Construction and Examine the Psychometric Characteristics of Student Social Cognition Questionnaire (SHAD)

The aim of this study was construction and examine the psychometric characteristics of student social cognition questionnaire (SHAD). This study from the perspective of the purpose and method of collecting information, was a part of correlational research based on psychometric analysis. For this purpose, a researcher-made questionnaire with 19 items was conducted on 735 girl and boy students by random multi-stage cluster sampling in universities of Sharif, Tarbiat Modares, Elmo Sanaat, Shahid Beheshti and Khaje-Nasir. For analysis of data, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used. The results of exploratory factor analysis by principal components method with varimax rotation indicated the existence of 4 component social cognition that were named respectively cognition of self, mindreading, detection of educational threat and understanding of educational environment. These four component explained 49/63 percent of the total variance. Also, the results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four factors of the questionnaire. On the other hand, the results of the correlation coefficient provided evidence of the convergent validity of the social cognition questionnaire with other cognitive variables in this domain. The reliability of the questionnaire was also measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the correlation of the subscales with the total score of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha for subscale cognition of self (0/73), mindreading (0/72), detection of educational threat (0/71), understanding of educational environment (0/74) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the total questionnaire was (0/86). Generally, the results showed that social cognition questionnaire had an appropriate reliability and validity and it can be used as a useful tool to assess student’s social cognition.