Development and Validation of Instrument to Measure Thinking Patterns: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Abstract

Background: As an instrument that measures thinking processes, the cognitive reflection test still has a number of problems, especially in terms of its validity and reliability. Aims: This research aimed to develop instruments to identify patterns of thinking that meet psychometric requirements. Methods and Results: Participants in the research were 727 students from the State University of Surabaya, including 322 (44%) men and 405 (56%) women with a mean age of 19.17 years. The first examination using exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale of thinking patterns, which we later called Intuitive-Reflective Scale (IRS), had a conceptual relations structure consisting of 5 factors with a loading factor of .40 - .80. The five factors explained 52.57% of the total variance and had Cronbach’s Alpha reliability of .71. The second examination using confirmatory factor analysis based on structural equation modeling proved that the IRS had factors structure that was consistent with the results of the first examination and was a significant predictor of academic performance. Conclusion: Hypothesized factor structure fits with empirical data based on the comparative fit index of .96 and root mean square error of approximation of .07.