Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 17, 2026
10:39
Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of Tools with Rating Scales Aimed at Assessing the Quality of University Service-Learning
Published on: August 29, 2025
1.1K
Epistemic trust towards teacher questionnaire: Development and preliminary validation.
Alex Desatnik1,2,3,4, Maxim Yakubovskiy4,5, Sergei Tarasov6
1Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Plos One
|September 15, 2025
Summary
This study developed the Epistemic Trust Towards Teacher (ETT) scale to measure student trust in teachers. The validated ETT scale shows potential for improving educational psychology and student learning outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Evolutionary Psychology
Background:
- Epistemic trust (ET) is crucial for information processing and learning.
- Leveraging ET can enhance student engagement and academic outcomes.
- A validated measure is needed to assess ET specifically in teacher-student interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Epistemic Trust Towards Teacher (ETT) scale.
- To examine the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the ETT scale.
- To assess the unique role of ET in the educational context.
Main Methods:
- Development and validation of a new self-report measure (ETT scale).
- Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on data from 224 middle and high school students (ages 11-15).
- Assessed construct validity through correlations with related psychological measures.
Main Results:
- CFA supported a three-factor structure (Trust, Mistrust, Generalisation) with good model fit.
- Reliability was acceptable to excellent across subscales (Cronbach's α = .75–.88).
- The ETT scale demonstrated good discriminant validity and correlated as expected with measures of teacher-student relationships, alliance, immediacy, and motivation.
Conclusions:
- The ETT scale is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring epistemic trust in teachers.
- The scale shows potential for use in educational psychology research and practice.
- Further research should explore the ETT scale's utility across diverse populations and settings.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:29Reliability and Validity
13.7K
Reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. Reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. In the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways.
13.7K
03:00Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
5.7K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
5.7K
01:29Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
283
The Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model offers a psychological framework to understand how individuals’ self-esteem is influenced by the achievements of others, particularly those with whom they share close personal bonds. The SEM model operates when personal rather than social identity guides individuals. Central to this model is the notion that individuals have an inherent desire to preserve a favorable self-image, which is continuously shaped by interpersonal comparisons and...
283
01:29Self-Efficacy
198
Self-efficacy is the belief in one's capacity to organize and execute actions necessary to manage prospective situations. This belief significantly influences how individuals approach goals, tasks, and challenges across different domains of life.Psychological and Educational ImpactsIndividuals with strong self-efficacy are more resilient in the face of difficulties. They are more likely to adopt effective problem-solving strategies, persist through obstacles, and regulate emotions such as...
198
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
225
Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
225
01:24Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback
187
Self-esteem is intricately tied to our perception of competence and our ability to exert control over our lives. One of the primary sources of this perception is performance feedback — the ongoing evaluation of our actions in terms of success and failure. According to Franks and Marolla (1976), people derive self-worth from experiencing themselves as causal agents, capable of achieving goals and overcoming obstacles. This process nurtures a critical component of self-esteem:...
187