Dataset Validation of the Indonesian Version of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale: Rasch Model

For over five decades since attachment theory was first introduced by John Bowlby (1969), it has garnered substantial academic interest, including its application to student-teacher relationships. Various efforts have been made to assess student-teacher relationships, one of which is the development of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). This scale was originally developed by Pianta & Nimetz, (2001) to assess teachers' closeness with students from preschool through third grade. In this scale, the student-teacher relationship is linked to three dimensions of attachment: closeness, conflict, and dependency.
Over time, several academics have examined and revalidated Pianta & Nimetz's STRS across different relationships and cultural settings. For example, Koomen et al., (2012) assessed teachers' perspectives on their relationships with students aged 3-12, specifically measuring the dimensions of closeness, conflict, and dependency among teachers and students in the Netherlands by adding additional items to the dependency indicator.
However, previous studies have predominantly developed instruments limited to measurements based on teachers’ perspectives within elementary education settings. This highlights a substantial need for further research to re-examine the factor structure and validity of this measurement tool from another perspective—that of middle school students. As the study of student-teacher relationships progresses, there remains a lack of suitable instruments for use in Indonesia, and few studies specifically address student-teacher relationships, such as Mint Husen Raya et al., (2023). Additionally, it is essential to test the validity of STRS in higher age groups, particularly within the context of Indonesian middle school culture, considering that Indonesia is an archipelagic country with the world’s fourth-largest population (>275 million) and diverse ethnicities and cultures across its regions.
Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to adopt and validate the STRS by Koomen et al., (2012) through Rasch Model analysis on a sample of Indonesian middle school students. The study will test the scale based on measurements of age, gender, and ethnicity, and adapt it from a teacher's perspective to a student's perspective. Key analyses will include checking for misfit items, internal consistency reliability, and separation indices, as well as unidimensionality and local dependency, item and person measures, item bias through DIF analysis, and rating scale diagnostics. Finally, we will present a comprehensive correlation between our scale (STRS-Student) and similar scales developed by other academics. An additional objective is to popularize and disseminate this scale throughout Indonesia.