Assessing the Willingness to Elaborate among Young Students: Psychometric Evaluation of a Swedish Need for Cognition Scale

Abstract

The personality trait Need for Cognition (NFC) has been studied for many years and found to be important for individuals' educational achievement. The original NFC-scale was developed in the eighties, and during the following decade the scale was translated and adapted into a number of other languages. A renewed interest for the personality trait of NFC has made these scales interesting to use. It is though vital that instruments used for studies of individual differences in the area of educational research, or in any other area, can portray valid results today. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate validity and reliability of the short version of the Mental Effort Tolerance Questionnaire, a Swedish adaption of the NFC-scale made in 1991, which has not been previously evaluated. This study involved 420 young students, and the evaluation of reliability includes a study of temporal stability (test-retest), as well as internal stability. Further, the evaluation of validity includes construct and criterion validity. Regarding reliability, the results showed a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.88 (n = 108) and an internal stability (Cronbach's alpha) of 0.88 (n = 420). Evaluation of construct validity found evidence for a five factor dimensional structure (n = 420), discriminant validity to measures of general intelligence (r = 0.25; n = 122), working memory (r = 0.22; n = 164), and the personality trait Grit (r = 0.26; n = 169). Finally, criterion validity was found for grades (r = 0.35; n = 125). Overall, the results of the evaluation show that the inferences made from the results of the short version of the Swedish NFC-scale exhibits satisfactory reliability and validity, suggesting that the questionnaire can be used in educational contexts. The questionnaire might, however, benefit from being even more shortened.

Retrieval Practice: Beneficial for All Students or Moderated by Individual Differences?

“…The NFC score is the total sum of all items; however, 18 of the items are phrased negatively and therefore require reverse scoring. The internal consistency in the present study was α = .88, which is in line with previous studies that have evaluated the psychometric properties of the questionnaire (Dornic et al., 1991; Stenlund & Jonsson, 2017). Psychometric evaluations have also found evidence of validity in the Swedish adaption of the NFC scale (Stenlund & Jonsson, 2017).…”

The inverse relation between risks and benefits: The impact of individual differences in information processing style

“…The Swedish adaptation and validation of the original Need for Cognition scale [ 30 ], published by Dornic and collaborators [ 58 ], was used (for a recent validation, see Jonsson, Stenlund, & Johnsson [ 59 ]). The scale consists of 30 items on a 5-point, Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = neutral, and 5 = strongly agree).…”

Do Individual Differences in Cognition and Personality Predict Retrieval Practice Activities on MOOCs?

“…Need for cognition (NFC) was measured with the Mental Effort Tolerance Questionnaire (METQ; Stenlund and Jonsson, 2017 ), which is a Swedish adaptation of the original Need for Cognition Scale ( Cacioppo and Petty, 1982 ). The NFC questionnaire encompasses 30 items, each of which is rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 3 = neutral; 5 = strongly agree), yielding a possible score range from between 30 and 150.…”

“…Lastly, it is worth pointing out that both NFC and GRIT are personality characteristics suggested to be stable over time and thus influence learning ( Duckworth et al, 2007 ; Stenlund and Jonsson, 2017 ). Within the context of students using MOOC’s platforms where the student has a greater autonomous responsibility for his/her studies, personality factors are potentially even more critical.…”