Students’ complex problem solving profiles

in Psychometrika (2020), (85), 461-501

Some critical reflections on the special issue: Collaboration in the 21st century: The theory, assessment, and teaching of collaborative problem solving

in Computers in Human Behavior (2020)

Exploring behavioral patterns during complex problem solving

in Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2020), 36

Bottom up construction of a personality taxonomy

in European Journal of Psychological Assessment (2020), 36

Assessment of Fundamental Motives

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Motivation, that is, the orientation of the momentary execution of life towards a positively evaluated target state (Rheinberg & Vollmeyer, 2012), is one of the most important psychological constructs ... [more ▼]

Motivation, that is, the orientation of the momentary execution of life towards a positively evaluated target state (Rheinberg & Vollmeyer, 2012), is one of the most important psychological constructs related to success in various life domains such as school, work or family life (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2013). To be able to provide guidance to people and to support them in achieving success in these life domains, it is essential to identify those motivational aspects that are relevant for the respective life domain and to make them assessable. Here, motivational aspects that are inherent in a person, such as motives or goals, are promising candidates. Both constructs can be defined as explicit cognitive representations of desirable end states (Brandstätter, Schüler, Puca, & Lozo, 2013; Karoly, 1999). However, motives and goals are distinguished at the level of abstraction, that is, goals are a concrete representation of more abstract motives (Elliot & Church, 1997). In order to broaden our understanding in the assessment of motives and goals that are of relevance for education and work as two of the most important life domains, three studies were conducted in the context of the presented dissertation. In Paper 1, we revised the theory of Fundamental Motives (Havercamp, 1998; Reiss & Havercamp, 1998) and developed a time- and cost-efficient questionnaire to assess them in research settings. Fundamental Motives are a self-contained framework of 16 motives considered to be relevant for people in their everyday lives. The framework is appealing as it provides an approach to narrow down the plethora of motives to those relevant in a variety of life domains. In addition, the framework is already used extensively in coaching for work and other areas of life (Reyss & Birkhahn, 2009). First, an initial item pool was successively refined into 16 scales with three items each (named 16 motives research scales; 16mrs) across two samples with a total sample size of N = 569 representative for the German population with respect to age, sex and education. Second, we used another representative sample (N = 999) to validate the questionnaire and explore its nomological network. Results support the reliability and validity of the 16mrs for the assessment of Fundamental Motives. Investigations of the nomological network indicate, that Fundamental Motives represent aspects of personality that are different from the Big Five personality traits (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1992) and cover motivational aspects beyond the well-established Power, Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, and Fear motives (Heckhausen & Heckhausen, 2010). Paper 2 was based on the results of Study 1, since we applied the framework of Fundamental Motives, as measured by the 16mrs constructed in Study 1, to the life domain of work. In coaching in work contexts, Fundamental Motives have been used extensively, not least because of their fine-grained level of abstraction that allows for a straightforward interpretation by the client. By investigating how the satisfaction of fine-grained motives supplied by characteristics of the workplace (i.e., need-supply fit) contribute to job satisfaction, we further validated the framework itself. At the same time were able to gain more detailed insights into how need-supply fit impacts job satisfaction, compared to broader motive or value clusters. To this end, we used the representative sample from Study 1 (N = 999) and selected all working people (n = 723). We applied polynomial regression in combination with response surface analysis (e.g., Edwards & Parry, 1993), which allows to simultaneously investigate how different levels of Fundamental Motives on the one hand and different levels of supply to satisfy these motives at the workplace on the other contribute to job satisfaction. We found that job satisfaction was highest when the level of supply by the workplace exceeded the level of the motive for Social Acceptance, Status, Autonomy, Sex, and Retention motives. When a high level of the motive and a high level of supply met, job satisfaction was highest for Curiosity, Idealism, and Social Participation motives. When the supplies fell short compared to the level of the motive, job satisfaction was negatively affected by the need-supply fit of Social Acceptance, Status, Sex, Retention, Curiosity, and Idealism motives. The results can be used in coaching and career development to uncover potential causes of low job satisfaction and provide guidance to clients on how to enhance their job satisfaction. In Paper 3, we shifted the focus to education as another major life domain. Here, achievement motivation has been identified as one of the major driving forces for progression and success (Schiefele & Schaffner, 2015). On a more concrete level compared to achievement motivation, Achievement Goals have been established as students’ cognitive representations of desired and undesired end states in educational achievement contexts (Elliot & Thrash, 2002; Hulleman, Schrager, Bodmann, & Harackiewicz, 2010). These goals typically focus on mastery, that is learning as much as possible, and performance, that is outperforming others or avoiding being outperformed. So far, Achievement Goals have been mostly conceptualized as domain-specific (Bong, 2001). Although this assumption is supported by previous studies, research on the processes operating behind the domain- specificity is scarce. The dimensional comparisons theory (Möller & Marsh, 2013) has introduced dimensional comparisons as a potential process operating behind the domain- specificity. Dimensional comparisons describe intrapersonal comparisons of characteristics in a domain with characteristics in another domain for the sake of self-evaluation. Previous investigations indicated that dimensional comparison processes are involved in the formation of the domain-specificity of important educational constructs, such as Self-Concept or Test Anxiety. Consequently, our aim in study 3 was to investigate, if dimensional comparison processes operate in the formation of the domain-specificity of Achievement Goals. To this end, we used a sample of N = 381 German ninth and tenth grade students in six German highest-track schools. Results indicate that dimensional comparison processes impact the domain specificity of Achievement Goals. Thus, the results extend our understanding of the domain specificity of Achievement Goals and simultaneously add to the validity of the dimensional comparison theory. In conclusion, the presented scientific work adds to the assessment of motives and goals that are crucially important in various life domains, but especially in work and educational settings. The contributions of this dissertation to the existing literature include (1) the revision of a comprehensive motivational framework (Paper 1), (2) the development and validation of a questionnaire based on this revised framework (Papers 1 & 2), (3) important assessment related insights concerning Achievement Goals in educational settings (Paper 3), and (4) practical implications for coaching and interventions in work and educational settings as two of the most important life domains (Papers 2 & 3). [less ▲]

The stability of academic self-concept profiles – a latent transition analysis

Poster (2019, November 06)

Students' perception of instructional quality in everyday life: Examining the factorial validity of three basic dimensions on a lesson-to-lesson basis

Scientific Conference (2019, September 11)

Entwicklung und Validierung eines Kurzfragebogens zur Erfassung von sieben Facetten von Gewissenhaftigkeit

Scientific Conference (2019, September)

Die Rolle von Persönlichkeitsvariablen für den Schulerfolg rückt immer stärker in den Fokus wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen. Insbesondere Gewissenhaftigkeit zeigt eine hohe prädiktive Validität für die ... [more ▼]

Die Rolle von Persönlichkeitsvariablen für den Schulerfolg rückt immer stärker in den Fokus wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen. Insbesondere Gewissenhaftigkeit zeigt eine hohe prädiktive Validität für die Schulleistung (Poropat, 2009). Zur näheren Untersuchung des Konstrukts der Gewissenhaft haben MacCann, Duckworth und Roberts (2009) einen aus 68 Items bestehenden Fragebogen zur Erfassung von acht verschiedenen Facetten von Gewissenhaftigkeit im Sekundarschulalter entwickelt. Dieser ist jedoch zu umfangreich für die Verwendung in large-scale Studien, die in der pädagogischen Forschung von zunehmender Bedeutung sind. Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert daher die Entwicklung und Validierung einer Kurzform eines Fragebogens zur Erfassung von sieben Facetten von Gewissenhaftigkeit. Die Entwicklungsstichprobe umfasste die Schüler aller neunten Klassen in Luxemburg in 2017 (N1 = 6.325). Die Schüler beantworteten deutsche oder französische Adaptionen eines aus 59 Items und sieben Facetten bestehenden Fragebogens zu Gewissenhaftigkeit, der an das Instrument von MacCann et al. angelehnt war. Zur Entwicklung einer Kurzversion wurde ein exhaustive-search Algorithmus verwendet. Dabei sollte für jede Facette von Gewissenhaftigkeit die bestmögliche Kombination aus vier Items ausgewählt werden. Die Selektionskriterien hierfür waren Fit-Statistiken, interne Konsistenz und Messinvarianz zwischen den Sprachversionen. Der resultierende Fragebogen – bestehend aus 28 Items – wurde 2018 den Schülern aller neunten Klassen in Luxemburg vorgelegt (N2 =6.279). Für diese Validierungsstichprobe zeigte ein Modell mit sieben Faktoren von Gewissenhaftigkeit einen guten Fit (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04). Alle Facetten hatten sehr gute Reliabilitäten (ɑs > 0.97). Außerdem fanden wir skalare Messinvarianz zwischen den Sprachversionen und zwischen beiden Geschlechtern. Weitere Validierungsschritte und Anwendungsmöglichkeiten dieses Fragebogens im schulischen Kontext werden diskutiert. Literatur MacCann, C., Duckworth, A.L., & Roberts, R.D. (2009). Empirical identification of the major facets of conscientiousness. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 451–458. Poropat, A.E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 322–338. [less ▲]

Assimilation and Contrast Effects of Dimensional Comparisons in Self-Concepts, Interests & Anxieties

Scientific Conference (2019, August 16)

Research on the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model has frequently found contrast effects of dimensional comparisons (i.e. a negative relationship between achievement and self-concept across ... [more ▼]

Research on the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model has frequently found contrast effects of dimensional comparisons (i.e. a negative relationship between achievement and self-concept across domains) between math and verbal domains. The generalised internal/external frame of reference (GI/E) model extends the I/E model to multiple domains including multiple languages and to other academic self-beliefs and attitudes. When considering multiple languages, achievement-self-concept relations across languages have been found to be either negative (i.e. contrast effect), positive (i.e. assimilation effect), or non-significant. The present study contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the effect of dimensional comparisons among languages by (1) examining dimensional comparisons across two languages and (2) extending the examination to interest and anxiety as outcome variables beyond self-concept. We analysed domain-specific self-concepts, interest, anxieties, and achievement regarding French, German and math in a representative sample (N=5,789) of Luxembourgish ninth-graders. Findings indicated (1) clear contrast effects in the formation of self-concept and interest in German, French and math, and (2) a combination of contrast, assimilation and/or no effects in the formation of anxiety in math, German, and French. With regard to the latter, contrast effects were found for achievement-anxiety paths from German to French, French to German, and French to math. Achievement-anxiety paths from math to French and German to math were non-significant, while the path from math achievement to German anxiety showed a small, yet significant assimilation effect. Results are contextualised within the multilingual Luxembourgish educational system and implications for research on dimensional comparisons are discussed. [less ▲]

Implementing intelligence facets as predictors into the generalised I/E model

Scientific Conference (2019, August 13)

The internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model postulates that achievement influences the formation of academic self-concept (ASC) via social and dimensional comparison processes. Its recent ... [more ▼]

The internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model postulates that achievement influences the formation of academic self-concept (ASC) via social and dimensional comparison processes. Its recent extension as the generalized I/E model allows further domains than math and verbal achievement. However, intelligence facets as an indicator of achievement have been neglected within the GI/E model framework. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the influences of three intelligence facets (verbal, numerical, figural) on domain-specific ASCs beyond grades and achievement scores. We drew on N=382 German students to analyze verbal, numerical, and figural intelligence, German and math achievement, self-reported grades and ASCs in four domains. We performed a structural equation model using Mplus with grades, achievement scores and intelligence facets specified as predictors and domain-specific ASCs as criteria. Positive paths were found from math, physics, German and English grade to their corresponding self-concepts. A positive path was found between physics grade and math ASC while negative paths were found from English grade to math and physics ASC and from math grade to German, physics and English ASC. The path coefficients from math achievement to math ASC as well as to physics ASC were positive; German achievement was negatively related to math ASC. Lastly, numerical intelligence was positively related to physics ASC, and verbal intelligence was positively related to English ASC. Thus, intelligence, specifically numerical and verbal intelligence, seem to be valid predictors of domain-specific ACSs beyond grades and achievement test scores. [less ▲]