The construct validity of Schepers’ locus of control inventory for black and white tertiary students

Abstract

Popular criticism is that psychometric instruments, based largely on middle-class White values, knowledge and culture are biased and less valid for other population groups. It is therefore important that the testing of persons with highly dissimilar backgrounds receive greater attention. In this study the LCI of Schepers was applied to Black and White tertiary students to determine the construct validity of the instrument for different cultural groups. It was found that there is evidence of differences in the construct validity of the LCI for the Black (n=376) and White (n=374) groups. The item discrimination values, scale reliabilities and factor structures revealed that the three hypothesised constructs, namely external locus of control, internal locus of control and autonomy underlying the LCI, were confirmed for the White group but not for the Black group. Opsomming Die algemene kritiek teen psigometriese instrumente wat grootliks op Blanke waardes, kennis en kultuur gebaseer is, is dat die instrumente sydig en minder geldig vir ander populasiegroepe mag wees. Dit is dus belangrik dat sydigheids- en geldigheidsaspekte veral aandag geniet by die toetsing van persone uit verskillende kultuurgroepe. In hierdie studie is die LVB van Schepers op Swart en Blanke tersiêre studente toegepas om die konstrukgeldigheid van die instrument vir verskillende kultuurgroepe te bepaal. Die resultate dui daarop dat die konstrukgeldigheid van die LVB vir die Swart (n=376) en Blanke (n=374) groepe verskil. Die item-diskriminasiewaardes, skaalbetroubaarhede en faktorstrukture dui daarop dat die drie konstrukte waaruit die LVB bestaan, naamlik ‘n eksterne lokus van kontrole, ‘n interne lokus van kontrole en outonomie vir die Blanke groep bevestig is, maar nie vir die Swart groep nie.

Validating a Measure of Productive Organisational Energy in the South African Context

“…Although research has confirmed that some psychometric instruments developed in other countries are valid when applied in the South African context (Storm & Rothmann, 2003), there have also been multiple instances where instruments which were not adapted for use in the South African context resulted in difficulties with reliability and validity (Gray & Durrheim, 2006;Meiring et al, 2006). This can be attributed to the fact that an individual's subjective culture provides the basis through which they perceive their social environment, which in turn discourages certain behaviors and cultivates others (Anastasi, cited in Schaap, Buys, & Olckers, 2003). This affects how that individual interprets and responds to the questions posed by a measurement instrument (Prinsloo & Ebersöhn, 2002).…”

Salutogenic Profile of Police Trainees on Entry into the Profession

“…Table 3 provides a comparison of the current study to other published studies based on various South African groups. The comparisons made were with studies of different groups such as second year students (Schaap et al, 2003), third year students (Barends, 2004), working mothers (Herbst, Coetzee & Visser, 2007), employees from a financial institution head office (Gropp, Geldenhuys & Visser, 2007), community service doctors (Dhaniram & Cilliers, 2004), university administrative staff (Cilliers & Ngokha, 2006), middle managers from a nature reserve organisation (Marais, 1997) and middle managers from a semi-governmental organisation (Cilliers & Coetzee, 2003). In the study of Schaap et al (2003) the second year student group was divided by race with group 1 being Black students and group 2 being White students.…”

Untitled

“…The 26 item Rotter's (1966) generalised locus of control scale (construct validity. 80 and Cronbachalpha reliability .88) as cited in Schaap et al (2003)was used to measure the participants' locus of control.…”

“…Such an expectation makes internals to invest seriously in education by working hard. Consequently, a student with an internal locus of control will adopt a positive attitude towards hard work for a better academic achievement (Schaap et al, 2003). Meanwhile a student with an external locus of control will attribute his or her academic struggles to other people and fate, and hence adopt a negative attitude (Schaap et al, 2003).…”