DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUMENT AND INDICATORS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER DIRECTORS’ CHARACTERISTICS IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES IN BANGKOK

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to 1) investigate the desired characteristics of early childhood center directors in Muslim communities in Bangkok and 2) develop the instrument and indicators for measuring the characteristics of early childhood center directors in Muslim communities in Bangkok. The study was divided into 2 phases. The first phase was conducted qualitatively with group discussion and in-depth interview from the key persons including 6 early childhood center directors and 18 representatives of teachers and representatives of early childhood center administrative officers. The collected data were examined using Triangulation Check and Content Analysis. The second phase was conducted quantitatively using the questionnaire developed from the collected data in the first phase as an instrument and indicators of early childhood center directors’ characteristics in Muslim communities in Bangkok with its content validity is 0.98. The questionnaires were distributed 2 rounds to 150 directors and teachers of early childhood centers in Muslim communities in Bangkok. The data then were analyzed through Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis with the first order using statistical packages.

The results were as follows : 1) there were 26 variables of desired characteristics of early childhood directors in Muslim communities in Bangkok, 2) the exploratory factor analysis showed that only 25 variables were classified and divided into 4 factors namely Behaviors (beh), Organizational Development (dev), Knowledge (know) and Leadership (lead). These four factors were then examined using the confirmatory factor analysis and it was found that as the first order confirmatory factor analysis, the model was consistent with the empirical data which yielded a Chi-square of 0.54 at a degrees of freedom of 1 (Chi-Square = 1.19, df = 1, p = 0.27).