Written Communication Jul 1990

Reliability and Validity of Measures of Attitudes toward Writing and toward Writing with the Computer

JAMES P. SHAVER

Abstract

The reliability of secondary students' scores from a previously published measure of attitudes toward writing, Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Scale (WAS), and a newly developed Attitudes Toward Writing with the Computer Scale (ATWCS) were appraised and validity evidence gathered in two separate studies. Data came from 354 7th through 10th graders in seven school districts and from 658 10th graders in one school district. Alpha coefficients were .94 and above for the WAS and .86 and above for the ATWCS. Construct validity indicators were (a) low correlations between WAS and ATWCS scores and substantiating interview data; (b) higher correlations between WAS and holistic writing scores than between ATWCS and holistic writing scores; (c) greater sensitivity of the ATWCS to the effects of participation in a computer writing lab; and (d) independent factorial structures for the two scales. A three-factor solution was obtained for the WAS, contrary to Daly and Miller's unifactor solution.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1990-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088390007003004
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing centers digital rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Karaca et al. (2020)
    A measure of possible sources of demotivation in L2 writing: A scale developmen…
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  2. Latif (2019)
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  3. BLINE et al. (2001)
    A Research Note on the Dimensionality of Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Scale
    Written Communication
  4. Mehlenbacher et al. (2000)
    Active and interactive learning online: a comparison of Web-based and conventio…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. REINSCH et al. (1995)
    Preferences for Sending Word-Processed versus Handwritten Messages: An Explorat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 19 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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