Development, validity and reliability study of the Human-Artificial Intelligence Communication Skills (HAICOS) scale for communication students

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine the level of Human-Artificial Intelligence Communication Skills (HAICOS) of undergraduate and graduate university students from communication-related fields in Türkiye. The study resulted in the development of a scale called HAICOS, a name derived from the English initials. The study was conducted with university students in different regions of Türkiye through purposeful sampling. The study consists of two phases: (1) scale development and (2) scale implementation. In the first phase, the first version of the scale was evaluated by field experts in order to provide content validity and clarity, and necessary revisions were made. Then the implementation part consisted of two phases: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed with 325 participants to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the scale, followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 377 participants. Based on the scree plot, eigenvalues greater than 1, and explained variance percentages, a structure consisting of three factors and 23 items was obtained. Factor loadings ranged from 0.39 to 0.98. The findings indicate acceptable internal consistency and construct validity, suggesting that the HAICOS scale is a reliable and valid measurement tool consisting of three factors: media literacy, intercultural communication and personal development. In the second phase, the scale was applied to an independent sample of 615 participants. At this phase, t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation analyses were conducted to examine the differences and relationships between the variables. Significant differences were determined in all the three factors with regard to “following technological developments” and “AI-related trainings within and outside university”.