Evidences of Validity of the Brazilian Scale of Learner's Attitude towards Distance Education Programs

• Published in: International journal of information and communication technology education Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 1 - 16
• Main Authors: Coelho, Francisco Antonio, Jr, Cortat, Mariane, Flores, Clarissa Leite, Santos, Flávio Augusto Mendes, Alves, Gleidilson Costa, Faiad, Cristiane, Ramos, Wilsa Maria, Rodrigues da Silva, Alan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IGI Global 2018
• Subjects: Attitude Measures; Correlation; Distance Education; Educational Attitudes; Factor Analysis; Factor Structure; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Statistical Analysis; Student Attitudes; Test Reliability; Test Validity; Undergraduate Students; Brazil
• ISSN: 1550-1876
• DOI: 10.4018/IJICTE.2018010101

Online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology. In this study, an instrument to measure the social attitudes of the Brazilian students based on distance education was developed and validated. The study population consisted of public administration undergraduate students that has been providing by distance education by University of Brasília, in Brazil. The sample of the study consisted of 590 Brazilian students. The scale has 41 items, with total Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.94, and reliability coefficient (KMO) of 0.94. The correlations of each item with total point were between 0.30 and 0.79. A factor analysis was run using direct oblimin rotation for construct validity, resulting in 4 factors structure explaining 47.12% of total variability. These factors are "Personnel and Dispositional Aspects," "Procedural Characteristics," "Negative Affects" and "Internalization and habituation of usage." Consequently, findings show that The Brazilian Attitude Scale towards Distance Education (BrazilASTDE) is a valid and reliable instrument.