Analyzing the psychometric properties of a questionnaire designed to measure information literacy : recommendations to develop a better instrument

Information Literacy is an increasingly important skill in today’s age of information. Information literacy is a set of skills concerned with recognizing a need for information, locating, accessing, and using information effectively. There are different instruments to measure information literacy skills one of which is a questionnaire developed by Steinrücke et al. (2020). This study investigates the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, by analyzing the factor structure. Results included that the expected factor structure, of four underlying factors, based on the four standards of information literacy as defined by the ALA (2000) was not supported by the data. Based on the results suggestions were made on how to adapt the questionnaire to accurately measure information literacy. The author emphasizes the importance of question-wording to avoid measuring related constructs and gives insight into items that should be removed from the questionnaire.