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of Victoria
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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Ramin Rostampour

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Topic

Latent Insights into Measurement of Academic Challenges: An Examination of Perceived Academic Challenges Scale

Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies

Date & location

  • Wednesday, September 4, 2024
  • 10:00 A.M.
  • Virtual Defence

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Allyson Hadwin, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
  • Dr. Philip Winne, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, UVic (Member)
  • Dr. Stuart MacDonald, Department of Psychology, UVic (Outside Member)

External Examiner

  • Dr. Daniel Dinsmore, Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of North Florida

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Karen Courtney, School of Health Information Science, UVic

Abstract

Background: Students often face diverse challenges throughout their educational journey that can significantly impact their learning process. While extensive research has explored self-regulatory perceptions and behaviors that promote student success, there remains a notable gap in understanding the specific challenges students encounter during their studying.

Objective: To conduct a comprehensive psychometric examination of the Perceived Academic Challenges scale, a self-assessment and diagnostic tool which measures six dimensions of perceived academic challenges: motivation, initiating and sustaining engagement, goal and time management, cognition, metacognition, and social and emotional challenges. These dimensions correspond to key self-regulatory areas linked to success in self-regulated learning.

Methods: Four university student samples from six Canadian institutions (total N= 3293) were used. The psychometric process employed both item-level and scale-level analyses, including polytomous item response theory (IRT) and advanced structural equation modeling techniques. Multidimensionality was explored using bifactor and second-order measurement models, and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). A complementary person-centered study examined intraindividual profiles of challenges. The scale's predictive utility was examined through associations with criterion constructs: students' GPA expectations, self-efficacy for GPA, and actual end-of-semester GPA.

Results: IRT analyses confirmed the precision of individual items in assessing various levels of the intended constructs and flagged imprecise items for potential revision. A bifactor ESEM approach demonstrated the best fit to the data, revealing a general factor underlying responses, with cross-loadings enhancing construct interpretability. The general factor and metacognitive factor were found to be highly overlapping, leading to modifications on the measurement model to anchor general factor to metacognitive challenges. Findings confirmed the measure's adequate psychometric properties, the adequacy of its total score, and its relevance to the criterion constructs.

Conclusion: The Academic Challenges scale was found to represent constructs as intended and to be reliable for assessing students' academic challenges across the six dimensions. This dissertation underscores the critical need to refine self-reported measures of students' experiences, emphasizing their unique insights into subjective experiences that other types of data cannot capture. Recommendations for further improvements of the scale are provided, emphasizing the need for continuous refinement of measures in educational research.

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