Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of Professionalizm Scale for Athletes (APS)

In this research, it is aimed to develop a measurement tool that can measure the professionalism level of athletes in a valid and reliable way. The research was modeled in a mixed design and was carried out with 614 athletes who were continuing their sportive careers in Ankara in 2021. Before creating the item pool, content analysis was carried out by obtaining the opinions of the participants about the feature with the help of open-ended questions. Analyzes of construct validity were carried out in order to determine the psychometric properties of the measurement tool. In order to determine the construct validity, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied; Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied in order to verify the structure that emerged as a result of EFA. In the study, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyzes (CFA) were performed on two different groups by dividing the data set into two groups. As a result of EFA, the feature is explained with 38.25%. 11 items and one-dimensional structure are presented. The structure revealed as a result of EFA was confirmed by CFA. In addition, the item-total test correlation and the item discrimination index over the total score and whether there was a difference between the item score averages were carried out to determine the discrimination of the items. The reliability of the measurement tool was examined with the Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient and test-retest techniques, and a result was obtained that the measurement tool was highly reliable. When the psychometric properties of the Professionalism Scale for Athletes (SPÖ) were evaluated, it was determined that it was a valid and reliable data collection tool. So, it can be stated that the measurement tool has the ability to measure the professionalism levels of the athletes