Developing a Media Literacy Perception Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a scale to determine the perceptions of media literacy. For this purpose, trial forms have been created and submitted for expert opinion. The scale items were revised based on the feedback received after the trial forms were examined about the content validity according to expert opinion. A pilot study was conducted with a sample group with characteristics similar to the general population in order to assess the construct validity, sub-dimensions, and reliability level of the draft scale, which was finalized after expert opinions were obtained and appropriate revisions were made. The working group of the pilot study was composed of students selected apart from the research sample. In order to reach the students, the “Simple Random Sampling” method was used. The construct validity of the scale was tested by performing factor analysis (EFA + CFA). To determine the reliability of the scale, item-total score correlations and Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient values were used.

Since several items had low item-total test correlations and some items had loadings for two distinct variables that were close to one another, these items were gradually excluded from the study until there were no extreme values present in the analysis and statistical errors were eliminated. Validity analyses (EFA + CFA) and Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of the obtained data were performed and the statements were finalized and the “Media Literacy Perception Scale” (MLPS) consisting of 16 items and three dimensions (factors) was created. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire scale in this research was found to be .86.