A recent review found that 11% of published factor models are hierarchical models with second-order factors. However, dedicated recommendations for evaluating hierarchical model fit have yet to emerge. Traditional benchmarks like RMSEA <0.06 or CFI >0.95 are often consulted, but they were never intended to generalize to hierarchical models.…

Research in human development often relies on composites, that is, composed variables such as indices. Their composite nature renders these variables inaccessible to conventional factor-centric psychometric validation techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the context of human development research, there is currently no…

Scholars study representative international surveys to understand cross-cultural differences in mentality patterns, which are measured via complex multi-item constructs. Methodologists in this field insist with increasing vigor that detecting "non-invariance" in how a construct's items associate with each other in different national…

The discussion of social responsibility has expanded from ethical conduct of research to include a broader range of topics including participating in the policy-making process, engaging in public discourse related to science, and promoting projects serving societal common goods. Although such an expanded framework on social responsibility is…

Fresh PhD recipients are experiencing restricted career opportunities yet the enrolment of PhD Scholars is increasing rapidly. Perhaps, doctoral students lack conscious educational decision-making. Building on such a perspective of doctoral students' unconscious educational choices, we explored their educational choices throughout their life…

This research seeks to understand the determinants of student dropout in the courses offered at the Open University of Brazil system at the Federal University of Santa Maria. The research used the following methods: survival function, factorial analysis, and logistic function. Results indicated that male students, with higher levels of income, who…

Creativity has long been emphasized as an essential skill identified and developed in classrooms by eminent psychologists. A high level of creativity is required to adapt to the changing world of innovation. University-level students are privileged as they get multiple opportunities to learn creative skills. They are facilitated with autonomy and…

The most common effect size when using a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis approach to measurement invariance is [delta]CFI and [delta]TLI with a cutoff value of 0.01. However, this recommended cutoff value may not be ubiquitously appropriate and may be of limited application for some tests (e.g., measures using dichotomous items or…

In conducting confirmatory factor analysis with ordered response items, the literature suggests that when the number of responses is five and item skewness (IS) is approximately normal, researchers can employ maximum likelihood with robust standard errors (MLR). However, MLR can yield biased factor loadings (FL) and FL standard errors (FLSE) when…

The consistency of psychometric properties across waves of data collection provides valuable evidence that scores can be interpreted consistently. Evidence supporting the consistency of psychometric properties can come from using a longitudinal extension of item factor analysis to account for the lack of independence of observation when evaluating…

In this paper, a problem set activity focused on understanding and applying unsupervised and supervised chemometric methods for the analysis of biodiesel-diesel blended fuels is described. This problem set was utilized in two upper-level analytical elective courses aimed for junior and senior level students. The data set consists of peak areas…

This paper presents a new astronomy self-efficacy instrument, composed of two factors; one relating to learning astronomy content, which we call astronomy personal self-efficacy, and the other relating to the use of astronomical instrumentation, specifically the use of remote robotic telescopes for data collection. The latter is referred to as the…

The Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) has been used in large studies such as the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Important conclusions might be done regarding its reliability for the prediction of children's school readiness taking advantage of such large-scale evaluation. Although BSRA has being largely used, few are the studies at…

Performance-based research funding systems have been extensively used around the globe to allocate funds across higher education institutes (HEIs), which led to an increased amount of literature examining their use. The UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) uses a peer-review process to evaluate the research environment, research outputs and…

The aim of the present research is to develop a psychometrically qualified measurement tool to find out the emotional authenticity levels of individuals. Taking roots from the rational approach, 53 items were written by the researchers in line with the relevant literature review and the opinions of the experts, and the expert opinion form prepared…