The development of research self-efficacy scale

The purpose of this research is to develop a scale towards identifying research-related self-efficacies of university students. Research Self-Efficacy Scale (RSS) has been applied to 310 students pursuing academic education at the Near East University (NEU). For structural validity of the Scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed. As a result of the EFA, a structure with a single factor composed of 18 items and explaining 31% of the variation has been identified. Structural validity has been especially observed also through the Scale scores of those groups whose properties are known. Analysis results have shown a higher Scale point in favour of those who have taken research methods modules as opposed to those who have not, and those who have previous research experience as opposed to those who do not. The analysis for concurrent validity has produced a significant negative correlation between the Scale scores and the scores of the research anxiety scale, and a significant positive correlation between the Scale scores and perceived academic achievement. The alpha coefficient of the Scale scores is .87 and the split-half reliability coefficient is .85. Keywords : Research, Self-efficacy, research self-efficacy, scale, academic achievement.