Measuring Media Literacy

Coordinator: Univ. Prof. Dr. Christian Swertz

Funding: University of Vienna

Duration: ongoing since 2021

Content

There is no standardised test to measure media literacy. This makes it impossible to measure the media literacy of a population, to examine the effectiveness of media education efforts in teaching media literacy or to conduct international comparisons. The aim of the project is therefore to develop a standardised test for measuring media literacy and to prepare international comparisons.

The research questions of the project are: Which aspects of the concept of media literacy need to be measured? Which of the aspects that need to be measured can be measured? Is it possible to measure media literacy with a standardised test among lower secondary school students?

The hypothesis is that it is possible to measure all aspects of media literacy with a standardised test among lower secondary school students. We assume that the test should cover dispositions as well as knowledge, skills and creativity.

In order to investigate the hypothesis, we construct a test to measure media literacy in four steps:

A systematic literature review of existing media literacy tests is conducted.
An item review of items used in existing media literacy tests is undertaken.
A test based on existing items is constructed and validated.
The Test is standardized for K9 in different regions of the world.

In this project, we aim to construct a power test.

Results:

Swertz, Christian; Mohammadpourkachalami, Kobra (2024): Die Messung von Medienkompetenz. Eine umfassende Literaturübersicht. In: Medienimpulse (2) 62, S. 1-112.