Evaluation of Validity and Reliability of the Quality of School Life Questionnaire in Mashhad Schools

Abstract: Background & Aims: The Quality of School Life (QSL) is an issue that in the recent decade has got special attention for its influential role in student's life and it is defined as the level of quality of different aspects related to the student's life in school. Since students are future managers of the society, and spend most of their life time at school, identifying the factors that can threaten their life quality is very important and this requires an efficient instrument for precise evaluation. The aim of this study was to investigate psychometric characteristics of the Quality of School Life Questionnaire (Anderson & Brouck, 2000) in Iranian population. Method: In this study, 331 students aged 11-16 years (115 girls/ 216 boys) were selected through multistage cluster sampling and Morgan table for sampling. Anderson & Brouck Quality of School life questionnaire was evaluated in regard to its construct validity (explanatory factor analysis and internal consistency), convergent validity, reliability (internal consistency) and Pearson correlation index in the studied group. Data were analyzed through SPSS.18 software. Results: In explanatory factor analysis, 5 factors (Opportunity, Adventure and Achievement, General Satisfaction, Negative Affect, Social integration and Quality of school life were extracted. The reliability of the mentioned factors was respectively 0.70, 0.76, 0.70, 0.71, 0.72 and 0.85 by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Conclusion: Considering the results of this study, the Quality of School Life Questionnaire has good validity and reliability, and can be used for evaluating Quality of School Life in Iranian Secondary school students. Keywords: Quality of life, Schools, Iran, Cross- cultural comparison