scholarly journals Study Approaches of Life Science Students Using the Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Miguel Leiva-Brondo ◽  
Jaime Cebolla-Cornejo ◽  
Rosa Peiró ◽  
Nuria Andrés-Colás ◽  
Cristina Esteras ◽  
...  

Students’ approaches to learning can vary between students of different ages, genders, years, degrees, or cultural contexts. The aim of this study was to assess the approaches to learning of different students of life science degrees. The Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) has been used to assess the approaches to learning of 505 students of thirteen different subjects of four different degrees at Universitat Politècnica de València in order to study the factors that influence their approaches. Results show a higher deep approach of the students. Differences were observed between subjects and gender, not related to level (bachelor or master) or year. The item reliability analysis showed a high consistency for the main scales, but not for the secondary scales of the R-SPQ-2F questionnaire. High correlation between the deep and surface scales were observed. These data can provide more information to the teachers, which may help them to develop strategies focused on promoting a deeper approach to learning for the students, more adapted to their subject, level, and year.

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes López-Aguado ◽  
Lourdes Gutiérrez-Provecho

La investigación previa pone de manifiesto cierta influencia de los enfoques de aprendizaje sobre el rendimiento, asociándose generalmente el enfoque profundo a aprendizajes de mayor calidad y el superficial a menores rendimientos. El objetivo de este estudio es profundizar en los mecanismos que intervienen en esta relación, analizando el papel modulador del tiempo de dedicación. Participan en un diseño de encuesta longitudinal de 15 semanas de duración 187 estudiantes universitarios. Los datos sobre los enfoques se recogen con el R-SPQ-2F en su versión española. Los resultados del análisis path confirman que los enfoques de aprendizaje influyen sobre el rendimiento. El enfoque superficial produce un efecto directo asociado a peores resultados y ambos influyen indirectamente a través de su efecto sobre los tiempos de dedicación. Se discute la importancia de estos resultados y la necesidad de seguir ahondando en las variables que modulan esta relación. Previous research has shown the influence of approaches to learning on performance, with a deep approach generally associated with higher quality learning, and a surface approach with lower levels of performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms involved in this relationship by studying the modulating role of time spent on learning tasks. A longitudinal study with a survey format lasting fifteen weeks was carried out. 187 university students took part in the study. The data on approaches were gathered with the Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) in Spanish. The results from path analysis confirmed that approaches to learning do influence performance. A surface approach yields a direct effect that is linked to worse results. This paper discusses the relevance of these results and the need for further research on the variables that may influence this relationship.


Author(s):  
Suseela Malakolunthu ◽  
Alice Joshua

Purpose – In recent times, quality of graduates and their performance has been questioned. Students’ performance is an indicator of the kind of approach (deep or surface) that is taken. This study investigates the kind of undergraduates take in their learning processes.   Methodology – This quantitative survey used Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). Sixty-three students participated in the study. Findings – Results showed no significant difference between the types of approach by gender, nationality, year of study, and major. However, the rank ordering of the mean value indicated that almost all the students who participated in the study did not possess a deep approach to learning. The Pearson’s r analysis revealed a weak negative statistical correlation between the deep and surface approaches to learning and weak positive statistical correlation between surface strategy and deep approach. However, a significant relationship between deep strategy and deep approach (r = .903**, p < .01) was found.   Significance – The lack of deep approach to learning among students can be attributed to factors such as the conditions of learning, professional capacity of teachers, and lack of instructional rigor in the program or coursework. It is imperative that emphasis is placed on using deep approaches to learning in the university courses so that deep learning experiences are created for students.


2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erol Gurpinar ◽  
Esin Kulac ◽  
Cihat Tetik ◽  
Ilgaz Akdogan ◽  
Sumer Mamakli

The aim of this research was to determine the satisfaction of medical students with problem-based learning (PBL) and their approaches to learning to investigate the effect of learning approaches on their levels of satisfaction. The study group was composed of medical students from three different universities, which apply PBL at different levels in their curricula. The revised two-factor study process survey was applied to the study group to determine their approaches to learning as “deep” or “surface” learning. In addition, another survey of 20 questions was used to determine satisfaction levels of students with PBL and other variables. Of the study group, 64.6% were found to adopt a deep approach to learning, and we confirmed that these students were reasonably more satisfied with PBL.


Author(s):  
Victor Mogre ◽  
Anthony Amalba

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 ± 0.18 years, 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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Martinelli ◽  
Milosh Raykov

Abstract A deep approach to learning is essential for student academic achievement and several studies demonstrate a significant association between such an approach to learning and student academic performance. However, findings from some empirical studies in this domain are inconsistent and the main objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of application of the Biggs (2001) Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) for the diagnosis and monitoring of teacherstudent approaches to learning. Also, the aim of this study was to examine the association of the different approaches to learning with student reading habits and literacy skills. The sample included 202 undergraduate teacher education students. The study found that both, male and female students at the year of study have similar deep and surface approaches to learning. This initial evaluation of the R-SPQ-2F indicates that the questionnaire has acceptable internal consistency and is a promising short instrument for the diagnosis of student teachers′ deep and surface approaches to learning. Results are discussed with reference to a procedure that combines qualitative and quantitative data to increase the diagnostic validity of student learning approaches. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that the R-SPQ-2F scale can be used as a reliable instrument that can help educators diagnose and encourage the development of student teacher approaches to learning, that is a significant contributing factor to their academic performance and teaching practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf F. Zakariya ◽  
Simon Goodchild ◽  
Kirsten Bjørkestøl ◽  
Hans K. Nilsen

This study was framed within a quantitative research methodology to develop a concise measure of calculus self-efficacy with high psychometric properties. A survey research design was adopted in which 234 engineering and economics students rated their confidence in solving year-one calculus tasks on a 15-item inventory. The results of a series of exploratory factor analyses using minimum rank factor analysis for factor extraction, oblique promin rotation, and parallel analysis for retaining extracted factors revealed a one-factor solution of the model. The final 13-item inventory was unidimensional with all eigenvalues greater than 0.42, an average communality of 0.74, and a 62.55% variance of the items being accounted for by the latent factor, i.e., calculus self-efficacy. The inventory was found to be reliable with an ordinal coefficient alpha of 0.90. Using Spearman’ rank coefficient, a significant positive correlation ρ ( 95 ) =   0.27 ,   p <   0.05 (2-tailed) was found between the deep approach to learning and calculus self-efficacy, and a negative correlation ρ ( 95 ) =   − 0.26 ,   p <   0.05 (2-tailed) was found between the surface approach to learning and calculus self-efficacy. These suggest that students who adopt the deep approach to learning are confident in dealing with calculus exam problems while those who adopt the surface approach to learning are less confident in solving calculus exam problems.


2019 ◽  
pp. 146978741986020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Bunce ◽  
Melanie Bennett

The marketization of higher education and focus on graduate employability and earnings data has raised questions about how students perceive their roles and responsibilities while studying for their degree. Of particular concern is the extent to which students identify themselves as consumers of their higher education, for example, whether they view their degree as a purchasable commodity to improve future earnings. This is because research has found that a stronger consumer identity is related to lower academic performance. This study examined whether this relation could be explained by the impact of a consumer identity on the extent to which students adopt deep, surface or strategic approaches to learning. The hypotheses were that the relation between consumer identity and academic performance would be mediated by approaches to learning, whereby a consumer identity would be related to adopting a more surface approach, a less deep approach and less strategic approach. Undergraduates completed an online questionnaire that assessed the extent to which they identified as a consumer, their approaches to learning and academic performance. The analysis partly supported the hypotheses: a stronger consumer identity was related to a more surface approach to learning. However, a surface approach to learning did not mediate the relation between consumer identity and academic performance. Conversely, a deep approach to learning mediated the relation between consumer identity and academic performance, whereby a stronger consumer identity was related to lower academic performance through its negative impact on a deep approach to learning. There was no relation between consumer identity and strategic approach to learning. Implications of students identifying themselves as consumers of their higher education are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Gasevic ◽  
Jelena Jovanovic ◽  
Abelardo Pardo ◽  
Shane Dawson

The use of analytic methods for extracting learning strategies from trace data has attracted considerable attention in the literature. However, there is a paucity of research examining any association between learning strategies extracted from trace data and responses to well-established self-report instruments and performance scores. This paper focuses on the link between the learning strategies identified in the trace data and student reported approaches to learning. The paper reports on the findings of a study conducted in the scope of an undergraduate engineering course (N=144) that followed a flipped classroom design. The study found that learning strategies extracted from trace data can be interpreted in terms of deep and surface approaches to learning. The detected significant links with self-report measures are with small effect sizes for both the overall deep approach to learning scale and the deep strategy scale. However, there was no observed significance linking the surface approach to learning and surface strategy nor were there significant associations with motivation scales of approaches to learning. The significant effects on academic performance were found, and consistent with the literature that used self-report instruments showing that students who followed a deep approach to learning had a significantly higher performance.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åge Diseth

The relationship between personality, approaches to learning, and academic achievement was investigated. Two different undergraduate student samples, totalling 310 students, participated in the study. Results showed the expected significant correlations between the personality factors of openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness, on the one hand, and deep, surface, and strategic approaches to learning, on the other. A significant negative correlation between surface approach and achievement was observed in sample 1. In sample 2, achievement was positively correlated with neuroticism, openness, and deep approach, and negatively correlated with agreeableness. Path analysis showed that each approach to learning was predicted by multiple personality traits, and that academic achievement was predicted by approaches to learning. A separate analysis showed that the relationship between openness and achievement was mediated by a deep approach to learning. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Whitelock-Wainwright ◽  
Dragan Gasevic ◽  
Trev Wood ◽  
Kris Ryan

Scores obtained from the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire are regularly used to profile students as being Deep or Surface learners. A critical examination of how this particular instrument was both developed and validated does, however, raise questions over what is being measured. Possible factor models have been tested – guided by the original theorising – yet consensus has not been achieved over what is a permissible representation. Aside from uncertainties around model candidature agreement, researchers continue to adopt item parcelling when analysing data collected using this instrument. This is often undertaken without any exploration of whether the assumptions of item-parcelling (e.g., no cross-loadings) are violated or not. Two research questions are explored in this work, motivated by the associated problems with model structure and analysis strategies. Using data collected from a final sample of 1,158 students, three model representations were tested using both Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Findings were not in-line with the originally presented results in terms of model acceptability. More importantly, the results raise questions around the construct validity of the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire. Discussion of these results centres on why item parcelling is not recommended when using this instrument and general concerns around what is being measured. Recommendations on alternative approaches to measuring learning strategies are offered, alongside a critical examination of the underlying model.


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