social-economic levels was determined not to differ for factor loadings and also, was determined to differ error variances and, factor correlations of the confirmatory model.