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Educational and Psychological Measurement
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Experimental Analysis of Question Wording in an Instrument Measuring Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education

Robert F. Dedrick

University of South Florida, dedrick{at}tempest.coedu.usf.edu

Kofi Marfo

University of South Florida

Deborah M. Harris

University of South Florida

An experimental study (n = 288 general and special education teachers) examining the effects of altering the referent ("students with mild disabilities," "students with severe disabilities," or "students with disabilities") on a four-item scale (Negative Effect of Inclusion) indicated that wording changes had little effect on the scale’s psychometric properties (e.g., factor pattern coefficients). Changes did result in a shift in the mean level of the attitude scale. Regression coefficients between the scale and type of teacher, total years of teaching experience, years of experience at current school, and training in inclusion were not significantly altered by changing the referent. Gender was the only predictor that exhibited a lack of invariance in its regression coefficients across questionnaire forms that differed in referent. For most of the bivariate relationships examined in this study, the same conclusions would be drawn no matter which of the three referents were used.

Key Words: attitudes toward inclusion • question wording • measurement invariance • multigroup confirmatory factor analysis

Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 67, No. 1, 116-131 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0013164406292034
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