A psychometric analysis of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) and a proposal for a Spanish version (S-ATI-20)

Background: Recent educational research has explored how university teachers approach their teaching. One of the most widely used instruments is Trigwell and Prosser's (2004) Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI). There is, however, scarce research on the Spanish version of this questionnaire. This paper aimed: 1) to analyse the reliability and structural validity of two existing versions of ATI in Spanish language, and 2) to present a proposal for a new Spanish version of ATI, and to measure its reliability and validity. Method: The samples comprised university and trainee teachers from two Spanish universities. Results: Reliability coefficients, factor structures, and item loadings of the two existing Spanish versions of ATI were evaluated. Some coincidental outcomes suggested that a revised ATI in Spanish was required, thus a new version (S-ATI-20) was presented and tested on a new sample. Conclusions: The results suggest questionnaires should be suitably translated and item wording carefully adapted. Factor analyses moderately support a two-scale model, but a lack of correlation between approaches suggests alternative approaches to teaching models might be worth considering. This paper presents preliminary results which should be taken with caution, but S-ATI-20 may serve as a tool for self-reflection in faculty development.