Risks of the Digital World: Digital Risk-Taking Scale (DRTS) Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

This study aims to conduct validity and reliability of a measurement tool developed to determine university students' levels of digital risk taking. 646 undergraduate students from 8 different universities voluntarily participated in the study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to reveal the factor structure of the measurement tool. Data were collected from two different sample groups sequentially. Item-total correlations and internal consistency values were considered to determine the reliability of the measurement tool. The analyses revealed that 12 items of the measurement tool clustered under two different factors. The item loadings ranged from 0.49 to 0.76. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the measurement tool. The internal consistency coefficient of the measurement tool was calculated as 0.77 for the first sample and 0.76 for the second sample. Correlation analyses conducted to determine the criterion validity of the measurement tool revealed significant relationships between the scores obtained from the measurement tool and variables such as digital dependency, digital citizenship, cognitive flexibility, and emotion regulation. Based on the conducted analyses, it was determined that the measurement tool is a valid and reliable instrument that can be employed to assess the university students' levels of digital risk taking.