Research Information System
Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology, vol.14, no.3 A, pp.1443-1452, 2013 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable assessment tool for identifying undergraduate students ethical approaches to the environment. The subjects were 694 students in university teacher training programmes during the 2012-2013 academic year. The research instrument was based both on a literature review and data obtained from open-ended questions. To determine construct validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The Cronbach alpha inner-consistency coefficient for reliability was calculated to be 0.73. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale consisted of 3 sub-dimensions: anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric environmental approaches. The scale comprised 25 items using the 5-point Likert scale. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the 3-factor structure of the scale. The value of factor loadings varied within the range of 0.42 to 0.82, and corrected item-tool correlations varied in the range from 0.21 to 0.53. The findings of the study show that the environmental ethics scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool for identifying students ethical approaches to the environment.