TY - JOUR
T1 - Construction and validation of a classroom climate scale
T2 - a mixed methods approach
AU - López, Verónica
AU - Torres-Vallejos, Javier
AU - Ascorra, Paula
AU - Villalobos-Parada, Boris
AU - Bilbao, Marian
AU - Valdés, René
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The study was funded by projects FONDEF IT 14I10132 and PIA CONICYT 160009, both from the Chilean National Comission of Science and Technology. The study was funded by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and Center for Research in Inclusive Education.
Funding Information:
The study was funded by projects FONDEF IT 14I10132 and PIA CONICYT 160009, both from the Chilean National Comission of Science and Technology. The study was funded by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and Center for Research in Inclusive Education.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - Students’ perceptions of their classroom climate have been found to relate significantly to students’ learning outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to construct an instrument for assessing elementary-school students’ perceptions of classroom climate, based on a previous instrument that was being used in Chile by a public national school mental health program as a tool for aiding teachers in improving classroom management, but which showed poor psychometric properties. We used a six-staged mixed-methods approach to construct relevant items and dimensions based on this measure and by adapting previously-existing scales. Item development included participatory construction of items involving program officials, focus groups with students, and a pilot study. The final version was administered to a sample of 6813 elementary-school students. Results showed adequate reliability and construct validity, convergent validity with school climate, and divergent validity with peer victimisation. When consequential validity was explored through semi-structured interviews with program officials and school administrators, we found that the instrument was being used as a tool for helping teachers to improve their school climate and management skills. We discuss the importance of constructing instruments using a mixed-methods approach.
AB - Students’ perceptions of their classroom climate have been found to relate significantly to students’ learning outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to construct an instrument for assessing elementary-school students’ perceptions of classroom climate, based on a previous instrument that was being used in Chile by a public national school mental health program as a tool for aiding teachers in improving classroom management, but which showed poor psychometric properties. We used a six-staged mixed-methods approach to construct relevant items and dimensions based on this measure and by adapting previously-existing scales. Item development included participatory construction of items involving program officials, focus groups with students, and a pilot study. The final version was administered to a sample of 6813 elementary-school students. Results showed adequate reliability and construct validity, convergent validity with school climate, and divergent validity with peer victimisation. When consequential validity was explored through semi-structured interviews with program officials and school administrators, we found that the instrument was being used as a tool for helping teachers to improve their school climate and management skills. We discuss the importance of constructing instruments using a mixed-methods approach.
KW - Classroom climate
KW - Measurement
KW - Mixed methods
KW - Validity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052830276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10984-018-9258-0
DO - 10.1007/s10984-018-9258-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052830276
VL - 21
SP - 407
EP - 422
JO - Learning Environments Research
JF - Learning Environments Research
SN - 1387-1579
IS - 3
ER -