Measurement Invariance of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-Second Edition (LASSI-II) across Gender and Discipline in Egyptian College Students

Abstract

Validating the intended interpretations for proposed uses of tests scores is paramount for making valid inferences in educational and psychological research. Ascertaining measurement invariance for measurement instruments is an assumption for comparing means. If measurement invariance does not hold for groups of interest, comparison of means will be invalid since making valid inferences presupposes that the instrument measures the same construct across subgroups. One of the most widely used instruments for measuring learning strategies for college students is the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-second edition. The inventory has 10 subscales namely, information processing, selecting main ideas, test strategies, anxiety, attitude, motivation, concentration, self-testing, study aids, and time management with eight items for each subscale. Although it is stated that the learning and study strategies inventory is internationally adopted to measure students’ use of learning and study strategies, little is known about its measurement invariance across gender (males/females) and discipline (science/humanities) in Egyptian college students. The authors utilize an adapted Arabic version of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory administered to 522 Egyptian college students to investigate if the adopted model has measurement invariance across gender (males/females) and discipline (science/humanities). Results revealed that the effort-related activities, goal orientation, and cognitive activities model was confirmed for these students. Using multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses, results also showed that the factorial structure of the adopted model had partial measurement invariance across gender and full measurement invariance across discipline. Centers for teaching and learning at universities can use the validated instrument to measure students’ learning and study strategies across gender and discipline. More implications and suggestions for future research are also addressed.