The Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (MTUAS): Adaptation and Psychometric Analysis for University Students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to adapt an Arabic version of the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (MTUAS) to the Saudi culture and examine the psychometric properties of the adapted version in a sample of 1,709 undergraduate students. Evidence of construct validity and internal consistency reliability was first compiled through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) and Cronbach’s α coefficients. Multigroup CFA (MGCFA) was then conducted to test gender-related measurement invariance. The EFA yielded nine factors for the Usage scale and four factors for the Attitudes scale of the MTUAS, all of which were satisfactorily confirmed via CFA. Factors of the MTUAS exhibited adequate to good reliability and were gender invariant. Overall, the Arabic MTUAS displayed good psychometric properties in the Saudi undergraduate student population and was gender unbiased. Therefore, it can be used confidently across educational, public health, and marketing research in Saudi and Arabic contexts. Nevertheless, it is important to note that other psychometric properties, such as criterion-related validity, were not compiled in the present study, and the generalizability of the current findings might be restricted to the Saudi undergraduate student population. Hence, these limitations should be given more consideration in future studies by examining additional psychometric properties of the Arabic MTUAS and using comprehensive national data.

Keywords:

• Media and technology usage
• attitudes
• scale adaptation
• psychometric properties
• Arabic
• Saudi Arabia

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 All EFA and CFA analyses were conducted both before and after omitting the outlying cases. The differences were trivial, suggesting that the effect of outliers on the results could be negligible.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ahlam Alghamdi

Ahlam Alghamdi received her PhD in Evaluation and Measurement from Kent State University, USA. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Education at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Her research interests encompass behavioral and psychological aspects of media and technology use.

Jian Li

Jian Li is a professor in the program of Research, Measurement and Statistics in the College of Education, Health and Human Services and she is also the Director of Evaluation and Research in the University Center for Disability Inclusion at Kent State University, U.S.