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Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure University Students’ Biotechnology Attitude

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Abstract

The impact of biotechnologies on peoples’ everyday lives continuously increases. Measuring young peoples’ attitudes toward biotechnologies is therefore very important and its results are useful not only for science curriculum developers and policy makers, but also for producers and distributors of genetically modified products. Despite of substantial number of instruments which focused on measuring student attitudes toward biotechnology, a majority of them were not rigorously validated. This study deals with the development and validation of an attitude questionnaire toward biotechnology. Detailed information on development and validation process of the instrument is provided. Data gathered from 326 university students provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the new instrument which consists of 28 attitude items on a five point likert type scale. It is believed that the instrument will serve as a valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in science education to assess students’ biotechnology attitudes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments on earlier draft of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

    Mehmet Erdogan

  2. Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Murat Özel

  3. Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education, Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey

    Muhammet Uşak

  4. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, University of Trnava, Priemyselná 4, P.O. box 9, 918 43, Trnava, Slovakia

    Pavol Prokop

  5. Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Pavol Prokop

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  1. Mehmet Erdogan
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  2. Murat Özel
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  3. Muhammet Uşak
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  4. Pavol Prokop
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Correspondence to Murat Özel.

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Erdogan, M., Özel, M., Uşak, M. et al. Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure University Students’ Biotechnology Attitude. J Sci Educ Technol 18, 255–264 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-009-9146-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-009-9146-6

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