Internet skills: a scale adaptation study

This study aims to adapt the Internet Skills Scale, originally developed by Van Deursen et al. in 2016 to the Turkish cultural context and to examine its psychometric properties. The original scale comprises 35 items across five factors. To explore the factor structure in the Turkish context, exploratory factor analysis was conducted with data from 307 internet users. The original 5-factor structure was reduced to four factors due to the analysis. It was determined that all factors explained 68.4% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with 300 participants to test the suitability of the resulting 4-factor structure for Turkish culture. Confirmatory factor analysis results supported the 4-factor structure, and the fit indices indicated acceptable, good, and excellent model fit. Convergent and discriminant validity analyses were also conducted to assess construct validity, and the results were found to be within acceptable ranges. Based on the findings, the 20-item version of the scale was confirmed to be valid and reliable for use within the Turkish context.