The social anxiety scale for e-learning environments (SASE)

Click to download the sase scales.

The SASE scale includes two subscales which are named as learner-learner interaction and learner-instructor interaction. Each scales consists of 23 items and three sub-factors. These sub-factors are called negative evaluation, somatic symptoms and avoidance of interaction. The validity and reliability assessments of the subscales were conducted separately. This allows researchers to use the subscales together or separately in e-learning environments

A high score on this scale, which is designed as a 7-point scale tool, indicates high levels of social anxiety in the relevant dimensions.

For more information: Keskin, S., Şahin, M., Uluç, S., & Yurdugul, H. (2023). Online learners’ interactions and social anxiety: The social anxiety scale for e-learning environments (SASE). Interactive Learning Environments, 31(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1769681

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10494820.2020.1769681

SASE English Adaptation Study

The SASE was developed and validated by Keskin et al. (2020) in Turkish. It is a 46-item 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Higher score indicates higher social anxiety. Since the scale was developed in Turkish, the scale was adapted in the following stages. The forward-backward translation procedure was applied to translate the SASE from Turkish into English language. The final translation was done and revised independently by two translators, and minor terms were edited. All authors approved the final developed version.

Firstly, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a factorial validity analysis was conducted to identify the item-factor relations and the relationships between the factors. To assess the construct validity of the scale, convergent and divergent validity tests were performed based on average explained variance (AVE) values (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). According to the adaptation study, learner-learner interaction explained 61% of the total variance and learner-instructor interaction explained 67.96% of the total variance of the three-factor structure.

The English version of the SASE contains a total of 40 items: 20 for learner-learner interaction and 20 for learner-instructor interaction.

For more information: Alsudais, A. S., Alghamdi, A. S., Alharbi, A. A., Alshehri, A. A., Alzhrani, M. A., Keskin, S., Şahin, M. & Althubaiti, A. M. (2022). Social anxiety in E-Learning: Scale validation and socio-demographic correlation study. Education and Information Technologies, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-10919-7

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-022-10919-7

The scale is currently available in 3 languages. Select the desired version here.

EnglishGermanTurkish