This study investigated teachers' beliefs about the changes needed to improve student learning in low-performing schools. The study employed a new instrument, the Need for Change Assessment (NCA), which solicited teachers' perceptions of the need for change in areas such as reading and math programs, classroom instruction, and school policies.…

This article describes a research project into the self-efficacy and anxiety of college English students at four universities in China. A total of 738 participants completed a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy and anxiety in writing in English. This was immediately followed by a writing task. The questionnaire used a seven point Likert type…

The purposes of this study were to validate an instrument of attitudes toward science and to investigate grade level, type of school, and gender differences in Taiwan's students' personality traits and attitudes toward science as well as predictors of attitudes toward science. Nine hundred and twenty-two elementary students and 1,954 secondary…

This paper discusses the advantages and problems related to factor analysis by minimizing residuals (minres). It is shown that this method fails if the starting point of iterations is not well chosen. A suitable starting point is suggested. (Author)

Demonstrates that the weighting procedure proposed by E. Cureton and S. Mulaik (1975) can be applied to the Direct Oblimin approach of D. Clarkson and R. Jennrich (1988) to provide good results. The rotation method obtained is called Weighted Oblimin. Compared this method to other rotation methods with favorable results. (SLD)

Discusses the use of analytic rotation in exploratory factor analysis, giving particular attention to situations in which there is a complex factor pattern. Standard results are believed to yield poor solutions. Discusses some little known but interesting rotation criteria and examines methods for weighting variables. Illustrates the procedures.…

Building on previous studies centred on the interaction between adviser and advisee in masters thesis projects, in which a qualitative approach was used, the present study uses factor analysis to identify the factors that determine either a successful or unsuccessful outcome for the masters thesis project. There were five factors relating to the…

Component loss functions (CLFs) similar to those used in orthogonal rotation are introduced to define criteria for oblique rotation in factor analysis. It is shown how the shape of the CLF affects the performance of the criterion it defines. For example, it is shown that monotone concave CLFs give criteria that are minimized by loadings with…

This paper addresses the development and validation of the Interagency Collaboration Scale (ICS), a 17-item self-report measure that investigates secondary special educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on data from a sample (N = 260) of secondary special educators who are members of the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which spirituality is addressed in supervision as reported by licensed professional counselor supervisors (LPC-S), licensed professional counselors (LPC), and licensed professional counselor interns (LPC-I). This study utilized a descriptive explanatory non-experimental research design. A…

This study examined the factorial structure of three related constructs, math self-concept, math self-efficacy, and math anxiety, across 41 countries. One factorial structure was achieved at both between- and within-country levels. Within-country variations of the self-constructs were also noted in relation to math performance: Self-concept showed…

Data on how well information and communication technology (ICT) needs of 1354 Canadian college and university students with disabilities are met on and off campus were collected using the newly developed Positives Scale (Postsecondary Information Technology Initiative Scale). The measure contains 26 items which use a 6-point Likert scale (1 =…

Coaching success is often defined in terms of won-loss records. However, the effort to operationalize more comprehensive strategies for examining coaching success, particularly the development of self-report measures, dates back three decades (e.g., Smith, Smoll, & Curtis, 1979). This project for developing the Coaching Success Questionnaire-2…

The purpose of the current investigation was to determine which curriculum-based measures of written expression demonstrated adequate technical characteristics and provided useful information towards predicting performance on a state-standardized assessment. Data collected from 124 third grade students was used for the study. Curriculum-based…

Objective: To investigate whether items assessing attention problems provide evidence of quantitative differences or categorically distinct subtypes of attention problems (APs) and to investigate the relation of empirically derived latent classes to "DSM-IV" diagnoses of subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for…