Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

An instrument has been designed to measure the Perceived Stress among Teachers to teach in Inclusive Classroom and named as Perceived Stress among Teachers to teach in Inclusive Classroom PST-ICS by the researcher. The development of the PST-ICS followed five stages process. Stage one involved reviewing of related literature and preparation of preliminary draft of the scale. Stage two involved review of preliminary draft by the different experts and pre try-out of the scale. Third stage involved the standardization of the items (scale) through various statistical techniques. Stage four involved factor analysis to specify items to be grouped in different factors. In the fifth stage of the scale development, final draft of the scale was formulated on the basis of previous four stages.

Stage-I Preparation of Preliminary Draft of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

Determining the scope of stress

First of all, researcher reviewed the literature on stress among teachers to limit the scope of the stress among teachers to teach while teaching students with special needs. On the basis of the review of literature, personal observation of researcher and suggestions of supervisor & other experts, researcher framed a theoretical layout of stress among teachers when they teach students with special needs in mainstream classrooms. The researcher concluded that the presence of students with special needs in classroom/school causes stress among teachers in the form of increased workload and additional expectations from them by students with special needs, their parents, society, and administration. 

Framing of Items

After finalizing the area/scope of stress among teachers on the basis of review of related literature and guidance by experts, next step was to prepare the items related to stress among teachers while teaching children with special needs in mainstream classroom. As stress was not a main variable of the study, only a limited number (20) of items were framed to measure the stress among teachers so that researcher could step further by measuring the coping strategies used by the teachers while teaching in inclusive classrooms. The items were sharply focused and unambiguous in nature, which was essential to know the true opinion of respondents.

Stage-II Content Validation by Experts and Pre Try-out of PST-ICS

Expert comments

Preliminary draft of the PST-ICS was first checked by the various experts of Education, Psychology, Statistics, English Language and Hindi Language (list of experts is enclosed as appendix-VI). In the light of the views and comments provided by different experts, few items were modified, added, replaced and few were omitted. After this cumulative exercise of the researcher with various experts, a total of 16 items were finalized for the further standardization process of the scale.

Pre Try-out

The first draft of the Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS) was given to a small group of 25 teachers for the purpose of removing any ambiguities and to see if all the 16 items properly communicated what the same were intended to do. The initial tryout leads to further revision and refinement of the scale for its effectiveness.

Stage-III Standardization of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

Try-out

After the initial tryout of the first draft, the scale was administered to a larger group of 298 teachers. After obtaining due permission from the concerned authorities of different schools, the scale was administered to primary teachers, trained graduate teachers and post graduate teachers (N=298). For establishing the rapport, purpose of the scale was explained and the instructions were given to the respondents. They were asked to tick either of five alternative responses appearing in the four point scale (Not Stressful, Somewhat Stressful, Quite Stressful and Extremely Stressful). There was no time limit for filling the scale; however, they completed it within 10 minutes.

Scoring of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

to Score Stress among Teachers to teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale is very easy and of quantitative type. Scoring key provide the weightage score for each item. The responses of the subjects were rated on a four point scale and the options were, Not Stressful, Somewhat Stressful, Quite Stressful and Extremely Stressful.

Table-Scoring Procedure for Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS)

Response Alternatives                                           Weightage Score

Not Stressful                                                                            1

Somewhat Stressful                                                                   2

Quite Stressful                                                                3

Extremely Stressful                                                                   4       

The scoring is done by awarding 1 score to Not Stressful, 2 to Somewhat Stressful, 3 to Quite Stressful, and 4 to Extremely Stressful. The scoring procedure has been clearly illustrated in Table-3.8. Lower score on PST-ICS represented lower stress among teachers and vice versa. 

Item-analysis

After scoring all answer booklets, item analysis was done. Item analysis is primarily concerned with item difficulty. Item difficulty is taken in terms of proportion of individuals completing the item successfully but as in the Perceived Stress Coping Strategies to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale, there was no pass or fail on any item, so indices of item difficulty cannot be determined. Then, inter-item discrimination and item-total correlation need to be measured for eliminating and retaining the items.

Inter-item discrimination

Item discrimination index refers to the degree to which it differentiates between those obtaining high scores and those obtained low scores. All the scores of each item were arranged in ascending order of total scores.

Table-Discrimination between high and low criterion group on Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS) (N1=80, N2=80, df=158)

Item No.	Higher Group (Top 27%)	Lower Group (Bottom 27%)	‘t’
Mean (M1)	SD (s1)	Mean (M2)	SD (s2)
1.	1.35	.480	3.82	.382	36.86**
2.	1.58	.497	3.91	.284	30.65**
3.	1.09	.284	3.49	.503	25.26**
4.	1.24	.428	3.39	.490	29.55**
5.	1.36	.484	3.44	.499	26.76**
6.	1.09	.284	3.39	.490	36.32**
7.	1.44	.499	3.52	.503	22.21**
8.	1.25	.436	3.56	.499	31.18**
9.	1.41	.495	3.52	.503	26.72**
10.	1.35	.480	3.50	.503	27.65**
11.	1.36	.484	3.44	.499	26.76**
12.	1.21	.412	3.42	.497	30.61**
13.	1.00	.000a	3.30	.461	0
14.	1.04	.191	3.24	.428	41.98**
15.	1.28	.449	3.34	.476	28.15**
16	1.35	.480	3.44	.499	26.99 **

** Significant at .01 level of significance

The top 27 per cent and the bottom 27 per cent scores were taken out. To test the significance of difference between the mean scores of each item, the top and bottom piles were tested. The items which showed significant difference were considered to be worth retaining and those which were not significant were rejected.

Table-3.9 presents the t-ratios between high and low criterion groups on Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS) for teachers. It is clear from Table-3.9 that all the items except item number 13, where Standard Deviation was found zero were retained after inter-item discrimination. Remaining 15 items were found significant at the .01 level of significance.

Item-total correlation

Correlational techniques have also been frequently employed as the measures of index of item discrimination. Total item correlation is calculated by correlating each item against the internal criterion of the total score, that is, each item is validated against the internal criterion of total score. Lindquist (1951) calls this the ‘internal- consistency item discrimination index’. When the correlation between the total score and the individual item score is computed as a measure of the discriminative power of the item, it shows how well the item is measuring that function which the scale itself is measuring. The validity index exhibits the extent to which a particular item discriminates among examinees those differ sharply in the function measured by the test as a whole. As a matter of fact, item total score correlation is regarded by most of the experts as the best index of discrimination (Singh, 2006). 

Table-3.10 represents the values of total-item correlation of all 16 items. All the calculated correlated values (Pearsonian correlation) were found significant and none of the item was rejected at this stage of item-analysis.

Reliability

To test the reliability of the scale both Split-half method and Test-retest method were applied.

Table-Item Total Correlation of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS) (N=298, df=296)

Item No	Co-efficient of Correlation	Level of Significance	Accepted/Rejected
1.	0.57	0.01	Accepted
2.	0.60	0.01	Accepted
3.	0.59	0.01	Accepted
4.	0.53	0.01	Accepted
5.	0.59	0.01	Accepted
6.	0.60	0.01	Accepted
7.	0.62	0.01	Accepted
8.	0.67	0.01	Accepted
9.	0.58	0.01	Accepted
10.	0.71	0.01	Accepted
11.	0.75	0.01	Accepted
12.	0.63	0.01	Accepted
13.	0.59	0.01	Accepted
14.	0.61	0.01	Accepted
15.	0.59	0.01	Accepted

Split-half Reliability Co-efficient

In the Split-half method, odd and even items were splited and their correlation was computed by applying Product-moment co-efficient of correlation method. The reliability co-efficient of the whole test was computed with the help of Spearman-Brown Prophecy formula.s considered high.

Test-retest Reliability Co-efficient

After four weeks’ time interval, the scale was re-administered to 60 teachers. The test-retest reliability co-efficient indicated the stability of measurement over a period of one month came out to be 0.85. The reliability co-efficient indicates a high degree of stability in the measurement made by this scale.

Validity

A technique or test/scale is valid if it measures what it is meant to measure or what it was intended to measure. The validity of the Perceived Stress among Teachers to teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS) was established through face validity, and criterion validity.

(1) Face Validity

The face validity of the scale was fairly high. The face validity of the scale was established through discussing the items of the scale with experienced teachers of Department of Education, Department of Psychology, Department of Statistics and Operational Research, Department of Hindi, and Department of English of Kurukshetra University. The items were approved by these teachers for Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS).

(2) Criterion Validity

Correlation of a test with a criterion as an external measure is referred to as criterion validity. It was computed by using Inclusive Education Teachers’ Stress and Coping Strategies Scale developed by Forlin (2001) on 60 teachers. The obtained validity co-efficient was 0.78and interpreted to be quite satisfactory.

Percentile Norms

To make the Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS) more effective, percentile norms were established on a sample of 298 regular school teachers teaching in government schools run by Directorate of Education, Delhi.

Table-Percentile norm of school teachers on Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (PST-ICS)

Percentile	P10	P20	P30	P40	P50	P60	P70	P80	P90	P100
Value	25	30	32	35	37	40	43	46	48	64

On the basis of the percentile norms (Table-3.11), respondents scoring between 25 and32 would be less stressed, between 33 and 43 would be moderately stressed and those who scored between 44 and 64 would be identified as highly stressed.

Stage-IV Factor Analysis of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

Factor analysis

An exploratory factor analysis was applied on a total of 15 items (remaining items after item-analysis) to determine the underlying factors of the scale. The factor analysis was done on the final data collected for the study (N=739) which was sufficient to undertake factor analysis because it was above the recommended number mentioned by Nunnally (1978). Nunnally recommended a ratio of 10 respondents to each item and Tabachnick & Fidell (2001) suggested a sample size of 300 respondents. Factor analysis was applied with the aim of having a precise and parsimonious picture of genuine overlaps among various items of the scale.

Factor analysis (Principal Component) was performed by using unities in the diagonal of intercorrelations matrix (Holelling, 1935). Kaiser’s (1960) recommendation of eigen values greater than 1.00 was used to decide the number of factors to be extracted. The result of extraction method revealed a total of four factors having eigen value more than 1.00, ranging from 6.015 to 1.005. These four retained factors accounted for 58.64 percent of variance. Communalities (h²) for all 15 items ranged from .371 to .781. Communalities (h²) of each item have been mentioned in the last column of the Table-3.12.

Table-Varimax-rotated factor matrix of retained 15 items of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

Variables/ Item No.	Factor-1	Factor-2	Factor-3	Factor-4	h2
Q1		.754			.600
Q2		.775			.700
Q3				.539	.602
Q4				.844	.781
Q5			.407		.371
Q6		.502			.529
Q7	.529				.567
Q8	.657				.613
Q9	.696				.536
Q10		.532			.552
Q11		.489			.623
Q12	.492				.530
Q13			.765		.665
Q14			.835		.760
Q 15			.590		.483
Eigen value	6.015	1.281	1.081	1.005
Variance	37.594	8.009	6.758	6.279

Further, the factors were rotated by employing Kaiser’s (1958) Varimax Criterion for orthogonal rotation for having more meaningful and interpretable solution to the factors. On the basis of Varimax-rotated matrix, the items were grouped under four factors in which items were having highest factor loading (more than .30). The retained 15 items were grouped into four factors. The grouping of items in particular factor with factor factor loading has been given in Table-3.12. Later, the factors were named on the basis of the nature of the items grouped together in particular factor and presented in Table-3.13 with their respective item number of the final scale (appendix-IV-A).

Stage-V Preparation of final draft of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale (PST-ICS)

In the light of the previous four stages of test construction, the final form of the scale was prepared. Out of total 20 items, 15 items in all were retained for the final draft. Table-3.13 represents the final draft of PST-ICS consisting four factors with their respective item numbers. All the items of PST-ICS would be scored positively as given in the Table-3.8. Higher the score on PST-ICS would lead to higher stress among teachers and vice-versa.

Table- Distribution of items on various dimensions of Perceived Stress among Teachers to Teach in Inclusive Classroom Scale

Sr. No	Dimensions of PST-ICS	Description of Items	Item Numbers	Total
1	Classroom Environment (CEN)	Environment of the classroom in the presence of Children with Special needs	1,2,6,10,11	05
2	Time availability (TA)	A ratio of workload on teacher and time availability with special concern to children with special needs	3,4	02
3	Demand of CWSN (DCWNS)	Special/Additional requirement/expectations of children with special needs	5,13,14,15	04
4	Environment outside the Classroom (EOC)	Responsibilities of teachers towards children with special needs other than teaching	7,8,9,12	04

  

Table-3.13 represents the final draft of the scale having four factors with their respective item numbers. The PST-ICS was found to consist four factors that measured stress among teachers while teaching in inclusive classrooms namely; ‘Classroom Environment’ representing environment of the classroom in the presence of students with special needs, ‘Time Availability’ showing the ratio of workload on teacher and available time with special concern to students with special needs in mainstream classrooms, ‘Demand of CWSN’ consisting special/additional requirements/expectations of students/children with special needs and ‘Environment outside the Classroom’ contained the responsibility of teachers towards Students with Special Needs other than the teaching. All the items in PST-ICS would be scored positively as given in Table-3.8. Higher the score on PST-ICS would lead to higher stress among teachers and vice-versa.

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