Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a sophisticated statistical technique frequently used to examine the internal structure of surveys through factor analysis. In this research, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structured means modeling identified poorly performing items on a survey of student study approaches. This analysis was conducted using the free, open-source statistical language R and the lavaan (LAtent VAriable ANalysis) package. Combining the lavaan output with the theory behind the survey design allowed for the refinement of the survey to produce a shorter instrument that could be used to identify specific study approaches associated with good and poor course performance.

Distillation of survey items with R: Instrument refinement using structural equation modeling

251st National Meeting (2016)

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