Comparability of teachers’ educational background items in TIMSS: a case from Turkey

Abstract Large-scale international assessment studies such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) or Programme for Student Assessment (PISA) provide researchers policy makers the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses answer questions related educational outcomes compare impact of certain inputs on student across countries. These comparisons are made under assumption that questionnaire items translated different languages understood same way by its participants. Presenting a case from Turkey, this paper shows equivalency is not always achieved. The explores demographic information teacher preparation sample drawn eighth grade science mathematics teachers participated TIMSS 2007, 2011, 2015 Turkey. Descriptive analysis data collected these subjects years show may have misunderstood question regarding their major, thus limiting potential claims Researchers analyst who use should be aware comparability issues adapted prior conducting any analyses.