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Factor analysis method

 

I used SPSS top generate a set of factors based on Hofers DEBQ personal epistemology instrument

 

The strategy was to generate a sinfgle set of personal epistemic factors and then examin whether there was a significant gap between the scores of academics and practitioners for this factors.  Factor scores were made up of the average value of the factor item structure for each factor whch was then analysed using ANOVA.

 

The purpose of factor analysis used here is to identify the underlying constructs underpinning epistemic belief structures across different domains – academic and practitioner.  It is a technique widely used in the fields of psychology, social research and education.  It is a multivariate procedure which reduces a large number of variables into a smaller number by intercorrelating the questions in the scale.  By doing this it establishes the unidimensional underlying dimensions or factors underpinning respondent answers. 

 

Factor analysis

 

“….analyses the structure of the interrelationships among a large number of variables to determine a set of common underlying dimensions (factors)…it is used to discover the factor structure of a construct and examine its reliability”  (Hair, 2004)

 

Factor analysis as a data reduction technique examines a large number of variables, in this case 34 questions from a Likert scale and summarises by intercorrelating responses into a smaller number of clusters or factors.  In effect factor analysis analyses interrelationships among a large number of variables to determine a set of common underlying dimensions or factors. There are two main approaches to FA – exploratory and confirmatory.  Exploratory as the name implies is concerned with exploring relationships between variable usually at the early stages of research and to generate theirs or models.  Confirmatory FA however is used to test or confirm specific hypotheses regarding existing theories or models.  Here exploratory factor analysis is an appropriate technique to reveal the factor structure of a construct like epistemic value and to examine the reliability of those antecedent factors (Hair, 2004).

 

 

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