The Mediating Role of Pre-service Teachers' Attitudes Towards Scientific Research

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to determine the indirect effects of pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards scientific research on the relationship between their information literacy self-efficacy, their critical thinking dispositions, and their gender. The population of the research, in which the correlational research model was adopted, consists of pre-service teachers who continue their education at a state university in the Central Anatolia Region in the 2021-2022 academic year; the sample consists of 464 pre-service teachers selected from the population through simple random sampling. Personal information form in which demographic variables were asked, the Attitudes towards Scientific Research Scale, the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Critical Thinking Tendency Scale were used as data collection tools in the research. Hayes' Model 4 was tested to examine the effect of the mediator variable. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards scientific research had a positive partial mediator effect on the relationship between their critical thinking dispositions and information literacy. Similarly, pre-service teachers' attitudes towards scientific research had a positive partial mediator effect on the relationship between their gender and information literacy. Accordingly, it is recommended that faculty members in education faculties plan their lessons in a way that will allow pre-service teachers to increase their positive attitudes towards scientific research.