Adnan Kan

Development of an instrument to measure professional attitudes in nursing students in Turkey

The aim of the current study was to develop an instrument to determine the professional attitude of nursing students. The data were collected through a scale developed by the authors with the statements on attitude, including 8 sub-groups and 28 items. This was a Likert-type scale, ranging from 5 to 1. The sampling of the investigation comprised 1339 final-year undergraduate nursing students in Turkey. Eight factors were defined depending on the reliability and validity study of the professionalism instrument for nursing students. These factors accounted for 65.5% of the total variance. The correlation of the sub-factors in the scale ranged from 0.71 to 0.84. Cronbach alpha value was 0.90 and Cronbach alpha coefficient for sub-factors was between 0.71 and 0.84. Item test correlations calculated for the validity and the homogeneity of the instruments items were between 0.30 and 0.63. In conclusion, it was found that the instrument was a valid and reliable assessment tool that can be used to measure professional attitudes of nursing students.

Examining the Relationship Between Gender DIF and Language Complexity in Mathematics Assessments

This study investigated whether the linguistic complexity of items leads to gender differential item functioning (DIF) on mathematics assessments. Two forms of a mathematics test were developed. The first form consisted of algebra items based on mathematical expressions, terms, and equations. In the second form, the same items were written as word problems without changing their contents and solutions. The test forms were given to a sample of 671 sixth-grade students from 10 middle schools in Turkey. The tests were administered to the students with a 4-week interval. Explanatory item response modeling and logistic regression approaches were used to examine gender DIF. Several word problems were flagged as having gender DIF in favor of female examinees, whereas mathematically expressed forms of the same items did not function differently across male and female examinees. The verbal content of word problems seems to influence the way males and females respond to items.

Öğrenci-Merkezli Öğretim Stratejilerinin Kuzey Kıbrıs’taki Okullarda Uygulanması

The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which studentcentred instructional strategies are implemented in schools in North Cyprus. Explanatory mixed-method design, where both quantitative and qualitative data were sought, was employed in this study. The quantitative data were collected via the administration of Student-Centred Instructional Strategies Scale (SCISS) to 309 high school teachers. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were gathered through employing semi-structured interviews with 33 teachers. The results of the study demonstrated inconsistencies regarding quantitative and qualitative data collected. While the results obtained from the SCISS indicated that instructional strategies are implemented at a moderately high level, the interviews clearly demonstrated that traditional methods and techniques still dominate high schools in North Cyprus.