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Croatian Medical Journal, Vol. 51 No. 3, 2010.

Original scientific paper

Construction and Validation of Attitudes Toward Plagiarism Questionnaire

Martina Mavrinac orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-6424-2573 ; Rijeka University School of Medicine
Gordana Brumini ; Rijeka University School of Medicine
Lidija Bilić-Zulle orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-4497-6457 ; Rijeka University School of Medicine
Mladen Petrovečki ; Rijeka University School of Medicine

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Abstract

Aim To develop and test the psychometric characteristics
of a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward plagiarism.
Methods Participants were 227 undergraduates and graduate
students (128 women and 99 men) from three Croatian
universities, with a median age of 21 years (range 18
to 48). Research was conducted from March to June 2009.
For the purpose of construction of the first version of the
questionnaire, 67 statements (items) were developed.
The statements were based on the relevant literature and
were developed following rules and recommendations for
questionnaire writing, and 36 items were chosen for final
validation. Factor analysis was used to find out the factor
structure of the questionnaire and to measure construct
validity.
Results The final version of the questionnaire consisted
of 29 items divided into a three-factor structure: factor I
– positive attitude toward plagiarism (12 items); factor II –
negative attitude toward plagiarism (7 items); and factor III
– subjective norms toward plagiarism (10 items). Cronbach
α was calculated to confirm the reliability of the scale: factor
I – α = 0.83; factor II – α = 0.79; and factor III – α = 0.85.
Correlations between factors were: -0.37 between I and II,
-0.41 between I and III, and +0.31 between II and III.
Conclusion Attitudes Toward Plagiarism questionnaire
was developed, with good psychometric characteristics. It
will be used in future research as a standardized tool for
measuring attitudes toward plagiarism

Keywords

attitude; factor analysis; statistical; plagiarism; students; validation study; questionnaire

Hrčak ID:

55654

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/55654

Publication date:

15.6.2010.

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