Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Learner Satisfaction Survey in Online Courses: A Transcultural Adaptation and Psychometric Study

Background: Following the importance of assessing the online courses from Iranian learner’s viewpoint, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Learner Satisfaction Survey (LSS) in online courses in the Iranian Methods: In this transcultural adaptation and psychometric study, 526 students who had studied at least 2 semesters online were selected based on convenience sampling method and enrolled in eight public universities of Iran (Based on geographical distribution) from October 2022 to January 2023. The learner satisfaction survey (Chang, 2013), a short version of the Online Satisfaction Survey (Strachota,2003), was used to evaluate the learners’ satisfaction with online courses. It comprises 25 self-report items measuring four types of interaction (learner–content, learner– instructor, learner–learner, and learner–technology interactions) and a general satisfaction. The tool was translated using standard forward–backward technique. Second, psychometric properties, including the face, content, construct, convergent and divergent validities, and reliability were examined using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients. Results: Linguistic and conceptual equivalence of the translated questionnaire was higher than 1.5 and content validities values (CVR 0.78 CVI 0.79) were calculated at an acceptable level according to experts. None of 25 items was removed based on face and content validity coefficients. The exploratory factor analysis showed that five factors were identified that predicted 73.723% of the total variance. A factors structure with adequate fit indices (Χ2/df=2.23 3 ،RMSEA=0.069 ، GFI=0.96 ، NFI=0.97 ، CFI=0.98, RMR=0.045, SRMR=0.047) based on five secondorder factors (learner–content, learner–instructor, learner–learner, and learner–technology interactions, and general satisfaction) and one second-order factor (total score for academic satisfaction) were confirmed. Reliability of LSS was satisfactory, with McDonald’s omega ranging from 0.880 to 0.955 and Cronbach alpha ranging from 0.881 to 0. 955. The findings confirmed the convergent validity (AVE 0.5 and CR AVE) for each subscale and total scale. Also, ASV AVE MSV AVE pconfirmed the divergent validity for each subscale and total scale. Conclusion: The results indicate that the LSS has acceptable psychometric properties and can be considered as a suitable tool for measuring satisfaction with online courses in the Iranian context.