Abstract
The present study, using a non-experimental approach, investigated a theoretical concept of best practice, which we recently introduced – namely: a ‘state of consonance’ and a ‘state of disconsonance’ of best practice. Consonance of best practice posits that different levels of best practice (e.g., low level of best practice versus optimal level of best practice), as well as other comparable psychological constructs (e.g., motivation towards learning) would cluster or ‘group’ together. Disconsonance of best practice, in contrast, would indicate non-overlapping of contrasting levels of best practice (i.e., low level of best practice versus optimal level of best practice). Taiwanese undergraduates (N = 831) from five private universities in Taipei City and New Taipei City, Taiwan took part in the study by responding to a suite of Likert-scale questionnaires (e.g., Best Practice Questionnaires, Motivation towards Learning Questionnaire), which took approximately 30–35 min to complete. Cluster analysis, commonly known as ClA, was used to analyze the data and seek theoretical understanding into the nature of the consonance of best practice. Results, overall, showed support for our proposition, resulting in four distinct profiles: ‘a Balanced Profile,’ ‘an Intrinsic Motivation Profile,’ ‘a Current Best Practice + Interest Profile,’ and ‘a Current Best Practice + Motivation Profile.’ This evidence, helping to advance further research development, has a number of practical implications for consideration. For example, how could we use the Balanced Profile to develop learning objectives and/or pedagogical practices that would encourage students to enjoy their learning experiences?
Highlights
We seek to advance the study of best practice (Fraillon, 2004; Liem et al, 2012; Phan et al, 2016) and, in particular, the inquiry pertaining to the notion of academic profile (Phan et al, 2018a) by focusing on a conceptualization, which we have developed and termed as the ‘consonance and disconsonance of best practice’ (Figure 3)
As a point of reiteration, we proposed a theoretical concept, which we termed as a state of consonance and disconsonance of best practice
As we discuss of the article, the results that we have obtained make both theoretical and empirical contributions, detailing the potency, relevance, and applicability of the consonance-disconsonance framework
Summary
A one-factor CFA analysis of the PIL subscale (Bollen, 1989; Kline, 2011) showed a sound goodness-of-fit model [e.g., CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.97, RMSEA 0.059 (Lo90 = 0.044, Hi90 = 0.076), p > 0.05, SRMR = 0.022] with factor loadings from the items to the single latent factor ranging from 0.59 to 0.77 (Mn = 0.68, SD = 0.07). A one-factor CFA analysis of the MTL subscale (Bollen, 1989; Kline, 2011) showed a sound goodness-of-fit model [e.g., CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.97, RMSEA 0.066 (Lo90 = 0.034, Hi90 = 0.103), p > 0.05, SRMR = 0.016] with factor loadings from the items to the single latent factor ranging from 0.55 to 0.83 (Mn = 0.69, SD = 0.11). One limitation of the K-means algorithm is that a researcher has to specify the number of clusters at the onset of the analysis
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