Discriminant validity
In order to investigate the discriminant validity of the subscales was measured by
analysing scores of pupils who manifested a positive attitude towards school art by their
active participation in outside school activities such as engaging in art activities at home.
For this purpose the question: ‘Do you like drawing at home?’ (that was included in the
section with the factual information) was used to divided pupils into four groups: a) yes,
every day, b) yes, 2-3 times per week, c) yes, 2-3 times per month, and d) no. A One-
Way ANOVA test was carried out and indicated a significant difference among these
four groups of pupils for the four subscales: enjoyment (F (2, 417) = 54.810; p< .001),
confidence (F (2, 417) = 26.346; p<. 001), usefulness (F (2, 417) = 36.370; p< .001), and
support needed (F (2, 417) = 8.603; p< .001). The Tukey post hoc procedure (Tukey
HSD) was used for making all pairwise comparisons among the four groups of pupils.
Pupils who were dedicated in art and drew daily at home received the highest scores in all
subscales, whereas pupils who were indifferent towards art and never drew at home
received the lowest scores in all subscales. The above indicates that the subscales had
acceptable levels of discriminate validity because they were discriminating according to
pupils’ active participation to outside school art activities.
Factors influencing pupils’ attitudes
Pupils’ responses on the ASAES were used to assess how different groups of pupils
(based on their own characteristics and/or on their teachers’ level of specialisation and
attitudes to art/art teaching) form their attitudes. But, before referring to the tests used to
identify the effect of different variables it is important to talk about another important
13