Learning Strategies at Work Scale: a Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract The aim of this study was to gather new evidences of validity for the Learning Strategies at Work Scale (LSW). Especially, we intended to verify the initially proposed factor structure and to reduce items as to obtain a higher level of parsimony. We further addressed testing the LSW’s invariance across occupations, with potentially discrepant work design characteristics (core activities vs. non-core activities). 955 Brazilian professionals that worked in a wide range of occupations participated in this study. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis support the structure of five factors, namely (1) intrinsic and extrinsic reflection, (2) mental repetition, (3) interpersonal help seeking, (4) help seeking in written material and (5) trial and error learning. In order to obtain higher parsimony, based upon psychometric criteria, five items were eliminated, resulting in better fit-indices. A multigroup analysis of this reduced scale showed invariance across the above-mentioned occupations. The study adds validity evidences for the LSW in Brazil.摘要 本研究旨在为工作学习策略量表（Learning Strategies at Work Scale, LSW）收集新的效度证据。具体而言，我们旨在验证其最初提出的因子结构，并精简条目以实现更高的简约性。此外，本研究进一步针对该量表在工作设计特征存在潜在差异的两类职业（核心活动类与非核心活动类）中的测量不变性展开检验。本研究共招募955名从事多元职业的巴西专业人员参与。验证性因子分析结果支持该量表的五因子结构，具体包括：(1) 内在与外在反思；(2) 心理复述；(3) 人际求助；(4) 书面资料求助；(5) 试错学习。为进一步提升量表简约性，本研究基于心理测量学标准剔除了5个条目，使拟合指标得到优化。对精简后量表的多组分析结果显示，其在上述两类职业中均保持测量不变性。本研究为工作学习策略量表在巴西地区的效度证据体系补充了新的实证支持。