How Situational Is Situational Self-Efficacy?

• In Event: 56.063 - Problem-Based Learning in Secondary Education: Investigating Hot and Cold Learning Outcomes

Abstract

The construct of self-efficacy involves a self-judgement as to how successful one will be in completing a particular task. Moreover, self-efficacy is believed to vary across activity domains and situational conditions rather than manifest uniformly across tasks and contexts in the likeness of a general trait (Bandura, 2012). However, despite the general consensus amongst researchers that self-efficacy is situationally affected and should be measured accordingly, existing measures are typically operationalised to measure self-efficacy (either intentionally or unintentionally) more like a trait—a characteristic of a person that is more or less invariant over situations—and tend to overlook the state-like elements of the construct. Consequently, the purpose of the present study was to investigate (at a micro-analytical level) to what extent self-efficacy develops situationally as opposed to being a relatively stable “trait” that develops only incrementally and largely in a linear fashion over a long period of time. The latter is referred to here as ‘general self-efficacy’. Three critical issues were raised in this study. Firstly, can situational self-efficacy be distinguished from general self-efficacy? Second, how does each develop over time? And third, can situational self-efficacy better predict achievement than general self-efficacy?
Survey data for general self-efficacy was collected at four points from 186 early high school students during a five-week science project on the topic of ‘cells’ within a Project-Based Learning environment (this included a pre- and post-test administered two weeks prior and subsequent to the project). Situational self-efficacy was measured before and after critical learning events at fourteen points in time (these ‘critical learning events’ included, for example, a PBL ‘entry event’, several laboratory practical and a school incursion). Both the situational and General Self-Efficacy measures were composed of a near identical 8-item questionnaire taken from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) with the words ‘lesson’ and ‘class/course’ distinguishing between situational and general measures respectively. A Concept Recall Test was also administered at five points during the study (including the pre- and post-test) and final project scores also collected. All surveys were administered online using personal devices. To demonstrate the validity of both the general and situational self-efficacy measures and to ascertain if they were measuring separate (but related) phenomena, all data was analysed using structural equation modelling. The analysis was done with AMOS. Confirmatory factor analyses model comparisons were undertaken between the general and situational scales (over many weeks) and within measures (in the same 100 minute lesson). Results indicate that situational and general self-efficacy are indeed distinct but related constructs and that self-efficacy does develops situationally and incrementally as well as fluctuating prior, and in response, to certain stimuli in the learning environment. The hypothesis that situational self-efficacy was a better predictor of performance than general self-efficacy requires greater exploration through a subsequent latent state trait analysis.

Authors

• Adam Hendry, Parramatta Marist High

• Daniel Lynch, Parramatta Marist High