Assessing the reliability and validity of the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ2F) in Ghanaian medical students.

Victor Mogre,Anthony Amalba

doi:10.3352/jeehp.2014.11.19

Abstract

Purpose:We investigated the validity and reliability of the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ2F) in preclinical students in Ghana.Methods:The R-SPQ2F was administered to 189 preclinical students of the University for Development Studies, School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Both descriptive and inferential statistics with Cronbach’s alpha test and factor analysis were done.Results:The mean age of the students was 22.69± 0.18years, 60.8% (n=115) were males and 42.3% (n=80) were in their second year of medical training. The students had higher mean deep approach scores (31.23±7.19) than that of surface approach scores (22.62±6.48). Findings of the R-SPQ2F gave credence to a solution of two-factors indicating deep and surface approaches accounting for 49.80% and 33.57%, respectively, of the variance. The scales of deep approach (Cronbach’s alpha, 0.80) and surface approach (Cronbach’s alpha, 0.76) and their subscales demonstrated an internal consistency that was good. The factorial validity was comparable to other studies.Conclusion:Our study confirms the construct validity and internal consistency of the R-SPQ2F for measuring approaches to learning in Ghanaian preclinical students. Deep approach was the most dominant learning approach among the students. The questionnaire can be used to measure students’ approaches to learning in Ghana and in other African countries.

Highlights

Two major approaches to learning have been described: the surface approach and the deep approach
The deep approach scores of the students were significantly higher than those recorded for the surface approach (31.23 vs. 22.62; P = 0.001)
Direct comparisons to other studies may be difficult due to the use of variable instruments to assess learning approaches; our findings are comparable to a study conducted among Indonesian medical students in which deep approach was the most dominant approach [1]

Summary

Introduction

Two major approaches to learning have been described: the surface approach and the deep approach. Learning is motivated by a predominant desire to learn for the sake of examinations or to finish a course of instruction [1,2]. Students adopting a deep approach have an intrinsic motivation to study a subject area [1]. They actively and critically examine ideas and evidence, and use them with caution and build new information on their previous knowledge. Biggs revised two factor study process questionnaire (R-SPQ2F) has been previously validated among medical students from western and Asian settings [1,4,5]; its psychometric properties have not yet been studied among students in a sub-Saharan African context. Studies on the validity of the study process questionnaire among pre-clinical students

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion