DAST or VoSAL? Adaptation of the VoSAL to Turkish and a comparison between the instruments

ABSTRACT

The Draw-A Scientist Test (DAST) has been used for many years as a data collection tool in studies where the image of the scientist is attempted to be determined. In this test, in which the image of scientist is attempted to be revealed with drawings, the drawings are analyzed using a coding ruler or checklist. However, the DAST has been criticized in terms of some methodological issues and it has been emphasized that alternative instruments should be developed. In this context, the Views of Scientist, their Activities, and Locations (VoSAL), developed as an alternative to the DAST, are discussed in this study. First, a validity and reliability study was carried out with the adaptation of the VoSAL into Turkish. At this stage, data were collected from 625 pre-service teachers. The analysis results showed that the VoSAL had excellent goodness-of-fit indices. In the second stage of study, the scientist image of 46 pre-service teachers were evaluated comparatively using the DAST and VoSAL. The results showed that the data of the DAST and VoSAL confirmed each other. The results were then discussed in terms of the scientist image literature.

KEYWORDS:

• DAST
• preservice teachers
• scientists
• VoSAL

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The study was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethical approval for the research written permission was also granted by Selçuk University Social and Human Sciences Scientific Research Ethics Committee in meeting number 22 on 16/05/2022.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual.

Data availability

The datasets created during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.