The study skills self-efficacy scale for use with Chinese students

Abstract

Silver, Smith and Greene (2001) examined the dimensionality of responses to the Study Skills Self-Efficacy Scale (SSSES) using exploratory principal factor analysis (PFA) and Rasch measurement techniques based on a sample of social science students from a community college in the United States. They found that responses defined three related dimensions. In the present study, Messick's (1995) conceptualization of validity was used to organize the exploration of the psychometric properties of data from a Chinese version of the SSSES. Evidence related to the content aspect of validity was obtained via item fit evaluation; the substantive aspect of validity was addressed by examining the functioning of the rating scales; the structural aspect of validity was explored with exploratory PFA and Rasch item fit statistics; and support for the generalizability aspect of validity was investigate via differential item functioning and internal consistency reliability estimates for both items and persons. The exploratory PFA and Rasch analysis of responses to the Chinese version of the SSSES were conducted with a sample of 494 Hong Kong high school students. Four factors emerged including Study Routines, Resource Use, Text-Based Critical Thinking, and Self-Modification. The fit of the data to the Rasch rating scale model for each dimension generally supported the unidimensionality of the four constructs. The ordered average measures and thresholds from the four Rasch analyses supported the continued use of the six-point response format. Item and person reliability were found to be adequate. Differential item functioning across gender and language taught in was minimal.