Reexamining the Control and Autonomy Factors in a Popular Classroom-Based Questionnaire

• In Event: Measurement and Validity Issues in Survey Research

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and re-analysis of the factor structure of the Problems in Schools questionnaire (Deci, Schwartz, Sheinman, & Ryan, 1981), which is used to determine adults’ orientations toward control versus support for children’s autonomy. Since its development in the early 1980s the Problems in Schools questionnaire has seen widespread use in many fields of study. Despite its continued popularity in educational research, an analysis of the original instrument’s proposed factor structure has never been performed. With its prevalence in current research, the need for such an instrument is clear and a verification of its factor structure even more obvious.

Authors

• Rebecca O'Brien, University of Connecticut

• Catherine A. Little, University of Connecticut