Student Background and Quality of Effort Correlates of Reported Grades,Opinions about College,and Perceptions of Magnitudes of Cognitive and Affective Attainment by Students in a Public Comprehensive University

Abstract

For a sample of 127 undergraduates at a major state university, an attempt was made to estimate the concurrent validity of Quality of Effort (QE) scales and background items from the College Student Experiences (CSE) questionnaire developed by Pace relative to criterion variables from the same CSE instrument that represented perceptions by students of grades earned to date and growth in selected cognitive and affective dimensions. In addition, the factorial validity of several subscales and items within the CSE was examined. Although it is possible that several of the validity indices might have been inflated by variance associated with one or more response sets, the QE scales appeared to display at least a moderate degree of concurrent validity not much less than the level of predictive validity realized by standardized scholastic aptitude tests. The factor analysis provided dimensions basically consistent with logical groupings of scales or items within given sections of the CSE. Multitrait-multimethod validation efforts are urged to separate method (format or instrumental) variance from trait variance as a means of clarifying the construct validity of the CSE.

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References

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