Test anxiety in online exams: scale development and validity

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Psychometrics
• Digital Learning

Background:

• The proliferation of online testing necessitates accurate measurement of student anxiety.
• Existing scales may not fully capture the nuances of online test anxiety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a contemporary, reliable scale for assessing university students' online test anxiety.
• To identify the key dimensions contributing to online test anxiety.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods research design integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Four stages: planning, item pool creation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
• Scale administered to 442 students for EFA and 387 for CFA.

Main Results:

• The final 20-item scale demonstrated strong reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .94).
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor structure: psychological/physiological anxiety (α = .93) and technical anxiety (α = .90).
• The two-factor model explained over 63% of the variance.

Conclusions:

• The "Test Anxiety Scale for Online Exams" is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring university students' online test anxiety.
• The scale effectively differentiates between psychological/physiological and technical anxiety components.
• Findings provide a valuable tool for educators and researchers in digital assessment contexts.