Principal Component Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Mechanical Waves Conceptual Survey

Mechanical waves conceptual survey (MWCS) is a measurement tool established by the physics education research (PER) community to evaluate understanding of mechanical waves. A validation study still needed figure out factor structure MWCS using two data reduction techniques, namely exploratory analysis (EFA) and principal component (PCA). The dataset in this paper was gathered from students (n = 419) nineteen Ugandan secondary schools. findings suggested single construct that has emerged explored study. Several issues involved calculation inter-item correlation within are suspected as leading cause missing solution or stable loading data. Moreover, there might be other leave open space for future exploration. reported could subject further discussion evaluating validity research-based assessment (RBA) measure students' wave mechanics PER studies.