Skip to main content
Log in

Measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument for measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students, and to report the validity and reliability of the scales that are created. The study uses a representative sample of undergraduate students from the faculty of education at a major Canadian university. The construct validity of the scales is assessed by Thomas Piazza's procedures for analyzing attitudinal items. The findings support conceptualizing the cognitive domain in terms of Structural and Functional dimensions. The Structural Dimension includes the Knowledge and Comprehension dimensions from Bloom's taxonomy and the Functional Dimension includes the Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation dimensions. The alpha reliability coefficients of the two scales are 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. Some potential applications of these scales for understanding educational attainments, as well as for the evaluation of university departments and faculties, are suggested.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Astin, A. W.: 1993, What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, G. R. and H. Garber: 1985, Research on Exemplary Schools (Academic Press, Orlando, FL).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, B. S., M. D. Engelhart, E. J. Furst, W. H. Hill and D. R. Krathwohl: 1956, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain (David Mackay, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohrnstedt, G. and D. A. Knoke: 1982, Statistics for Social Data Analysis (F.E. Peacock, Ithaca, IL).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. S., J. A. Wiley, M. J. Minor and J. R. Murray: 1978, ‘Structure of well being’, Sociological Methods and Research 6, pp. 365–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmines, E. G. and R. A. Zeller: 1979, Reliability and Validity Assessment (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifton, R. A., D. Mandzuk and L. W. Roberts: 1994, ‘The alienation of undergraduate education students: a case study of a Canadian university’, Journal of Education for Teaching 20, pp. 179–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifton, R. A. and L. W. Roberts: 1993, Authority in Classrooms (Prentice-Hall, Toronto, ON).

    Google Scholar 

  • Coser, R. L.: 1979, Training in Ambiguity (The Free Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, B. J.: 1986, Classroom Environment (Croom Helm, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, S. and M. H. Dembo: 1984, ‘Teacher efficacy: a construct validation’, Journal of Educational Research 76, pp. 569–582.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, H. H. 1967, Modern Factor Analysis (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S. E.: 1981, ‘Measurement of commitment to role identities’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 40, pp. 138–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J. O. and C. W. Mueller: 1978a, Introduction to Factor Analysis: What it is and how to do it (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J. O. and C. W. Mueller: 1978b, Factor Analysis: Statistical Methods and Practical Issues (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinfeld, J. S.: 1975, ‘Effective teachers of Eskimo and Indian students’, School Review 83, pp. 301–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, J. S.: 1993, ‘The measurement of social well-being’, Social Indicators Research 28, pp. 285–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelos, A. C.: 1986. ‘Job satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and the quality of life: a review and a preview’ in F. M. Andrews (ed.), Research on the Quality of Life (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI), pp. 57–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nachmias, D. and C. Nachmias: 1987, Research Methods in the Social Sciences (St. Martin's Press, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. C.: 1967, Psychometric Theory (McGraw-Hill, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Palys, T. S. and B. R. Little: 1980, ‘Social indicators and the quality of life’, Canadian Psychologist 21, pp. 67–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascarella, E. T.: 1985, ‘College environmental influences on learning and cognitive development: a critical review and synthesis’ in J. Smart (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. 1 (Agathon Press, NY), pp. 1–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascarella, E. T. and Terenzini, P. T.: 1991, How College Affects Students: Findings and Insights from Twenty Years of Research (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Piazza, T.: 1980, ‘The analysis of attitude items’, American Journal of Sociology 86: pp. 584–603.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raths, L. E., S. Wasserman, A. Jonas and A. Rothstein: 1986: Teaching for Thinking: Theory, Strategies, and Activities for the Classroom (Teachers College, Columbia University, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, L. W. and R. A. Clifton: 1992, ‘Measuring the affective quality of life of university students: the validation of an instrument’, Social Indicators Research 28, pp. 113–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuessler, K. F. and G. A. Fisher: 1985, ‘Quality of life research and sociology’, Review of Sociology 11, pp. 129–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seddon, G. M.: 1978, ‘The properties of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives for the cognitive domain’, Review of Educational Research 48, pp. 303–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singleton, R., B. C. Straits, M. M. Straits and R. J. McAllister: 1988, Approaches to Social Research (Oxford University Press, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. L. and G. V. Glass: 1987, Research and Evaluation in Educational and the Social Sciences (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stinchcombe, A. L. and J. C. Wendt: 1975, ‘Theoretical domains and measurement in social indicator analysis’, in K. C. Land and S. Spilerman (eds.) Social Indicator Models (Russell Sage Foundation, NY), pp. 37–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick, B. G. and L. S. Fidell: 1989, Using Multivariate Statistics (Harper and Row, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, T. and M. Batten: 1981, The Quality of School Life (The Australian Council for Educational Research, Hawthorn, Victoria).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

The names are alphabetical and the authors contributed equally in writing this paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Clifton, R.A., Etcheverry, E., Hasinoff, S. et al. Measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students. Soc Indic Res 38, 29–52 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293785

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293785

Keywords

Navigation