Psychometric Properties of Cognitive Behavioral Scientific Insight Questionnaire

Abstract

Scientific insight is a cognitive and behavioral task. Although as a concept or a measure that sounds very familiar, so far not even one tool was found to measure the cognitive behavioral scientific insight (CBSI). Due to the lack of a questionnaire in this field, the researchers aimed to design a cognitive behavioral scientific insight questionnaire (CBSIQ) and to determine its validity. Therefore, the researchers designed the CBSIQ with 105 questions on a five-point Likert scale, and then 205 university faculty members were asked to complete the tool. The faculty members were recruited using stratified sampling and within each stratum using simple random sampling methods. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA). Results show that CBSIQ ended with 33 questions constituting three factors: scientific thinking and applying scientific methods, scientific moral and commitment, and speaking in scientific terms. It is concluded that the CBSIQ is valid with relatively good fit indices. The implication of the CBSIQ is that it provides the key factors to diagnose individuals’ thinking obstacles; it can act as a framework to design instructional packages in order to teach people how to think insightfully and how to solve their problems scientifically or, in other words, how to acquire a scientific insight. Therefore, CBSIQ has the capability to function as a useful tool and as a remedy specifically to diagnose and resolve educational problems.