A Validation of the Academic Behavioural Confidence Scale with Spanish Psychology Students

Abstract

Research has shown that UK university students' confidence in engaging with their academic studies can be usefully measured using the Academic Behavioural Confidence (ABC) scale. The scale is best considered as a 17-item scale measuring confidence towards grades, studying, verbalising and attendance. A substantial collaborative study with research partners in Spain created the need for the ABC scale to be translated into Castellan Spanish, providing an opportunity to carry out a cross-cultural validation of the scale. A total of 2,056 Spanish psychology students from the universities of Almería and Granada in south-eastern Spain completed an appropriately translated version of the ABC scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the four-subscale structure derived from equivalent UK students was still the best description of the data, although the fit of the four-factor model to the Spanish data was not quite as good as it had been with an equivalent UK sample. Possible explanations for the poorer fit are discussed. A further opportunity arose to validate the Spanish version of the ABC scale against the Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire. The findings showed that the ABC subscales of Grades, Studying and Verbalising significantly correlated with a deep approach to learning, as predicted, although it is noted that the correlation coefficients, whilst significant ( p < .01), were again not as high as seen with the UK student data. It is nevertheless argued that the ABC scale in both its Spanish and English versions is a useful way of understanding students' orientation to their university study, and can be used in research, as a diagnostic tool or to aid tutors in creating more effective learning opportunities for their students.

Personal Self-Regulation and Regulatory Teaching to predict Performance and Academic Confidence: new evidence for the DEDEPRO ModelTM

“…The Academic Behavioural Confidence (ABC) scale was developed from this idea and tentatively positioned against the established constructs of self-concept and self-efficacy (Sander, 2009;Sander & Sanders 2006). The scale itself is a psychometric means of assessing the confidence of undergraduate students from Spain and the UK in their own anticipated study behaviours in relation to their degree program, comprised largely of lecture based courses (Sander et al, 2011).…”

Contrasting Academic Behavioural Confidence in Mexican and European Psychology Students

“…In earlier work (Sander, de la Fuente, Stevenson and Jones, 2011), it had been expected to find a confidence differences between Almería and Granada (Spain) on the one hand and UWIC on the other, on a similar collectivist argument, with southern Europe being more collectivist that northern Europe, but a difference in ABC scores was not found. The fact that a comparable university sample in a very Collectivist culture showed higher academic confidences on Grades and Verbalising sub scales suggests the possibility of a degree of domain specificity in thinking about Individualism and Collectivism.…”

“…The data was analysed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS, version 17, (Arbuckle, 2006) to test the 4 factor model that had emerged from previous research (Sander, de la Fuente, Stevenson and Jones, 2011;). The results from CFA were considered using Chi-squared as recommended by Barrett (2007) (p.683).…”

“…If there are similar findings in students from other countries, the usefulness of the ABC scale can be extended into those countries. Erasmus links with universities in Spain lead to substantial, Spanish government funded, research that produced the Spanish version of the ABC scale (Sander, de la Fuente, Stevenson & Jones, 2011). Findings from this research are included in the summary above.…”

Competencia para Estudiar y Aprender en Contextos Estresantes: Fundamentos de la Utilidad e-Afrontamiento del Estrés Académico®

“…El nivel en la misma, que es consecuencia de la historia de aprendizaje, los alumnos que poseen un nivel bajo o medio, deberán trabajar para mejorar este aspecto (Sander et al, 2011;Sawatzky, et al, 2012).…”