Instrument Validation

The quality of students’ relationships with their peers plays an important role in developing their academic achievement. The present study aimed at constructing an accurate, reliable, and valid instrument that could assess the EFL students’ perceptions of peer support. The instrument includes different subscales, namely Informational Support, Emotional Support, Instrumental Support, Feedback, and Companionship Support. The Peer Support Questionnaire was administered to 212 Iranian undergraduate EFL students studying at two public universities in Iran. An exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis were conducted, and the overall factor loading estimates indicated a quite satisfactory level of convergent validity for the developed Questionnaire. Both the degree of factor loadings and the construct validity test supported the convergent validity of peer support factors and their related items. The findings demonstrated that PSQ could be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the concept of peer support in both academic and educational settings.

The Qur’an encompasses a multitude of valuable teachings that serve as essential guidance for Muslims. To fully derive benefits from this divine source, a comprehensive and continuous engagement is imperative. The present study aimed to develop and standardize the "Familiarity with the Qur’an Questionnaire" (FwQQ) and to investigate its factorial structure. Utilizing the insights of Qur’an teachers, experts, and lecturers of Qur'anic studies with seminary degrees from Saqqez County, the characteristics of individuals familiar with the Qur’an were identified. Based on these characteristics, a 22-item questionnaire was developed. A total of 434 primary and secondary school teachers as well as Qur’anic studies instructors from Saqqez, selected through multi-stage cluster sampling, participated in the study and completed the questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL software through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (including principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (using fit indices). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test indicated that the data were suitable for factor  analysis. Additionally,  PCA with varimax  rotation revealed that the FwQQ comprises two factors: "Learning and Teaching the Qur’an," and "Tendency towards the Qur’an and Contemplation on It." These results were also supported by CFA, demonstrating a good fit between the data and the two-factor model. The reliability of the questionnaire, calculated using Cronbach's alpha, was found to be 0.97 for the overall scale, 0.93 for the first factor, and 0.96 for the second factor. This validated instrument holds promise for future research exploring the role of Familiarity with the Qur’an in various psychological and social contexts.