Psychometric Study of a Questionnaire for Academic Study Processes of Portuguese College Students

D. Oliveira, G. Esgalhado, N. M. Garcia

2015

Abstract

Background: The assessment of the study processes or approaches to learning more often used by college students as they are understood by Biggs and his collaborators is considered fundamental in providing tools to better understand the way students learn and how this should be taken into account by tutors and teachers. The choice of a deep approach to learning as opposed to a surface approach is often considered connected to a more significant learning. Aim: This research aimed to adapt and validate the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) (Biggs et al., 2001). for the Portuguese college student population. Method: A population of 707 college students and internet users was used. From these 241 were male and 466 female. The participants’ age varied between 18 and 40 years old (M= 22.96; SD = 4.41). The inclusion criteria used for the study was: (1) being Portuguese and studying in a Portuguese university, and (2) willingness to participate in the study after learning its objectives. Participants were recruited through two sampling methods: (1) Informal social networks. The eligible internet users who agreed to participate were asked to refer their friends to participate in the study; and (2) The Internet. Material: Two instruments were used in this assessment, a socio-demographic questionnaire to enable the characterization of the participants’ age, gender, degree and University/college attendance and the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) (Biggs et al., 2001). Results: The final Portuguese version has a total of 16 items, instead of the 20 items proposed by the original version. A principal components factor analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation revealed a two factor structure, consistent with other researches using the instrument but not confirming the four factor structure found in the original version. In this version factor I - deep approach to learning, has a 9 items scope, and includes deep motives and deep strategies (α=.783), with an explained variance of 20.463%; factor II - surface approach to learning has a 7 items scope, includes surface motives and surface strategies (α=.751) and an explained variance of 16.544%. Deep and surface approaches were analysed separately in relation to age gender and academic degree, and in all cases significant statistical differences were found. Conclusion: The study provided evidence of the reliability and validity of the instrument, which showed good psychometric characteristics. The results indicate the Portuguese Revised Study Processes Questionnaire is an acceptable measure of learning approaches. Authors like [2] consider that when students are confronted with a learning task, they use the learning strategy that corresponds with their motivation to learn, in which case, it is important to analyse whether students are opting more frequently for deep or surface approaches and act upon that knowledge in a continuous effort to improve the learning process.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Oliveira D., Esgalhado G., Oliveira D. and M. Garcia N. (2015). Psychometric Study of a Questionnaire for Academic Study Processes of Portuguese College Students . In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-108-3, pages 85-92. DOI: 10.5220/0005443200850092

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu15,
author={D. Oliveira and G. Esgalhado and D. Oliveira and N. M. Garcia},
title={Psychometric Study of a Questionnaire for Academic Study Processes of Portuguese College Students},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,},
year={2015},
pages={85-92},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005443200850092},
isbn={978-989-758-108-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,
TI - Psychometric Study of a Questionnaire for Academic Study Processes of Portuguese College Students
SN - 978-989-758-108-3
AU - Oliveira D.
AU - Esgalhado G.
AU - Oliveira D.
AU - M. Garcia N.
PY - 2015
SP - 85
EP - 92
DO - 10.5220/0005443200850092