ABSTRACT
In social science research, it is quite common for researchers to meas ure a single construct using more than one item. This is especially common in survey research. For example, in my own research examining student motivation, I have often given students surveys that asked them about their interests, values, and goals. And I have used several survey items to measure each of these constructs. To meas ure how much students value what they are learning in school, I have often used a commonly used meas ure developed by Eccles, Adler and Meece (1984) that includes three statements, and students indicate how much they agree or disagree with each statement: (1) The information we learn in this class is interesting. (2) The information we learn in this class is important. (3) The information we learn in this class will be useful to me.
