Validación de instrumentos psicométricos en ciencias sociales y de la salud: una guía práctica

In recent years there has been a significant rise in the number of psychometric studies, together with crucial statistical advances for validity and reliability measures. Given the importance of providing accurate procedures both in methodology and score interpretation of tests and/or measurement scales, the editors-in-chief of the journal Annals of Psychology have drafted this guide to address the most relevant issues in the field of applied psychometry. To this end, the present manuscript analyses the main topics under the Classical Test Theory framework (e.g., exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis; reliability, validity, bias, etc.) aiming to synthesize and clarify the best practical applications, and improve publication standards.  Recientemente se ha incrementado significativamente el número de estudios psicométricos junto a avances estadísticos cruciales para evaluar la fiabilidad y validez de los tests. Dada la importancia de proporcionar procedimientos más exactos tanto en la metodología como en la interpretación de las puntuaciones, los editores de la revista Anales de Psicología proponen esta guía para abordar los tópicos más relevantes en el campo de la psicometría aplicada. Con esta finalidad, el presente manuscrito analiza los tópicos principales de la Teoría Clásica de Tests (e.g., análisis factorial exploratorio/confirmatorio, fiabilidad, validez, sesgo, etc.) con vistas a sintetizar y clarificar las aplicaciones prácticas, y mejorar los estándares de publicación de estos trabajos

Validación de instrumentos psicométricos en ciencias sociales y de la salud: una guía práctica

In recent years,there has been a significant rise in the number of psychometric studies, together with crucial statistical advances for validity and reliability measures. Given the importance of providingaccurate procedures both in methodology and score interpretationof tests and/or measurement scales, the editors-in-chiefof the journal Annals of Psychology have draftedthis guide to address the most relevant issues in the field of applied psychometry. To this end, the present manuscript analyses the main topics under the Classical Test Theory framework (e.g., exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis; reliability, bias, etc.) aimingto synthesizeand clarifythe best practical applications;and improve publication standards.Recientemente se ha incrementado significativamente el número de estudios psicométricos junto a avances estadísticos cruciales para evaluar las evidencias de fiabilidad y validez de los tests y escalas de medida. Dada la importancia de proporcionar procedimientos más exactos tanto en la metodología como en la interpretación de las puntuaciones, los editores de la revista Anales de Psicología proponen esta guía para abordar los tópicos más relevantes en el campo de la psicometría aplicada. Con esta finalidad, el presente manuscrito analiza los tópicos principales de la Teoría Clásica de Tests (e.g., análisis factorial exploratorio/confirmatorio, fiabilidad, validez, sesgo, etc.) con vistas a sintetizar y clarificarlas aplicaciones prácticas, y mejorar los estándares de publicación de estos trabajos

The Influence of Gender, Intellectual Ability, Academic Self-Concept, Self-Regulation, Learning Strategies, Popularity and Parent Involvement in Early Adolescence

The present study examined the predictive effects of gender, intellectual ability, self-concept, motivation, learning strategies, popularity and parent involvement on academic achievement. Hiearchical regression analysis were performed with six steps in which each variable was included, among a sample of 1398 high school students (mean age = 12.5; standard deviation = .67) of eight education centers from the province of Alicante (Spain). The results revealed significant predictive effects of all of the variables, explaining 59.1% of the total variance.This work was supported in part by the Vice Chancellor of Research of the University of Alicante under Grant GRE 11-15, and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant EDU2012-32156

How Mentors Think About the Attainability of Mentoring Goals: The Impact of Mentoring Type and Mentoring Context on the Anticipated Regulatory Network and Regulatory Resources of Potential Mentors for School Mentoring Programs

Research shows that trained mentors achieve better results than untrained ones. Their training should particularly address their expectations for their future mentoring. Our study involved 190 preservice teachers, potential mentors of ongoing school mentoring for primary and secondary school students of all grades. They were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2-x-2 between-subjects design of mentoring type (traditional mentoring versus e-mentoring) and mentoring context (non-pandemic versus COVID-19 pandemic). Participants assessed mentoring conducted under these four conditions in terms of its appropriateness for achieving four mentoring program targets: learning, key skills, social targets, and problem coping. Participants were also asked to assess the resources available to achieve each program target. Overall, the potential mentors considered the various conditions to be suitable for achieving the four program targets. They were particularly favorable in their assessment of the possibility for the realization of learning targets. Likewise, they assumed that sufficient resources were available to achieve the targets. However, a repeated-measures MANOVA showed that the potential mentors considered more ambitious targets to be possible in traditional mentoring than in e-mentoring and normal (i.e., pre-pandemic) contextual conditions than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, they estimated the resources available to achieve the targets to be about the same in the four conditions. This indicates a decoupling of mentoring targets from the consideration of the resources needed to achieve them. This assumption was confirmed in correlation analyses and has implications for mentor training.This research has been funded by the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance

Students with special needs support of compulsory education secondary education and the use of ICT in the Region of Murcia

Este artículo tiene como objetivo abordar la dimensión formativa y comunicativa entre las Tecnologías dela Información y la Comunicación (TIC) y el alumnado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria para establecer un mayor conocimiento sobre qué y cómo estos jóvenes las usan, acceden a sus formatos e interaccionan con sus contenidos. Así se presentan los resultados de una investigación, realizada en 15 centros educativos de titularidad pública y concertada dela Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia (España), en la que se ha pretendido conocer el equipamiento, uso y consumo de medios digitales (Internet, redes sociales, teléfono móvil, consola de videojuegos y televisión) del alumnado con necesidad específica de apoyo educativo, según la LOE (2006), escolarizado en 3º y 4º de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) y la existencia de diferencias respecto del alumnado sin dichas necesidades educativas. Para ello, 2734 alumnos, de los que 487 tenían necesidad específica de apoyo educativo, participaron a través de un cuestionario de 73 ítems con cuatro opciones de respuesta. Los datos fueron analizados con el paquete estadístico SPSS for Windows 15.0, utilizando estadísticos descriptivos. De los resultados conseguidos en esta investigación destacamos que en todas las dimensiones analizadas no existen grandes diferencias entre los dos grupos de alumnos que hemos establecido, pues se aprecia que determinados medios digitales usuales, como Internet, teléfono móvil, consola de videojuegos y televisión, son utilizados por todo el alumnado participante. No obstante, existen matices importantes que marcan diferencias entre ellos.This paper aims to address the training and communicative dimension between Information Technology and Communication (ICT) and pupils of Secondary Education to establish a better understanding of why and how these young people use them, access their formats and interact with its contents. It presents the results of an inquiry, conducted in 15 schools and concerted public ownership of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia (Spain), which has sought to know the equipment, use and consumption of digital media (Internet , social networking, mobile phone, game console and television) of students with specific need for educational support, according to the LOE (2006), enrolled in the 3rd and 4th of Secondary Education (ESO) and the existence of differences of students without these educational needs. To do this, 2734 students, of which 487 had special educational need, participated through a questionnaire of 73 items with four answer choices. Data were analyzed with SPSS for Windows 15.0, using descriptive statistics. From the results obtained in this study emphasize that in all dimensions analyzed there are no major differences between the two groups of students who have established shows that certain common digital media such as the Internet, mobile phone, game console and TV, are used by all students participating. However, there are important nuances that make differences.Este trabajo es resultado del proyecto de investigación 15252/PPC/10 financiado con cargo al Programa de Generación de Conocimiento Científico de Excelencia de la Fundación Séneca, Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia

Youth of Secondary Education at the use and consumption of ICT

En estos últimos años se ha visto un incremento exponencial en el uso de los medios digitales a todos los niveles. Por ello, consideramos que se hace necesario, desde el ámbito educativo, conocer los referentes e indicadores que valoren el consumo digital de nuestros jóvenes para plantearnos metodologías colaborativas que nos ayuden a favorecer una educación en y para el consumo de medios digitales, entendiendo que un primer paso sería conocer el equipamiento, acceso y uso para valorar lo que hacen dichos adolescentes cuando interaccionan con estos medios digitales. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el uso y consumo de medios digitales (Internet, redes sociales, teléfono móvil, consola de videojuegos y televisión) del alumnado educación secundaria de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia. Por tanto, en este trabajo se van a presentar los resultados de una investigación, en la que han participado un total de 2734 alumnos de 3º y 4º de la ESO de 15 centros educativos públicos y concertados, a los que se les administró un cuestionario de 73 ítems, con cuatro opciones de respuesta, estructurándose en seis dimensiones que recogen la información referida al uso y consumo de los diferentes medios digitales. Los datos fueron analizados con el paquete estadístico SPSS for Windows 15.0, utilizando estadísticos descriptivos. De los resultados obtenidos habría que destacar las diferencias que se aprecian entre el uso y consumo de los medios digitales por género, ya que los chicos y las chicas no los usan, de la misma manera. Las diferencias más significativas las encontramos en la participación en las redes sociales, en el uso de la consola y ante el consumo de la televisión. En los otros dos medios analizados las diferencias no son tan significativas pero se ha de destacar el consumo de Internet y del móvil entre los jóvenes de 15 a 17 años de ambos sexos.In recent years there has been an exponential increase in the use of digital media at all levels. Therefore, we believe it is necessary, in the educational environment, meet the benchmarks and indicators that assess the digital consumer to ask our youth collaborative methodologies to help us promote education in and for digital media consumption, meaning that a first step would be to know the equipment, access and use to assess what these teens do when they interact with these digital media. The aim of the paper is to analyze the use and consumption of digital media (Internet, social networks, mobile phone, game console and TV) of secondary school students of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia. Therefore, in this paper we will present the results of an investigation, which involved a total of 2734 students in the 3rd and 4th of ESO 15 schools public and private schools, which were given a questionnaire 73 items with four response options, structured in six dimensions which gather information regarding the use and consumption of different digital media. Data were analyzed with SPSS for Windows 15.0, using descriptive statistics. This should highlight the differences of the results that can be seen between the use and consumption of digital media by sex, and that boys and girls are not used in the same way digital media analyzed, the most significant differences are found using social networks, the console and television, in the other two media analyzed the differences are not as significant but must emphasize the use and consumption of mobile Internet and among young people 15-17 years of both sexes.Este articulo presenta resultados del proyecto de investigación "El uso y la interacción de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en el alumnado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria de la Región de Murcia " (Ref. 15252/PPC/10), financiado con cargo al Programa de Generación de Conocimiento Científico de Excelencia de la Fundación Séneca, Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia

Análisis comparativo de las Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad bajo el enfoque de comparabilidad de constructo

Evaluation processes are a fundamental tool for training and selecting students. However, there are no empirical studies in Spain that analyse the usefulness of assessment tests to measure academic performance. This study, based on research carried out using the construct comparability approach, conducts a comparative analysis of grades achieved by 6709 students pertaining to 15 academic subject areas of the university entrance examinations (Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad – PAU) administered in the province of Alicante regarded as an instrument item related to the measurement of the academic performance construct. The initial results exhibited unidimensionality, and all academic subject areas fit the model, although there was a lack of discrimination between high-and low -performing students, mainly due to the absence of monotonicity in the scoring categories. The difficulty levels of the academic subjects were found to be appropriate for the skill levels of most students. These results demonstrated the ability of the tests analysed to report on the academic performance of the students who took the tests. In addition, important conclusions are presented regarding improvements in the grading processes, and future research studies are proposed.Los procesos de evaluación constituyen una herramienta fundamental en el marco de la formación y selección de estudiantes. Sin embargo, no existen estudios empíricos en España que analicen la utilidad de las pruebas de evaluación para medir el rendimiento académico. El presente estudio, en base a las investigaciones realizadas sobre el enfoque de comparabilidad de constructo (construct comparability approach), realiza un análisis comparativo de las calificaciones obtenidas de 15 asignaturas de las Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad (PAU) en la provincia de Alicante, con una muestra de 6709 estudiantes. Se emplea el modelo de Rasch de crédito parcial como método de estimación, considerando cada materia como un ítem de un instrumento relacionado con la medición del constructo rendimiento académico. Los resultados iniciales mostraron el cumplimiento de la unidimensionalidad, así como un ajuste de todas materias al modelo, aunque se apreció una falta de discriminación entre sujetos de alto y bajo rendimiento, debido principalmente a la ausencia de monotonocidad de las categorías de puntuación. Se observa que el nivel de dificultad de las materias se adecúa al nivel habilidad de la mayor parte de los sujetos. En base a estos resultados, se destaca la capacidad de las pruebas analizadas para informar sobre el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes. A su vez, se derivan conclusiones relevantes para la mejora de los procesos de calificación, y se proponen investigaciones futuras.The present work was supported by the Vice President of Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Alicante, with grant reference GRE17-16

Rendimiento menor al esperado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria: comparación de métodos estadísticos para su identificación en España

This study compares the statistical methods employed for detecting underachievement, specifically the simple difference method, the regression method and the Rasch method. A sample of 1182 first- and second-year secondary students from 8 high schools in the province of Alicante participated in the study. The results showed a percentage of underachieving students that varies from 14.55% to 30.37%, depending on the statistical method employed. The Rasch method identified the highest number of underachieving students. Statistically significant differences were found between gender and type of student-underachieving and non-underachieving; however, no significant differences were detected between the course and type of student. This study confirms the importance of knowing the measurement properties of the statistical methods, how they affect the detection of underachieving students, and the main educational implications.El presente estudio realiza una comparación de los métodos estadísticos más empleados en la detección del alumnado con rendimiento menor al esperado; concretamente el método de diferencias estandarizadas, el método de residuales de regresión y el método Rasch. Se empleó una muestra de 1182 alumnos de primer y segundo curso de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria de 8 centros educativos de la provincia de Alicante. Los resultados muestran un porcentaje que oscila entre el 14.55% y el 30.37% de alumnos con rendimiento menor al esperado detectados en función del método estadístico empleado, siendo el método Rasch el que más alumnos identifica. Asimismo, se detectaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre el género y el tipo de alumnado (con rendimiento normal y con rendimiento menor al esperado), mientras que no se detectaron diferencias en función del curso y el tipo de alumnado. Este estudio confirma la importancia de conocer cómo afectan las propiedades de distintos métodos estadísticos en la detección del alumnado con rendimiento menor al esperado, así como sus principales implicaciones educativas.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancelor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The corresponding author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)

Estimation of the Proportion of Underachieving Students in Compulsory Secondary Education in Spain: An Application of the Rasch Model

There are very few studies in Spain that treat underachievement rigorously, and those that do are typically related to gifted students. The present study examined the proportion of underachieving students using the Rasch measurement model. A sample of 643 first-year high school students (mean age = 12.09; SD = 0.47) from 8 schools in the province of Alicante (Spain) completed the Battery of Differential and General Skills (Badyg), and these students' General Points Average (GPAs) were recovered by teachers. Dichotomous and Partial credit Rasch models were performed. After adjusting the measurement instruments, the individual underachievement index provided a total sample of 181 underachieving students, or 28.14% of the total sample across the ability levels. This study confirms that the Rasch measurement model can accurately estimate the construct validity of both the intelligence test and the academic grades for the calculation of underachieving students. Furthermore, the present study constitutes a pioneer framework for the estimation of the prevalence of underachievement in Spain.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancellor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The corresponding author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)

Differences in Learning Strategies, Goal Orientations, and Self-Concept between Overachieving, Normal-Achieving, and Underachieving Secondary Students

The aims of this work were to identify and establish differential characteristics in learning strategies, goal orientations, and self-concept between overachieving, normal-achieving and underachieving secondary students. A total of 1400 Spanish first and second year high school students from the South-East geographical area participated in this study. Three groups of students were established: a group with underachieving students, a group with a normal level of achievement, and a third group with overachieving students. The students were assigned to each group depending on the residual punctuations obtained from a multiple regression analysis in which the punctuation of an IQ test was the predictor and a measure composed of the school grades of nine subjects was the criteria. The results of one-way ANOVA and the Games-Howell post-hoc test showed that underachieving students had significantly lower punctuations in all of the measures of learning strategies and learning goals, as well as all of the academic self-concept, personal self-concept, parental relationship, honesty, and personal stability factors. In contrast, overachieving students had higher punctuations than underachieving students in the same variables and higher punctuations than normal-achieving students in most of the variables in which significant differences were detected. These results have clear educational implications.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancellor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The third author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)