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The Self‐Directed Learning Readiness Scale: a factor analysis study
Author(s) -
Hoban J Dennis,
Lawson Sonya R,
Mazmanian Paul E,
Best Al M,
Seibel Hugo R
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02140.x
Subject(s) - lisrel , confirmatory factor analysis , psychology , autodidacticism , scale (ratio) , medical education , sample (material) , structural equation modeling , mathematics education , medicine , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , chemistry , chromatography
Background The practice of medicine demands that its physician practitioners are self‐directed, life‐long learners. The Self‐Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) intends to measure adults' readiness to engage in self‐directed learning. Purpose The present study assesses the underlying factor structure of the SDLRS for a sample of entering medical students. Methods Over a period of 6 years, 972 first year medical students at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine completed the SDLRS. To summarise the inter‐relationships among variables, a principal axis factor analysis with oblique rotation was used on the 58 SDLRS items. A series of confirmatory factor analyses using LISREL 8.54 was performed to further examine the measurement model underlying the SDLRS. Results A 4‐factor confirmatory model representing 4 correlated substantive factors and a reverse coding method factor fits these data well. Conclusions Medical educators should hold limited expectations of the SDLRS to measure medical students' readiness to engage in self‐directed learning. The definitions and theoretical assumptions that inform readiness for self‐directed learning should be reconsidered. Alternative approaches to studying self‐directed learning should be explored.