This study investigated the structural exploration of creativity in Chinese preschoolers using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-Figural). The participants were 256 children aged 4-6 from a public kindergarten in Shanghai, with an average age of 4.79 years (SD = 0.63). Building upon prior research and integrating Kirton's…

Multilevel factor mixture modeling (FMM) is a hybrid of multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multilevel latent class analysis (LCA). It allows researchers to examine population heterogeneity at the within level, between level, or both levels. This tutorial focuses on explicating the model specification of multilevel FMM that considers…

Researchers continue to choose PCA in scale development and adaptation studies because it is the default setting and overestimates measurement quality. When PCA is utilized in investigations, the explained variance and factor loadings can be exaggerated. PCA, in contrast to the models given in the literature, should be investigated in…

In this study, an attempt was made to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine teachers' self-efficacy levels for teaching metacognitive listening strategies. The study group consisted of 205 teachers for EFA and 248 teachers for CFA. As a result of the analyzes, a scale consisting of 16 items with 4 factors was developed. It was…

Including a large number of predictors in the imputation model underlying a multiple imputation (MI) procedure is one of the most challenging tasks imputers face. A variety of high-dimensional MI techniques can help, but there has been limited research on their relative performance. In this study, we investigated a wide range of extant…

Teachers' conceptions of fairness influence their approaches to assessment. Perceptions of fairness underpin how teachers legitimate their values and provide reasons for teachers to defend assessment decisions and actions. This study therefore examined fairness conceptions at a critical stage in teachers' journey towards assessment capacity: their…

As well as being important tools for information acquisition, children's questions can also lead to profound learning. Nevertheless, no scale for measuring their questioning tendencies has hitherto been developed. Accordingly, this study pioneers one for use with preschool children. To establish construct validity, data from 544 children were used…

Vertical scales are intended to establish a common metric for scores on test forms targeting different levels of development in a specified domain. They are often constructed using common item, nonequivalent group designs that implicitly rely on the linking items being effectively free from differential item functioning (DIF) or the DIF being…

Considerations related to generalization of a study's findings are often interconnected to researchers' judgements regarding the 'quality' of the methodology and methodological pluralism. Too often, researchers consider generalization as only possible with respect to quantitative studies with large numbers of randomly selected participants…

Penalized structural equation models (PSEM) is a new powerful estimation technique that can be used to tackle a variety of difficult structural estimation problems that can not be handled with previously developed methods. In this paper we describe the PSEM framework and illustrate the quality of the method with simulation studies.…

Based on previous research, it can be assumed that teachers' self-efficacy (TSE) varies across situations, domains and individual students' behaviors confronting teachers with particularly challenging tasks. The construct of student-specific TSE is considered informative theoretical basis for understanding the relationship between…

In this study, the factorial invariance of the ASIS (Anadolu-Sak Intelligence Scale) was examined across time. Data were obtained from there groups of first-grade students who were administered the ASIS in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The analyses were conducted using multisample confirmatory factor analyses. Factorial invariance was tested with six…

Multiple imputation (MI) is one of the recommended techniques for handling missing data in ordinal factor analysis models. However, methods for computing MI-based fit indices under ordinal factor analysis models have yet to be developed. In this short note, we introduced the methods of using the standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) and…

Resilient students attain high levels of academic achievement despite the presence of chronic socioeconomic disadvantage. Identifying factors that promote resilience in the domain of science is crucial to making equitable and high-quality science education accessible for all students. Rooted in the opportunity-propensity framework, this study…

Bayesian methods to infer model dimensionality in factor analysis generally assume a lower triangular structure for the factor loadings matrix. Consequently, the ordering of the outcomes influences the results. Therefore, we propose a method to infer model dimensionality without imposing any prior restriction on the loadings matrix. Our approach…