Abstract:

The aim of this study was to adapt the Guided-Inquiry Scale, developed by Cheung (2011), to Turkish and conduct the reliability and validity studies. The sample of this study consisted of 132 preservice teachers attending the faculty of education at two public universities. After translation procedures of the scale, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the construct validity and Cronbach Alpha internal consistency and McDonald’s omega coefficients were calculated to identify reliability of the scale. The results of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the adapted scale consisted of 12 items in 3 subscales and acceptable fit indices belonged to the model measuring three correlated different structures (the value of guided-inquiry labs, limitations of cookbook-style labs, and implementation issues with guided-inquiry labs) (χ2/df=1,27, RMSEA=.045, SRMR=.051, CFI=.98, GFI=.92, AGFI=.88, NFI=.93, NNFI=.97, IFI=.98). The factor loadings obtained from confirmatory factor analysis were statistically significant and ranged from .56 to .85. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be.81 for the value of guided-inquiry labs dimension; .76 for limitations of cookbook-style labs dimension; .83 for implementation issues with guided-inquiry labs dimension. These results showed that the Turkish form of the Guided-Inquiry Scale is a valid and reliable instrument.

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