The validity and reliability of the divergent thinking questionnaire among primary school students.

Introduction: Divergent thinking increases the ability of children to solve problems and provides them with a wealth of associations and possible solutions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the divergent thinking questionnaire among primary school students. Method: The statistical population included all 7-year-old students of public schools in Zahedan. The sample size consisted of 336 students (176 girls and 169 boys) who were selected by available sampling method and answered the divergent questionnaire (Kaun et al., 2006). To analyze the data, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for reliability evaluation, confirmatory factor analysis for evaluating construct validity and exploratory factor analysis for factor load calculation. Results: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for Persian translation of the  item initial score was 0.74 and test retest reliability of the questionnaire based on the results of the two tests was 0.79. Validity indices derived from confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale had proper construct validity and all factors had an appropriate load factor of more than 0.20. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, as well as the importance of measuring divergent thinking in children and the lack of appropriate tools validated in Iranian culture, it can be concluded that divergent thinking questionnaire is a good tool for applying educational situations in schools.