Addressing the Lack of Measurement Invariance for the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution

• Published in: International journal of science education 2013-09, Vol.35 (13), p.2278-2298
• Main Authors: Wagler, Amy, Wagler, Ron
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptance of evolutionary theory; Case Studies; College Students; Construct Validity; Educational Research; Elementary School Teachers; Evolution; Factor Analysis; Factor analytic model; Goodness of Fit; High School Students; Hispanic American Students; Hispanic Americans; Internal consistency; Item response model; Item Response Theory; Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution; Measures (Individuals); Nonmajors; Preservice Teachers; Science Education; Science Instruction; Secondary School Science; Studies; Test Bias; Test Reliability; Test Validity; Theories; United States (Southwest); Validation
• ISSN: 0950-0693; 1464-5289
• DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2013.808779

The Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) was constructed to be a single-factor instrument that assesses an individual's overall acceptance of evolutionary theory. The MATE was validated and the scores resulting from the MATE were found to be reliable for the population of inservice high school biology teachers. However, many studies have utilized the MATE for different populations, such as university students enrolled in a biology or genetics course, high school students, and preservice teachers. This is problematic because the dimensionality and reliability of the MATE may not be consistent across populations. It is not uncommon in science education research to find examples where scales are applied to novel populations without proper assessment of the validity and reliability. In order to illustrate this issue, a case study is presented where the dimensionality of the MATE is evaluated for a population of non-science major preservice elementary teachers. With this objective in mind, factor analytic and item response models are fit to the observed data to provide evidence for or against a one-dimensional latent structure and to detect which items do not conform to the theoretical construct for this population. The results of this study call into question any findings and conclusions made using the MATE for a Hispanic population of preservice teachers and point out the error of assuming invariance across substantively different populations.