# Development study of scientific competence and activity scale in medical faculty research assistants

## TL;DR

This study developed and validated a scale to assess scientific competence and activity among medical faculty research assistants.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the creation of a reliable and valid 29-item scale with four subdimensions for evaluating research assistants' scientific competence.

## Key findings

- The scale demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.960) and strong construct validity.
- Four subdimensions were identified through factor analysis, containing 14, 8, 4, and 3 items respectively.
- A cut-off score of 92 was determined to predict participation in publications or projects.

## Abstract

One mission of medical faculties is training scientists equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes, who can evaluate the scientific research. The aim was to develop a scale for evaluating the level of scientific competence and activity in research assistants.

The study is a methodological study, conducted in October 2023–May 2024, with 299 research assistants working at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine. The reliability was assessed by item-total correlation and Cronbach-alpha coefficient; construct validity was assessed by EFA. In EFA, principal component analysis, Varimax rotation were used. KMO and Bartlett test p-value were calculated. Groups with eigenvalues greater than one were determined as factors. The ability of the scale score to determine the level of scientific competence and activity was examined by ROC curve analysis. SPSS 30.0 was used; significance was taken as p < 0.05.

KMO value is 0.945, Bartlett’s test p is <0.001. Seven items were removed. As a result of Varimax rotation, four sub-dimensions were determined; factor 1 (fourteen items), factor 2 (eight items), factor 3 (four items), factor 4 (three items). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.960, item-total correlation coefficients are greater than 0.3. The mean score was 91.23 ± 23.10. According to the ROC analysis for participation in at least one publication/project, the cut-off point was 92.

The Scientific Competence and Activity Scale consists of 29 items in 4 subdimensions, it is valid, reliable. To generalize its validity and reliability, it is crucial to test the theoretical structure of the scale in various groups.