Perceived attributes of instructional computer use in early childhood education: A scale adaptation and validation study

Abstract

Based on Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovations Theory, this study aims to describe the
construction and validation of the “Perceived Attributes of Computer Use” (PACU) scale to measure the
pre-service early childhood teachers’ (N=581) tendency towards computer use for instructional purposes
in the early childhood settings. The development and validation process of the PACU scale, reworking on
the structure and item numbers of the original English scale ‘Perceived Characteristics of Innovating’
(Moore & Benbasat, 1991), was accomplished in four steps, namely (1) translation and adaptation
procedure, (2) Q-Sort method, (3) exploratory factor analysis, and (4) confirmatory factor analysis. A
five-factor scale (i.e., relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability with
eigenvalues of 8.1, 3.1, 2.3, 1.5, and 1.2, respectively) was revealed including 23 items and a good fit
between the data set and the proposed Turkish version scale was confirmed (NNFI=.92, CFI=.93,
RMSEA=.97, χ2/df=2.58). Moreover, the reliability value of the scale was found .90. In the end, the overall
measures and evidence validated a ready-to-use scale for prospective early childhood teachers.