Self-Efficacy and Attainment Value for Enacting Inquiry Ahmed Ibrahim McGill University November ...

165 Pages·2013·3.52 MB·English

by  Ahmed Ibrahim

Self-Efficacy and Attainment Value for Enacting Inquiry
Ahmed Ibrahim
McGill University

November 2013

Thesis submitted to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology (Learning Sciences Stream)
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
McGill University, Montreal
© Ahmed Ibrahim
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE ii
Abstract
Self-efficacy and attainment value are two important motivational constructs that have a
powerful effect on students’ learning. According to expectancy-value theory, beliefs about the
self’s abilities predict the subjective task value, which in turn directly predicts achievement-
related choices and performance. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relation
between students’ self-efficacy and attainment value in the context of enacting inquiry for
university undergraduate students. The current study validated two new measures: the McGill
Self-Efficacy in Enacting Inquiry Questionnaire (MSEEIQ), and the McGill Attainment Value
for Enacting Inquiry Questionnaire (MAVEIQ). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to
analyze the structure of the MSEEIQ and MAVEIQ instruments, and led to generating seven and
five factors, respectively. Inquiry tasks underlying the factors in both instruments represented a
configuration of inquiry tasks that is consistent with the conceptualization of inquiry in the
literature. The results showed that the students were more confident in enacting inquiry tasks
that are more procedural than conceptual, and gave these tasks a higher importance. Latent path
regression analysis was conducted using 585 students, to examine the hypothesized relation
between self-efficacy factors and attainment value factors for enacting inquiry, and showed a
positive and significant relation. Implications for inquiry and motivational theories and
instructional practice are discussed. A proposal for a Students’ Model for Inquiry Learning
Enactment (SMILE) is presented.
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE iii
Résumé
L'auto-efficacité et la valeur de réalisation sont deux constructions importantes de motivation qui
ont un effet puissant sur l'apprentissage des élèves. Selon la théorie de l'espérance et valeur, les
croyances envers les capacités de soi prédisent la valeur subjective de la tâche, qui à son tour
prédit directement les choix liés à la réalisation et la performance. Le but de cette étude était
d'examiner la relation entre l'auto-efficacité et la valeur de réalisation dans le cadre de
l'apprentissage par la démarche de l'investigation chez les étudiants de premier cycle
universitaire. L'étude actuelle a validé deux nouvelles mesures: l’auto-efficacité et la valeur
atteinte pour l'apprentissage par la démarche de l'investigation de McGill: MSEEIQ, MAVEIQ,
respectivement. L'analyse exploratoire de facteurs a été utilisée pour analyser la structure de
MSEEIQ et MAVEIQ, et a conduit à générer sept et cinq facteurs, respectivement. Les tâches de
l'apprentissage par la démarche de l'investigation qui existent dans les facteurs dans les deux
instruments représentent une configuration qui est en accord avec la littérature. Les résultats ont
montré que les étudiants étaient plus confiants dans les tâches de l'apprentissage par la démarche
de l'investigation qui sont intellectuellement moins sophistiqués, et par conséquent ont donné à
ces tâches une plus grande importance. Une analyse de régression de chemin latente a été
effectuée en utilisant 585 étudiants, afin d'examiner le rapport supposé entre les facteurs de
MSEEIQ et MAVEIQ. Cette analyse a montré un rapport significatif positif. L’implication de
ces resultats pour les théorie de l'apprentissage par la démarche de l'investigation, et de la
motivation et les pratiques pédagogiques sont discutées. Une proposition pour un modèle de
l'apprentissage par la démarche de l'investigation a été présentée.
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE iv
Acknowledgements
When I embarked on the PhD journey, I was excited about all what was awaiting me. I
was looking forward to experience all the thrills, and all the discoveries. I wanted to learn at
every step during the journey. I opened myself to every possible opportunity of learning. When
my journey started at McGill, my mentor was Mark Aulls, who welcomed me to join him in a
new discovery. We took this journey together for five years. We went to places I could never
have imagined being to. We had long discussions along the way. Billions and billions of
neurons were excited. We met many new people, and made new friendships. When we were
looking at the world from our windows, we knew that inquiry in the world has a lot to explore.
We also realized that during this journey, our hearts were always beating with love and care for
people who are like our souls, and without whom our journey could not be as fulfilling, rich, or
rewarding as it was. Kathy Aulls was always with us, with her generosity and care. She was the
angel looking after us all the time. I have enormous gratitude to Mark and Kathy. I thank Mark
for the mentorship, companionship, friendship, advice, help, support, and guidance.
In my heart, there is always my dad, who gives me inspiration and wisdom. He gives me
all the meaning of life. He is present in every accomplishment I can make. All my dreams and
success come from his wishes. I am what I can be because of him. My PhD is what he will be
extremely proud of. At every heartbeat, there is also my mom, who believes in me all the time.
My mom does everything she can do to offer me anything that can make me succeed. Her love
and prayers, and her wishes and aspirations push me to become better, learn more, and achieve
awesomeness. My brother: Amr Ibrahim is also such a big heart that can give without limits.
His help to me made me continue in my journey. My two sisters: Mi Ibrahim and Maha Ibrahim,
and their sons: Mahmoud and Omar, and their daughters: Farida and Fatima, are what life is
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE v
when life wants to hug you and kiss you, and tell you that you are in the hearts of people who
look up to you. My wife Ybtissam Habti is what I am blessed with in life. Her love and support
and belief in me made me continue to progress and advance in my studies, scholarship, and
career. Her family was also always generous and caring. Uncle Tarek El Afandy is a unique
relative who inspires me with his ideas, projects, music, books, and networks.
When I started my PhD at McGill, I met Carl Frederiksen, who ignited my enthusiasm in
quantitative methods. I met Mark Aulls, who awed me about qualitative research. This
encounter made me start to see things in new ways. I started to endeavour into new explorations,
and learn new meanings of things. With Mark, I started to learn this new language of inquiry
that I am using in this thesis. I met Bob Bracewell whom I assisted in teaching research
methods. Bob inspired me to think about human behavior from the perspective of activity theory
and cognitive psychology. I am also grateful for his support and recommendations of me. I met
Alenoush Saroyan who supported me at every possible opportunity. She supported me to gain
teaching experiences, and to improve my teaching skills. I met Bruce Shore, who showed me
other facets of research, style, and scholarship. I am also very grateful to his meticulous editing
and feedback for my early thesis drafts. Bruce offers a model that I learned many things from in
scholarship and research. Bruce cares about research, and about commitment in a community of
learners and researchers. I met Roger Azevedo who showed me a model of productivity and
high scholarly output. I also met Calvin Kalman, who supported me through his research that he
is always enthused about. He showed me how a scholar continues learning all the time. Calvin
comes to research meetings promptly, works actively with a network of collaborators around the
world, and finds the time for social activities with colleagues and students. His prayers and his
wife’s Marilyn Cooperman’s prayers to my dad when he was sick filled my heart with warmth
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE vi
and feelings of the nature of the fabric of humanity, which is full of care and friendship. All
these qualities were important for me to experience during my PhD journey. At the University
of Montreal, I met Oury Monchi, who welcomed me to his group, and gave me the chance to
assist teaching the lab of his neuroimaging class. Oury was open to help me with research ideas.
I had many conversations with him about these ideas that I was trying to implement. Oury’s
openness and sincerity helped me learn and integrate ideas of possible interdisciplinary work.
Mark introduced me to Nathaniel Lasry, who opened new doors of friendship,
collegiality, and collaboration to me. Many conversations with Nathaniel were the early ideas
that I was developing for my thesis. The opportunity to “play” with data, and studies with him
was a great one. I benefited a lot from it, and we had wonderful times of thinking about exciting
ideas. Nathaniel introduced me to Eric Mazur who welcomed me in his lab at Harvard
University. I spent four months with Eric and his group. Eric’s dynamism, energy, and
enthusiasm, his simplicity and humbleness, and his openness showed me many qualities that I
absorbed and hope to cultivate in my scholarly career with my peers and future students. My
experience at Harvard, and with Eric impacted my life and career significantly.
The High Ability and Inquiry Research (HAIR) group at McGill was my home during my
PhD years. All the members of HAIR were always of help. Special thanks go to Diana
Tabatabai and Jasvindor Magon Kaur.
This work was funded in part by grants awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada to Dr. Mark Aulls and Dr. Bruce Shore, and Dr. Calvin Kalman. I
also received doctoral fellowships from McGill University and the Supporting Active Learning
and Technological Innovation in Science Education (SALTISE) consortium. Thank you for your
generous support.
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE vii
Table of Contents
Self-­Efficacy
 and
 Attainment
 Value
 for
 Enacting
 Inquiry
 .........................................................
 i

Abstract
 ..............................................................................................................................................................
 ii

Résumé
 ..............................................................................................................................................................
 iii

Acknowledgements
 .......................................................................................................................................
 iv

Table
 of
 Contents
 ..........................................................................................................................................
 vii

List
 of
 Tables
 ...................................................................................................................................................
 ix

List
 of
 Figures
 ....................................................................................................................................................
 x

Chapter
 1:
 Introduction
 .....................................................................................................................
 1

Theoretical
 Framework
 ................................................................................................................................
 1

Inquiry
 ................................................................................................................................................................
 2

Motivation
 .......................................................................................................................................................
 16

The
 Current
 Study
 ........................................................................................................................................
 26

Chapter
 2:
 Method
 ..............................................................................................................................
 30

Sampling
 Strategy
 .........................................................................................................................................
 30

Participants
 ....................................................................................................................................................
 31

Procedure
 ........................................................................................................................................................
 34

Measures
 ..........................................................................................................................................................
 35

Analysis
 ............................................................................................................................................................
 65

Chapter
 3:
 Results
 ..............................................................................................................................
 68

Does
 the
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Creating
 and
 Communicating
 Knowledge
 Significantly
 Predict
 the

Attainment
 Value
 for
 Creating
 and
 Communicating
 Knowledge?
 ................................................
 68

Does
 the
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Data
 Analysis
 and
 Writing
 Significantly
 Predict
 the
 Attainment

Value
 for
 Data
 Analysis
 and
 Writing?
 ....................................................................................................
 83
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE viii
Do
 the
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Stating
 the
 Problem
 and
 Asking
 Questions,
 Self-­Efficacy
 in

Hypothesizing
 Outcomes
 and
 Reasoning,
 and
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Designing
 a
 Research
 Study

and
 Collecting
 Data
 Predict
 the
 Attainment
 Value
 for
 Stating
 the
 Problem
 and
 Asking

Questions,
 Hypothesizing
 Outcomes
 and
 Reasoning,
 and
 Collecting
 Data?
 .............................
 86

Does
 the
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Searching
 and
 Managing
 Information
 Predict
 the
 Attainment

Value
 for
 Searching
 and
 Managing
 Information?
 ..............................................................................
 91

Does
 the
 Self-­Efficacy
 in
 Verifying
 Data
 and
 Testing
 Hypotheses
 Predict
 the
 Attainment

Value
 for
 Verifying
 Data
 and
 Testing
 Hypotheses?
 ...........................................................................
 94

Summary
 of
 Results
 Regarding
 Variances
 Explained
 .......................................................................
 97

Chapter
 4:
 Discussion
 .......................................................................................................................
 99

Summary
 and
 Conclusions
 ........................................................................................................................
 99

Limitations
 of
 the
 Present
 Study
 ..........................................................................................................
 117

Practical
 Implications
 ..............................................................................................................................
 119

Theoretical
 Implications
 .........................................................................................................................
 121

Original
 Contribution
 to
 Knowledge
 ...................................................................................................
 127

Future
 Directions
 .......................................................................................................................................
 128

References
 .........................................................................................................................................
 133
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE ix
List of Tables
Table 1. Self-related and Task-related Motivational Constructs….............................................19
Table 2. Demographic Information for MSEEIQ........................................................................32
Table 3. Demographic Information for MAVEIQ.......................................................................33
Table 4. Descriptive Statistics for the McGill Self-Efficacy in Inquiry Enactment Questionnaire
(MSEEIQ).....................................................................................................................37
Table 5. Factor Structure and Factor Loadings for MSEEIQ......................................................46
Table 6. Factor Correlations for MSEEIQ...................................................................................50
Table 7. Descriptive Statistics for the McGill Attainment Value for Inquiry Enactment
Questionnaire (MAVEIQ) ............................................................................................58
Table 8. Factor Structure and Factor Loadings for MAVEIQ.....................................................60
Table 9. Factor Correlations for MAVEIQ..................................................................................63
Table 10. Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the Creating and Communicating Knowledge Model.....76
Table 11. Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the “Data Analysis and Writing” Model ........................84
Table 12. Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the “Self-Efficacy in Stating the Problem and Asking
Questions, Self-Efficacy in Hypothesizing Outcomes and Reasoning, and Self-
Efficacy in Designing a Research Study and Collecting Data” Model ......................89
Table 13. Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the “Searching and Managing Information” Model........92
Table 14. Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the “Verifying Data and Testing Hypotheses” Model.....95
Table 15. Amount of Variance Explained between MSEEIQ and MAVEIQ Factors..................98
Table 16. Comparing Factors of MSEEIQ Underlying Inquiry, MSDIQ Enactment, Justice et al.
(2002) and National Research Council (2012) .........................................................103
Table 17. Comparing the Underlying Inquiry Factors in MSEEIQ and MAVEIQ....................109
INQUIRY SELF-EFFICACY AND ATTAINMENT VALUE x
List of Figures
Figure 1. Sources of self-efficacy according to Bandura (1997) ................................................22
Figure 2. Sources of task value according to expectancy-value theory.......................................25
Figure 3. Variables that predict achievement-related choices and performance.........................27
Figure 4. Comparing the means of the MSEEIQ inquiry process factors...................................52
Figure 5. Comparing the means of the MAVEIQ inquiry process factors..................................64
Figure 6. Latent regression model for predicting Attainment Value for Creating and
Communicating Knowledge (AVE-CRT-COM) from Self-Efficacy for Creating and
Communicating Knowledge (SEE-CRT-COM) .........................................................69
Figure 7. Latent regression model for predicting Attainment Value for Data Analysis and
Writing (AVE-ANA-WRT) from Self-Efficacy Attainment Value for Data Analysis
and Writing (SEE-ANA-WRT) ..................................................................................83
Figure 8. Latent regression model for predicting Attainment Value for Stating the Problem and
Asking Questions, Hypothesizing Outcomes and Reasons, and Designing a Research
Study and Collecting Data (AVE-HYP-CLT-PRB) from Self-Efficacy in Stating the
Problem and Asking Questions (SEE-PRB-ASK), Self-Efficacy in Hypothesizing
Outcomes and Reasoning (SEE-HYP-OTR), and Self-Efficacy in Designing a
Research Study and Collecting Data (SEE-DTA-CLN) .............................................87
Figure 9. Latent regression model for predicting Attainment Value for Searching and Managing
Information (AVE-INF-SRC) from Self-Efficacy for Searching and Managing
Information (SEE-INF-SRC) ......................................................................................91