The factor structure and psychometric properties of the study skills questionnaire and the moderating role of self efficacy in academic performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Study Skills questionnaire (SSQ) and the moderating role of self efficacy in academic performance. The study utilised a sample of (n=288) first year students doing Selected issues in Psychology at the University of Zimbabwe. A simple random sample was used to select participants in the study. A 64 item SSQ with 8 subscales and a 10 item College Student Self Efficacy scale (CSSE) were used in the study. 102 males and 186 females participated in the study. The two questionnaires were directly administered to the participants. The reliability of the SSQ subscales ranges from 0.71 to 0.87 in the study as compared to the original reliability ranging from 0.85 to 0.86. The overall reliability of the SSQ is cronbach alpha .90 in the study. The results were factor analysed in principal component, oblique direct oblimin with Kaiser Normalisation and delta was set at 0. Two latent factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted. Factor 1 had motivation, reading and writing loading onto it and factor 2 has test strategy, time management, information processing, concentration and study aids loading onto it. This confirms previous research on the standardisation of the SSQ. Hierarchical regression was done to assess the total variance of study skills and self efficacy in predicting academic performance. Study skills have a variance of 52.5% and self efficacy has an incremental value of 9.3%. Results show that self efficacy moderate the relationship between study skills and academic achievement as indicated by the interaction effect between study skills and self efficacy. However future research should try to increase the scope of the study and increase the number of factors in the study.