Measurement invariance of the strength of motivation for medical school: a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis

M An; R A Kusurkar; L Li; Y Xiao; C Zheng; J Hu; M Chen

doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0958-4

Measurement invariance of the strength of motivation for medical school: a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis

M An, R A Kusurkar, L Li, Y Xiao, C Zheng, J Hu, M Chen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised (SMMS-R) questionnaire measures students' motivation for studying medicine. It includes three subscales: 'willingness to sacrifice', 'readiness to start', and 'persistence'. Measurement invariance is a prerequisite for group comparisons. The objectives of this study were to verify the factorial structure of the SMMS-R questionnaire and to investigate it's measurement invariance.

METHODS: A total of 989 medical students were approached, 930 cases were kept for data analysis. Factorial structure of and measurement invariance of the SMMS-R were tested using single and multiple group confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus. Trational Cronbach's α along with McDonald's ω and glb were used to measure internal consistency for each subscale.

RESULTS: Internal consistency for subscales and the full instrument were within the acceptable range. A 3-factor structure of the Chinese version of the SMMS-R was supported. Full configural, metric and partial scalar invariance were obtained.

CONCLUSIONS: The SMMS-R showed measurement invariance across gender and two independent samples. So it can be used for group and cross-cultural comparisons.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	116
Journal	BMC Medical Education
Volume	17
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0958-4
Publication status	Published - 11 Jul 2017

Keywords

Journal Article

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0958-4

Cite this

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title = "Measurement invariance of the strength of motivation for medical school: a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: The Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised (SMMS-R) questionnaire measures students' motivation for studying medicine. It includes three subscales: 'willingness to sacrifice', 'readiness to start', and 'persistence'. Measurement invariance is a prerequisite for group comparisons. The objectives of this study were to verify the factorial structure of the SMMS-R questionnaire and to investigate it's measurement invariance.METHODS: A total of 989 medical students were approached, 930 cases were kept for data analysis. Factorial structure of and measurement invariance of the SMMS-R were tested using single and multiple group confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus. Trational Cronbach's α along with McDonald's ω and glb were used to measure internal consistency for each subscale.RESULTS: Internal consistency for subscales and the full instrument were within the acceptable range. A 3-factor structure of the Chinese version of the SMMS-R was supported. Full configural, metric and partial scalar invariance were obtained.CONCLUSIONS: The SMMS-R showed measurement invariance across gender and two independent samples. So it can be used for group and cross-cultural comparisons.",

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T1 - Measurement invariance of the strength of motivation for medical school

T2 - a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis

AU - An, M

AU - Kusurkar, R A

AU - Li, L

AU - Xiao, Y

AU - Zheng, C

AU - Hu, J

AU - Chen, M

PY - 2017/7/11

Y1 - 2017/7/11

N2 - BACKGROUND: The Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised (SMMS-R) questionnaire measures students' motivation for studying medicine. It includes three subscales: 'willingness to sacrifice', 'readiness to start', and 'persistence'. Measurement invariance is a prerequisite for group comparisons. The objectives of this study were to verify the factorial structure of the SMMS-R questionnaire and to investigate it's measurement invariance.METHODS: A total of 989 medical students were approached, 930 cases were kept for data analysis. Factorial structure of and measurement invariance of the SMMS-R were tested using single and multiple group confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus. Trational Cronbach's α along with McDonald's ω and glb were used to measure internal consistency for each subscale.RESULTS: Internal consistency for subscales and the full instrument were within the acceptable range. A 3-factor structure of the Chinese version of the SMMS-R was supported. Full configural, metric and partial scalar invariance were obtained.CONCLUSIONS: The SMMS-R showed measurement invariance across gender and two independent samples. So it can be used for group and cross-cultural comparisons.

AB - BACKGROUND: The Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised (SMMS-R) questionnaire measures students' motivation for studying medicine. It includes three subscales: 'willingness to sacrifice', 'readiness to start', and 'persistence'. Measurement invariance is a prerequisite for group comparisons. The objectives of this study were to verify the factorial structure of the SMMS-R questionnaire and to investigate it's measurement invariance.METHODS: A total of 989 medical students were approached, 930 cases were kept for data analysis. Factorial structure of and measurement invariance of the SMMS-R were tested using single and multiple group confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus. Trational Cronbach's α along with McDonald's ω and glb were used to measure internal consistency for each subscale.RESULTS: Internal consistency for subscales and the full instrument were within the acceptable range. A 3-factor structure of the Chinese version of the SMMS-R was supported. Full configural, metric and partial scalar invariance were obtained.CONCLUSIONS: The SMMS-R showed measurement invariance across gender and two independent samples. So it can be used for group and cross-cultural comparisons.

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DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0958-4

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SN - 1472-6920

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JO - BMC Medical Education

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