Vol.5 No.
2 78-88
Moral Intelligence Inventory: A Moral Intelligence
Measurement Tool for Public Junior High School
Students
1AzzaAsruro Rozak, 2Laily Tiarani Soejanto 2Khairul Bariyyah, 4Palasara
Bramani Laras
1-2,
Prodi Bimbingan dan Konseling, Universitas PGRI Kanjuruhan Malang, Jawa Timur, Indonesia
3-4,
Prodi Bimbingan dan Konseling, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jawa Timur, Indonesia
Corresponding author : lailytiarani@[Link]
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Article history: Moral intelligence is the ability to differentiate between right
Received 2 july 2024 and wrong, create exact choices, and behave ethically according
Revised 20 July2024 to applicable norms and rules. This development is purposed to
Accepted 29 July2024 produce a moral intelligence inventory. This method applies
Borg and Gall development model. The population of this
Keywords:
Moral intelligence
research is students of junior high schools in Malang. Indeed,
vocational school the sampling is decided through cluster random sampling,
students wherein 300 students were selected as the research sample.
The data are analyzed using Product Moment Pearson analysis,
Alpha Cronbach, normality test, and factor analysis. This
development draws on a moral intelligence inventory product
for junior high school students in Malang, which consists of 45
statement items. These met the criteria of moral intelligence
inventory, validity test, and reliability test on a high scale with a
0.907 coefficient. Future research is suggested to improve
moral intelligence inventory for elementary, senior high school,
and vocational school students. They considered that these
levels' development, age maturity, and learning process differ
from junior high school. Additionally, the following researchers
are expected to employ other theories that discuss moral
intelligence to assist students in finding out their moral
intelligence level.
ISSN: 2722-2365 (Online) 2722-2357 (Print)
Introduction
Schools, as educational institutions, not only provide students with academic
knowledge but also equip students with moral knowledge so that in the future, students will
have good moral intelligence to distinguish between good and bad. The purpose of education
stated in the national education standards agency (BSNP) is to improve knowledge,
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intelligence, personality, noble morals, and skills to live independently and follow further
education according to the learning process (Syakrani et al., 2022). In response, building
moral intelligence is very important to be taught from an early age. Schools should have an
essential role in this because a student who is already in school will spend some of his time at
school, which means that some of the students' time is the responsibility of the teacher at
school, especially for understanding and instilling noble morals (S et al., 2023).
According to Borba, moral intelligence is understanding right and wrong. Everyone has
solid ethical beliefs and acts based on those beliefs so that people can behave correctly and
honorably. Such as the ability to understand other people's suffering, help each other, not act
maliciously towards others, accept and respect differences of opinion, be empathetic, and
show compassion and respect for others (Hadian Shirazi & Sabetsarvestani, 2021)
Moral intelligence underlies humans to do something useful and make human life
better. Moral intelligence distinguishes right from wrong, determines the most appropriate,
and behaves ethically according to applicable norms (Borba et al., 2008). In line with this,
Lickona defines moral intelligence as the ability to build moral values such as honesty,
responsibility, and justice, which are learned in human life. In instilling moral values, a sense
of responsibility is needed so that moral intelligence can make the interaction between the
environment and the individual functional in forming moral intelligence itself (Belohlavek.
The critical goals of each student to have good morals are as follows: a). Increasing piety to
God Almighty, formulated in the principle of Belief in the One Almighty God, b). Realizing
behavior in speaking that is civilized, cultured, and respectful to each other as the principle of
just and civilized justice; c). They were increasing a sense of unity and oneness in a
challenging, solid, strong, steadfast, and never-give-up personality character; d). Increasing
responsibility towards fellow society, e). Improving the mindset (mindset) to respect and
appreciate each other's opinions by prioritizing the public interest, f). They were fair and wise
when deciding on a problem . A deep understanding of moral values in real life, society,
nation, and state should start from individuals, families, and communities to be more
effective. Moral values are also greatly determined by a person's ability to respond to the
environment in which they live so that new knowledge regarding morals will be formed (Laka
et al., 2024)
The community environment where students are raised is currently one of the factors
causing the decline in morality, such as parental supervision, spiritual and religious education,
support from the community where they live, and proper parenting. With problems like this,
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parents need more supervision so students have actions or manners that follow applicable
norms and morality. Furthermore, Borba formulates moral intelligence into seven virtues:
empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance, and fairness. These main
virtues will protect children, help them stay on the right path, and encourage them to behave
according to moral teachings (Pranoto et al., 2021)
Piaget based on his observations of several children aged 4-12 years, Piaget concluded
that the ability to understand moral issues such as lying, theft, punishment, and justice takes
place based on the first stage at the age of 4-7 years, called heteronomous morality, the
second stage at the age of 7-10 years, called the transition stage, the third stage at the age of
10 years and 34 then called autonomous morality (Santrock et al., 2020) In addition, the more
mature the child will realize that social groups are involved in various levels of seriousness in
several actions. Social media often reports deviant events that students usually carry out. For
example, A brawl between students that resulted in the loss of one student's life occurred
again on Monday (24/9/2012).
A student of SMAN 6 South Jakarta, Alawy Yusianto Putra (15), died after he and his
friends were attacked by a group of students from their neighboring school, SMAN 70. The
police have already pocketed the names of ten students from SMAN 70 who were involved.
The violent behavior was manifested through deviant behavior. In response to the incident
above, guidance and counseling services are essential in increasing students' moral
intelligence. If students experience problems that ultimately interfere with the learning
process and development of their potential, then it is confident that there is a problem with
the student's moral intelligence (Rahman & Yusra, n.d.). In response, it is essential to carry out
guidance and counseling services to understand the importance of instilling morals in each
student.
Based on the results of interviews with Counselors at one of Malang's Junior High
Schools, students often do unexpected actions, such as skipping school, cheating on exams,
speaking impolitely to teachers and peers, smoking in the school bathroom, fighting with
friends at school, are often late, and are often absent, this illustrates that students do not
understand moral intelligence. To overcome this problem, counselors need data in an
inventory to determine students' ethical intelligence levels.
Inventory is a tool to estimate and assess the presence or absence of behavior, habits,
attitudes, interests, and so on Rahardjo & Gudnanto. Inventory is a data collection instrument
categorized as a typical test containing many statements selected and filled in by students
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according to their condition (Loewenthal & Lewis, 2020). So, inventory can be said to be a
measuring tool or instrument used to measure, identify, or reveal the presence or absence of
behavior, interests, and attitudes possessed by a person, which contains a list of statements
that must be answered by individuals according to their condition (Urbina, 2014). In the
inventory, there are no right or wrong answers because each statement item is responded to
according to the condition of each individual.
Moral intelligence inventory is one of the instruments counselors need to provide
guidance and counseling services in schools. Counselors can find information about students
through this moral intelligence inventory so that in providing guidance and counseling
services in the personal and social fields, counselors can adjust their needs according to the
results of the interview data distributed at school.
The reasons for the importance of developing this moral intelligence inventory include
1) the unavailability of an inventory, measuring tool, or instrument that can reveal the moral
intelligence experienced by students, 2) the inventory is very effective, practical, efficient, and
easy to use, 3) students fill out the moral intelligence inventory themselves so that students
can find out the level of moral intelligence experienced so that counselors can provide
services that are following the needs of students. The moral intelligence inventory is one of
the instruments counselors need to provide appropriate guidance and counseling services
that follow what students need. Counselors do not readily collect data to determine the level
of moral intelligence experienced by students because there is no moral intelligence inventory
available in schools. Therefore, researchers are interested in developing a moral intelligence
inventory for junior high school students. Researchers hope that counselors can use the
results of this moral intelligence inventory development research as a basis for providing
guidance and counseling services.
Method
This moral intelligence inventory uses a development model/strategy developed by
Borg and Gall. This strategy is called research and development (R&D). In this study,
researchers develop new products through a series of trials, and each trial activity is revised
and made accountable (Gall et al., 2014). In this case, the product developed is a moral
intelligence inventory for junior high school students. A moral intelligence inventory is a
statement related to moral intelligence that students must have and fill in according to their
condition. This moral intelligence inventory was developed by following the inventory
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development procedure, namely (1) identifying the objectives of the measuring instrument,
(2) operationalizing aspects (compiling indicators, grids, blueprints), (3) reviewing items
involving experts, (4) field trials (failed test), (5) extensive field trials/item analysis (validity
test, reliability, factor analysis), (6) final format (Azwar, 2022). This moral intelligence
inventory has product specifications, namely valid, reliable, and multiple benefits. It is said to
be valid because this moral intelligence inventory has a composition of indicators or factors
that can explain the concept to be measured, has a match between variables and indicators,
indicators with descriptors, and descriptors with statements that have been assessed by the
validator test (Bennett et al., 1984) While reliable means producing test scores that are
relatively consistent or do not change (Zakariah & Zakariah, 2017). It has dual benefits;
namely, this moral intelligence inventory can be used by school counselors to determine the
level of moral intelligence possessed by each student and help junior high school counselors
choose the suitable and appropriate guidance services to assess their students' moral
intelligence level. The benefits for students are that they can find out their moral intelligence
level so they can decide on the proper steps if their level is in the low category.
This study used a population of junior high school students in Malang City. To obtain a
sample of schools categorized as high, medium, or low using the Cluster Random Sampling
technique. The data is based on sources from the Ministry of Education and Culture
Puspendik, reviewed from the 2019 national exam scores. The results selected 300 students
from 3 junior high schools in the city, each school taking 100 students to be research subjects.
Azwar, a sample of more than 60 people is sufficient to conduct a more comprehensive field
test. The Likert scale of moral intelligence and expert test assessment sheets or validator tests
are used to collect data in this study (Azwar, 2019)
There are two data analyses in this study, namely qualitative and quantitative data.
Qualitative data is descriptive and evaluative data obtained from the results of expert tests in
the form of input, responses, suggestions for the suitability of variables and indicators,
indicators with descriptors, and descriptors with statements. Meanwhile, quantitative data in
experiments were analyzed using statistical formulas to determine the validity coefficient,
reliability coefficient, normality test, and factor analysis (Yuliani & Banjarnahor, 2021).
Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to calculate the validity coefficient, and
Cronbach's Alpha formula was used to calculate the reliability coefficient. The level of
significance used to test the validity of the moral intelligence inventory can be considered
valid, namely > 0.3, and if the results obtained are <0.3, it is stated that the statement item is
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invalid. Furthermore, to find out the data is usually distributed using the normality test using
the One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test technique(Peyton et al., 2022) Data is normally
distributed if it has a significant value greater than 0.05, then it can be said to be normally
distributed, and vice versa. If the considerable value is less than 0.05, then the data is stated to
be not normally distributed.
Factor analysis uses KMO-MSA (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy)
analysis to determine the adequacy of the sample or the feasibility of the entire moral
intelligence inventory statement items. If the KMO-MSA value > 0.5 with p < 0.05, then the
analysis can be continued (Amirrudin et al., 2020). This analysis determines factors to
represent the variables based on the eigenvalue size and the percentage of total variance.
Only factors with more than one eigenvalue are retained in the factor analysis model. All
statistical calculation methods in this study use computer assistance with the SPSS 16.0 for
Windows program
Findings and Discussion
Findings
This moral intelligence inventory is compiled based on the conformity grid between
variables and indicators, indicators and descriptors, and descriptors and statements. The
indicators used in this moral intelligence inventory are based on Borba's opinion (Borba et al.,
2008) that moral intelligence is characterized by empathy, respect, tolerance, conscience, self-
control, kindness, and justice. More details can be seen in Table 1. The next step that
researchers have taken after determining the blueprint of the moral intelligence inventory
and compiling statements that follow the descriptors is to review items by involving experts
(expert judgment). This activity involves one BK expert and one psychology expert assessing
the instrument's suitability with the theoretical construct and one Indonesian language expert
assessing the grammar rules. Expert validation is carried out by providing a moral intelligence
inventory assessment instrument, which the validator will then evaluate to determine the
suitability of the characteristics of the statement items compiled with the Borba theoretical
construct (Construct validity) (Azwar, 2022). Based on the results of the expert test, 126
statement items were feasible and suitable to be given to junior high school students in
Malang City to be further tested in the field (failed test) to determine the level of validity and
reliability of the initial stage of the moral intelligence inventory.
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The results of the moral intelligence inventory development after conducting expert
tests on psychology experts, guidance and counseling experts, and language experts produced
moral intelligence inventory items in the initial field. This is evidenced by the results of the
product trial conducted on 30 students at SMPN 8 Malang, which showed a reliability
coefficient value of 0.916, with 65 items declared invalid from 126 total statement items.
Then, the primary field test was conducted on 300 students at three junior high schools in
Malang City, including SMPN 8 Malang, SMPN 23 Malang, and SMPN 24 Malang. The results of
the primary field test obtained a reliability coefficient value of 0.907, with 16 items declared
invalid from 65 total statement items. Based on the primary field test results with a reliability
coefficient value of 0.907, it can be concluded that the moral intelligence inventory for junior
high school students in Malang City is highly reliable.
After conducting validity and reliability tests, the next step is to conduct a normality
test and produce a value of 0.200, which means that the number is higher than 0.05; it can be
concluded that the moral intelligence inventory is normally distributed. As for the results of
the factor analysis of the ethical intelligence inventory, the factors produced are 13
interrelated factors in each of its items and 45 statement items. The final result of the
development of this moral intelligence inventory produces 45 statement items consisting of 8
favorable statement items and 37 unfavorable statement items, which have a high level of
validity and reliability and can be used as a measuring tool to determine the level of moral
intelligence students possess.
Table 1. Moral Intelligence Inventory Grid After Exploratory Factor Analysis and
Cronbach's Alpha
Variables Factor No. Loading No. Loading Number
Favorable Factor Unfavorable Factor of Items
Item Item
Moral Tolerance 11 .737 4
Intelligence 12 .606
9 .585
3 .522
Conscience 17 .671 20
16 .539
18 .495
29 .487
21 .465
27 .445
4 .437
36 .666
23 .431
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28 .393
34 .337
26 .321
20 .690
15 .674
10 .386
19 .603
6 .502
1 .474
22 .705
13 -.440
Justice 44 .727 7
43 .612
39 .493
45 .434
38 .421
42 .658
41 .656
Empathy 2 .675 3
5 .625
35 .417
Self-control 40 .548 5
25 .448
24 .405
30 -.322
32 .154
Kindness 37 .593 4
31 .376
33 .574
14 -.531
Respect 8 .659 2
7 .629
Total number of items 8 37 45
Discussion
Based on the results of this development research, a moral intelligence inventory
product consisting of 45 items has good validity and reliability. This moral intelligence
inventory statement is also worthy of being used as a data collection tool to determine the
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level of ethical intelligence possessed by junior high school students in Malang City. Forty-five
statement items consist of 8 favorable statements and 37 unfavorable statements.
Developing a moral intelligence inventory for junior high school students is a
measuring tool that measures students' moral intelligence levels in the form of a list of
statements answered by students according to their circumstances. The advantage of
developing this moral intelligence inventory is its validity and reliability. According to
Suharsimi Arikunto, a good instrument must meet two essential requirements: valid and
reliable. This is emphasized by those who say that validity refers to the extent to which a tool
can measure what should be measured (Arikunto, 2010)
So, the author must be able to control students and improve their ability to use moral
intelligence instruments. The procedure for implementing the test administration also needs
attention to reduce factors irrelevant to the test results. The method for administering the
moral intelligence scale is almost the same as the procedure for administering other non-test
instruments. Launching the moral intelligence scale must begin by establishing the attitude of
the individual to be tested, namely the student. Especially concerning rapport, ego-
involvement, and motivation, and then providing the scale and conveying instructions.
Furthermore, the school counselor can score the student's answer choices by matching them
with the available scoring guidelines, where the scores can later be totaled and transformed
into the specified test result category criteria.
Conclusion
Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the development of a moral
intelligence inventory for junior high school students has produced 45 valid items after going
through statistical testing with the Product Moment Person correlation formula, at p <0.05
and has an alpha coefficient (α) of 0.907 which means it is more significant than 0.6.
Previously, an expert test stage was carried out, and then a product trial was carried out on 30
students at SMPN 8 Malang with 126 initial items, the main field trial with 61 items for
students at SMPN 8 Malang, SMPN 23 Malang and SMPN 24 Malang. Then, a normality test
was carried out, which produced a significance value of 0.200, more significant than 0.05 or
normally distributed, and this social adjustment inventory produced 13 factors from testing
on factor analysis. This is adjusted to the construct of moral intelligence, according to Borba et
al., (2008), which is the basis for developing the inventory. Suggestions for school counselors:
They hope to use the moral intelligence inventory researchers developed for junior high
school students. The results can be used by school counselors to determine the level of moral
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intelligence possessed by their students and can help in choosing the suitable and appropriate
guidance services to determine moral intelligence in students; school counselors can assist
with individual guidance or counseling and group counseling. Suggestions for further research
are that further researchers can develop a moral intelligence inventory for elementary, high
school, and vocational high school levels. Given the level of development, age maturity, and
teaching and learning process of elementary, high school, and vocational high school students,
they differ from junior high school students. This moral intelligence inventory can also be
researched further with a larger sample to test the level of moral intelligence of junior high
school students. Further researchers are expected to be able to use other theories that discuss
moral intelligence so that students can better understand in depth the level of moral
intelligence they have.
Acknowledgment
Thank you to the principals of SMP 8 23 Malang and SMP 24 Malang, who have
facilitated the research location.
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