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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Philip Eaton and Shannon D. Willoughby
In 1995, Huffman and Heller used exploratory factor analysis to draw into question the factors of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Since then several papers have been published examining the factors of the FCI on larger sets of student responses and understandable factors were extracted as a result. However, none of these proposed factor models have been verified to not be unique to their original sample through the use of independent sets of data. This paper seeks to confirm the factor models proposed by Scott et al. in 2012, and Hestenes et al. in 1992, as well as another expert model proposed within this study through the use of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a sample of 20,822 postinstruction student responses to the FCI. Upon application of CFA using the full sample, all three models were found to fit the data with acceptable global fit statistics. However, when CFA was performed using these models on smaller sample sizes the models proposed by Scott et al. and Eaton and Willoughby were found to be far more stable than the model proposed by Hestenes et al. The goodness of fit of these models to the data suggests that the FCI can be scored on factors that are not unique to a single class. These scores could then be used to comment on how instruction methods affect the performance of students along a single factor and more in-depth analyses of curriculum changes may be possible as a result.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 14, Issue 1, Pages 010124
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Classical Mechanics
- General
Education - Basic Research
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
= Instruments
- Research Design & Methodology
= Data
= Validity
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
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This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124
Keyword:
FCI assessment validity
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created December 31, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 26, 2022 by Caroline Hall
Last Update
when Cataloged:
April 19, 2018
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AIP Format
P. Eaton and S. Willoughby, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14 (1), 010124 (2018), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Eaton and S. Willoughby, Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14 (1), 010124 (2018), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124>.
APA Format
Eaton, P., & Willoughby, S. (2018, April 19). Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 14(1), 010124. Retrieved December 3, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124
Chicago Format
Eaton, Philip, and Shannon Willoughby. "Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, no. 1, (April 19, 2018): 010124, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124 (accessed 3 December 2024).
MLA Format
Eaton, Philip, and Shannon Willoughby. "Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14.1 (2018): 010124. 3 Dec. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Philip Eaton and Shannon Willoughby", Title = {Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {14}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010124}, Month = {April}, Year = {2018} }
Refer Export Format

%A Philip Eaton %A Shannon Willoughby %T Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 14 %N 1 %D April 19, 2018 %P 010124 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Eaton, Philip %A Willoughby, Shannon %D April 19, 2018 %T Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the Force Concept Inventory %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 14 %N 1 %P 010124 %8 April 19, 2018 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010124


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