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The quality of learning in Higher Education is particularly dependent on students' skills in regulating their cognition. This regulation requires cognitive and metacognitive skills as well as motivational dimensions. Due to its relevance in explaining students' academic achievement and developing lifelong learning skills, it's important to increase research in the area. This study aims to adapt and validate a short version of the Regulation of Cognition of Metacognitive Awareness Inventory to firstyear Portuguese university students. A sample of 360 students was considered and was identified a three-dimensional structure (Planning, 4 items; Strategies, 7 items; and Monitoring and evaluation, 7 items) with a secondorder factor (Regulation of Cognition). The internal consistency values of the reduced scale are within the acceptable parameters for a self-report scale and the correlations with academic achievement at the end of the first year of the university guarantee the predictive validity of the scale. This short version of regulation of cognition measure allows its use in research with other instruments in larger studies and can function as a diagnostic / screening tool to help students in higher education learning challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to support researchers in the decisions about the use of closed answer questions in their questionnaires by critically reviewing the literature regarding the implications of such decisions for the nature, validity and reliability of the measure. This literature's review provides arguments for the researcher to decide on how best to operationalize their variables through a closed response. Arguments presented support decision-making in the construction of response options to be provided to the respondent, and the type of scale to be used: graphical or non-graphical; categories or continuous assessment; with 3 or more points; with or without labels and in this case, with what kind of labels, etc. Other topics are illustrated to be considered for construction of a response scale analyzing the specific case in which "perceived frequencies" are measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) of Schraw and Dennison (1994) assesses two general metacognitive dimensions in adolescents and adults: knowledge of cognition, which includes three subprocesses, and regulation of cognition, which has five subprocesses. This study shows the process of translation and adaptation of MAI to the Portuguese population. Internal consistency in the dimensions knowledge and regulation of cognition was 0.82 and 0.90, respectively. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggest a factor of second order based on the correlation of two main dimensions. The declarative knowledge subscale showed better criterion validity compared to the other subscales. The MAI constitutes an adapted instrument to the Portuguese reality both for the assessment of a global metacognition score and in their two main dimensions, allowing research into the performance in learning and training processes in adults and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the predictive classification accuracy of discriminant analysis, logistic regression and four neural network typologies (multiple layer perceptrons, radial basis networks, probabilistic neural networks, and linear neural networks) on a flight screening program with a pass–fail criterion using several psychometric tests as predictors. A stepwise (for logistic regression and discriminant analysis) and sensitivity (for neural networks) selection procedure identified spatial visualization, eye–hand–foot coordination, and concentration capacity as significant predictors. Performance on the first few flights of the screening program was also retained as a significant predictor of final score. Regarding the accuracy of predictions, logistic regression showed the highest accuracy (77%), with high sensitivity (92%) but low specificity (31%). Discriminant analysis had high sensitivity (77%) and high specificity (64%). However, it had the second lowest accuracy (74%). The best performing neural network type was the multiple layer perception, which showed high sensitivity (85%), the second highest specificity (47%), and high accuracy (76%). Radial basis networks and probabilistic networks both fail to predict correctly the candidates who fail on the flight screening program (0% specificity). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to contribute to the adaptation of the Self-Monitoring Scale for a Portuguese sample and the examination of the possibility of reducing the scale's length. Considering the psychometric inconsistency of the scale reported in the literature, several analysis criteria to identify the number of factors to be retained were considered. The study included 791 Portuguese men and women aged 17 to 61 years. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis to assess construct validity, Cronbach's alpha to assess internal consistency, and fit indices (based on IRT). The results indicate a two-dimensional structure with a reduction to 9 items, which shows good values for validity and fit. This study proposes a reduced version of the self-monitoring scale for a Portuguese sample, considering that the use of this method is valuable to identify how individuals differ in the way they present themselves in social situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this research was the analysis of the psychometric proprieties of a self-concept and selfesteem scale and the study of the self-concept organizational structure in pre-adolescents. Participants were 774 Portuguese students attending 5th and 6th grades. The scale used assesses seven specific dimensions of self-concept (school competence, athletic competence, social acceptance, physical appearance, native language competence, mathematics competence, behavior), as well as self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the multidimensionality of self-concept, and a bi-factor model with two global factors (academic self-concept and non-academic self-concept) was the one that presented a better fit. This model enables to integrate structural characteristics of self-concept that seemed to be incompatible in previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]