Validity and Reliability of Percieved School Principal Management Styles Scale

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale measuring principals’ management styles. First, literature review was done and later 84-item draft scale was develop, which reflects management styles defined through observational method as a result of analyses of open-ended questions. Next, the draft scale was submitted to the expert opinion and shortened to 55-item. The initial form of Perceived Principal Management Styles Scale (P-PMSS) was administered on 615 teachers working at 30 elementary schools (n=397) and 16 high schools (n=218). 36 participants’ data were not appropriate, so they are excluded. To conduct the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis separately, the main data set (n=579) was split randomly into two sets including data from 229 and 350 teachers. As a result of exploratory analysis, a four-factor construct with 25 items was detected. The confirmatory factor analysis testing the fit of the model to the data revealed and confirmed that the scale has four-factor structure. The concurrent criterion validity of the P-PMSS was tested using “Leadership Practices Inventory”. The test-retest correlation coefficients of the P-PMSS revealed as “74”. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the P-PMSS factors ranged between “.85” and“.92”. Using this scale, it is possible to classify the principals in terms of management styles. The scale can be used to do researches on various topics related to teachers, school administrators and principals’ management styles.