期刊名称：Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education
印刷版ISSN：1305-8223
电子版ISSN：1305-8223
出版年度：2020
卷号：16
期号：1
页码：1-16
DOI：10.29333/ejmste/110058
出版社：Pamukkale Univ Dept Sci Education
摘要：The use of Likert scale items for measuring teachers’ beliefs quantitatively is criticized.
In this study, two quantitative methods to measure teachers’ beliefs, a Likert scale
instrument as well as a new instrument employing rank-then-rate items, are each
compared with a qualitative approach at obtaining beliefs, i.e. interviews along with
observations. In the first comparison, teachers’ responses to the Likert scale instrument
seem to not fit the beliefs interpreted from the qualitative approach, particularly
regarding beliefs about teaching and learning. Further analyses show that a tendency
to respond according to social desirability as well as unspecific teaching contexts seem
to be responsible for these inconsistencies. In the second comparison, since the rankthen-rate
instrument also takes students’ abilities as a teaching context into account,
we observed a better fit between teachers’ responses to the instrument and the
qualitative approach. The results of both comparisons indicate the importance of
considering teaching contexts as well as alternatives to Likert scale items because of
social desirability in order to have a better prediction about teachers’ beliefs.
关键词：measuring teachers’ beliefs; Likert scale; social desirability; social context;
students’ abilities
