ABSTRACT
Students’ beliefs toward conspiracy theory (CT) of COVID-19 can be the indication of science education quality. However, a validated instrument to measure the level of students’ acceptance on the CT about COVID-19 still remains unexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the questionnaire of CT about COVID-19. The questionnaire consisted of 14 items and delivered online to the 400 students of Biology education in Indonesia. The data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). All items have standard deviation between 1.60 and 2.63, but one item was revealed to have insignificant correlation. The EFA result indicated that the other 13 items had loading factor 0.5 and were categorized into three dimensions. The third dimension was eliminated after the administration of CFA due to only one item in the dimension (λ>0.5). There were three items in the first dimension and two items in the second dimension resulted in λ<0.5. The correlated model from CFA disclosed good values of goodness of fit (GOF), χ2/df=2.527, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) standardized root mean square residual (SRMR)=0.014, comparative fit index (CFI)=0.964, goodness-of-fit index (GFI)=0.969, adjusted goodness of fit (AGFI)=0.940, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI)=0.947, and normed fit index (NFI)=0.943. Therefore, the questionnaire is strongly recommended to measure the level of students’ beliefs toward the CT of COVID-19. © 2022, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, various applications of genetics were used as a basis for studying the origin of the virus to diagnosing patients with this disease. Student literacy about COVID-19 from the genetic aspect will strengthen them in dealing with misinformation in a society that rejects the existence of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 genetics literacy instrument. The draft instrument consisting of 20 items was first distributed online to Biology Education students in Indonesia. The analysis was carried out after 400 respondents filled out the online form. Seven items were eliminated according to the results of CFA and EFA. There were 13 items comprising of three dimensions taken. The Rasch analysis shows that the instrument is reliable and has a separation index according to the recommendations. There was no misfit and its have good discriminating power. The three choices given in each item did not confuse the respondents. Therefore, the instrument was of good quality and could be used to evaluate respondents’ genetics literacy for future studies. © 2021 by the authors;licensee Modestum. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)