Psychometric Properties of the Goals and Aspirations Inventory

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

2 Department of Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Goals and Aspirations inventory. In this applied study, a psychometric design was used and the statistical population consisted of students of Allameh Tabatabaei University during the academic year 2011–2012. Among the students of Allameh Tabatabai University, 250 people (115 girls, 135 boys) were selected through an available sampling method and answered the Aspirations Index (AI) and the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS). Validity and reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were analyzed using SPSS-22 and Lisrel-8.8 software. The results of the first-order exploratory analysis confirmed the structure of the operational decade of goals and aspirations with 41 items in the Iranian youth population. In the second-order exploratory factor analysis, all ten subcomponents were classified into three indices: external, internal, and self-transcending aspirations. The results of the first and second level confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the good fit of the model and also the convergent validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.77 to 0.86 for the components and was 0.90 for the intrinsic aspirations index, 0.90 for the external aspirations index, and 0.82 for the self-transcendence index. Therefore, researchers and educators can be suggested to use this questionnaire in research related to assigning goals and aspirations and, if necessary, use this instrument to provide a basis for reviewing adolescents' life goals.

Keywords


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