Development of an instrument to assess middle school students' attitude toward environmental pollution

환경 오염에 대한 중학생의 태도 평가 도구 개발

The purpose of this study was. to develop a valid and reliable Likert-type scale to assess middle school students' attitude toward environmental pollution. The evaluation categories of this instrument were cognition and conaction levels. Initially, 42 statements (29 statements for cognition level and 13 statements for conaction level) were framed. This pilot instrument was administered to 1015 middle school students. To select valid and reliable statements, the 42 initial statements were analyzed by item mean, standard deviation, and response distribution. In addition, the emotional intensity: of each statement was judged. As a result, 22 final statements (14 statements for cognition level and 8 statements for conaction level) were developed. Cronbach alpha coefficient of the instrument was 0.76 with a range of item-total correlation from 0.229 to 0.488. Factor analysis was done to explore the potential constructs of this instrument. As a result, six factors were extracted. Those factors were identified as "Conaction to prevent environmental pollution", "Confrontation with the enterprise which causes environmental pollution", "Voluntary inclination to participate in the group which prevents environmental pollution", "Discussion on environmental pollution", "Environmental pollution and interests", and "Everyday sources of environmental pollution".