Psychometric Properties of Context-Specific Measures of Students’ Interest and Value in Learning Science : A Multinational Examination

Psychometric Properties of Context-Specific Measures of Students’ Interest and Value in Learning Science : A Multinational Examination

This study aims to examine how context-specific measures of students' interest and value differ from their context-general measures in psychometric properties across countries. Using PISA2006 Science data, differential effects of item context on assessing interest and value were illustrated in both the individual and country levels. The main findings are as follows: First, correlation between context-specific and context-general measures tended to be slightly higher in value than in interest. Second, for association with achievement, specific value was a significant predictor of science achievement after controlling general value. Third, the impact of item context appeared to be larger in interest than in value. Lastly, there were significant differences among countries in the discrepancy between context-specific and context-general measures and in the association with achievement. The implications of these findings and further research were discussed.