Reliability and Validity of Measures of Attitudes toward Writing and toward Writing with the Computer

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Abstract
The reliability of secondary students' scores from a previously published measure of attitudes toward writing, Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Scale (WAS), and a newly developed Attitudes Toward Writing with the Computer Scale (ATWCS) were appraised and validity evidence gathered in two separate studies. Data came from 354 7th through 10th graders in seven school districts and from 658 10th graders in one school district. Alpha coefficients were .94 and above for the WAS and .86 and above for the ATWCS. Construct validity indicators were (a) low correlations between WAS and ATWCS scores and substantiating interview data; (b) higher correlations between WAS and holistic writing scores than between ATWCS and holistic writing scores; (c) greater sensitivity of the ATWCS to the effects of participation in a computer writing lab; and (d) independent factorial structures for the two scales. A three-factor solution was obtained for the WAS, contrary to Daly and Miller's unifactor solution.