Development of a Digital Citizenship Scale for Democratic Citizenship Education

• In Event: Democratic Citizenship in Education 2016

Abstract

This study puts forward a comprehensive digital citizenship scale based on carefully calibrated, overarching, inclusive components of digital citizenship that can be used to measure levels of online social integration and participation of young adults. A 26-item five-factor model was extracted using an Exploratory Factor Analysis, and then cross-validated through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The digital citizenship scale in this paper had good reliability and construct validity, evidenced by significant relationships with Internet self-efficacy and Internet anxiety scales. As a first advanced and well developed digital citizenship scale, this study will help understand individuals’ perceptions of their abilities and trajectories as active and/or critical members of online communities as part of their everyday lives on local, national, and global levels.

Author

• Moonsun Choi, The Ohio State University - Columbus