Assessing the reliability and validity of the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ2F) in Ghanaian medical students

PURPOSE We investigated the validity and reliability of the Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ2F) in preclinical students in Ghana. METHODS The R-SPQ2F was administered to 189 preclinical students of the University for Development Studies, School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Both descriptive and inferential statistics with Cronbach's alpha test and factor analysis were done. RESULTS The mean age of the students was 22.69± 0.18years, 60.8% (n=115) were males and 42.3% (n=80) were in their second year of medical training. The students had higher mean deep approach scores (31.23±7.19) than that of surface approach scores (22.62±6.48). Findings of the R-SPQ2F gave credence to a solution of two-factors indicating deep and surface approaches accounting for 49.80% and 33.57%, respectively, of the variance. The scales of deep approach (Cronbach's alpha, 0.80) and surface approach (Cronbach's alpha, 0.76) and their subscales demonstrated an internal consistency that was good. The factorial validity was comparable to other studies. CONCLUSION Our study confirms the construct validity and internal consistency of the R-SPQ2F for measuring approaches to learning in Ghanaian preclinical students. Deep approach was the most dominant learning approach among the students. The questionnaire can be used to measure students' approaches to learning in Ghana and in other African countries.