Initial development of a Physics Goal Orientation survey using factor analysis

Abstract

This paper presents the first stage in the development of a Physics Goal Orientation survey - a survey identifying students’ beliefs about how to be successful in physics studies. The analysis method used is exploratory factor analysis, a powerful statistical method requiring subjective decision making. Instead of taking a ‘black box’ approach, which can easily lead researchers to draw incorrect conclusions, we have provided the mathematical basis for principal components analysis, the most common type of exploratory factor analysis.