Perceived credibility of the teacher among middle school students

Abstract

The ongoing study seeks to ascertain the trustworthiness of educators among adolescents in middle school. A metric to gauge teacher trustworthiness was devised based on McCroskey's framework (McCroskey, 1999), encompassing 33 items in its final iteration. The psychometric characteristics of the metric, such as its discriminatory capacity, validity, and consistency, were determined. This metric was administered to a study cohort of 400 pupils, with an equal split of 200 male and 200 female students from various disciplines in middle school, chosen through a method of random sampling with proportional representation. Following the distribution of the research tool and the statistical examination of the data utilizing methods including the one-sample t-test, independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha formula for internal consistency, the subsequent findings were established: The study participants exhibit trust in their instructors. Based on the study outcomes, the investigator put forth deductions, provided multiple suggestions, and suggested a series of future research endeavors.