Evaluating the psychometric features of the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) as a thought tendency in high school students

This study was launched aiming at evaluating the psychometric features (validity and reliability) of the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) in high school students. Forthispurpose, 392 students (168 male and 224 female) of Shirazhigh schoolswere selectedby multistagecluster samplingmethod. They, then, responded to the self-report need for closure scale developed by DeBacker & Crowson. To assess the construct validityof thisscale, confirmatory factor analysi sandinternal consistency was used. Moreover, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was usedtoevaluate the reliability ofthe scale. Generally, the goodness of fit indices of the confirmatory factor analysis modelindicated a relatively goodfit ofthe datawith factor structure of the need for closure scale, after deleting some items, confirming the existence of preference for structure and preference for certainty as two components of need for closure. Also, internal consistency method indicates the construct validityof thescale. The Cronbach's alpha coefficientindicates thestability of themeasurement of the scale. Based onthese results, one can use the need for closure scale developed by DeBacker&Crowsonas an acceptablemeasurement toolin thestudyofhigh school students inside the country.