A Short Version of the Questionnaire of Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA) In
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Campelo et al. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (2016) 29:37 Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica DOI 10.1186/s41155-016-0043-7 RESEARCH Open Access A short version of the questionnaire of metamemory in Adulthood (MIA) in Portuguese Gabriela Campelo1* , Maxciel Zortea2, Renan Saraiva1, Wagner Machado3, Juliana Burges Sbicigo2, Joice Dickel Segabinazi2, Camila Gastal1, Goiara Mendonça de Castilho1 and Jerusa Fumagalli Salles2 Abstract The aim of this study was to develop a short version of the Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire (MIA) in Brazilian Portuguese. The original MIA is an instrument in english composed by 108 items, divided into seven dimensions of metamemory (Strategy, Task, Capacity, Change, Anxiety, Achievement and Locus). Despite of being widely used, the extension of the instrument makes its application impractical in many contexts, reinforcing the need for a short version. A total of 472 participants answered the original full version of the MIA. First, Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses revealed that nine items of the instrument could be excluded due to poor infit and outfit values. After exploratory factor analyses, the 99 items left were judged by five experts that chose the most appropriate items following previously established criteria (factor loading, repetitiveness, bad writing, and temporal/cultural inadequacy). A 39-items version (MIAr) was obtained, with the same factorial structure of the original MIA. The MIAr demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency indexes, as well as evidences of convergent validity and validity based on the response process. The results revealed that the MIAr achieved good psychometric properties, serving as a more parsimonious and practical option for metamemory assessment. Keywords: Metamemory, Psychometry, MIA, IRT, Short version Background that can improve memory; 2) Task: knowledge of basic Metamemory consists of the overall knowledge and memory processes; 3) Capacity: perception of memory understanding that someone has about memory, and capacities in different tasks; 4) Change: perception of about one's own memory, specifically (Schraw 2008). memory stability over the years; 5) Anxiety: knowledge The concept was initially used by Flavell (1979) in the of emotional influence on memory performance; 6) context of developmental psychology research, and Achievement: perceived relevance of having an accurate then was systematised by Nelson and Narens (1990), memory and good memory performance; and 7) Locus: that described a cognitive model of memory monitoring perceived personal control over memory abilities. processes. The Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire A good understanding of metamemory functions has (MIA; Dixon and Hultsch 1983a, 1983b) is one of the important practical implications. Metamemory is closely most used instruments to measure individual traits of related to learning processes (Bjork et al. 2013), and is metamemory, and has an adapted version for the Brazilian an important predictor of academic achievement (Rawson context (Yassuda et al. 2005). et al. 2002; Schraw and Gutierrez 2015). It also affects The MIA is composed of 108 multiple-choice statements cognitive aging, being associated to changes in executive that are answered in a five-point likert scale, evaluating functioning (Bender and Raz 2012; Palmer et al. 2014). It seven factors of metamemory (Hultsch et al. 1987): 1) must be considered that metamemory assessment using Strategy: knowledge and use of information about skills questionnaires might have some limitations, such as being less predictive of memory performance when compared to * Correspondence: [email protected] online metamemory tasks (Veenman et al. 2006; Zortea 1 Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil et al. 2014). Nevertheless, psychometric instruments allow Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Campelo et al. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (2016) 29:37 Page 2 of 8 for an indirect evaluation of beliefs and perceptions the application duration can be too extensive to include related to metamemory. The MIA, in particular, pro- the full version of MIA in research with big samples. It vides information about the use of strategies, know- would be very beneficial in such contexts to have a short ledge on basic memory processes, relevance of having a MIA version that can briefly evaluate the same factors of trained memory, and perceived changes in memory cap- the original instrument. acities, among other elements of metamemory described Studies such as the ones of Ponds and Jolles (1996) previously. and of Alquraan and Aljarah (2011) already achieved a The MIA stands out among other instruments that reduced version of the MIA without compromising its also evaluate metamemory, like the Memory Function psychometric properties. These studies used multivariate Questionnaire (MFQ; Gilewski et al. 1990), the Everyday analysis, such as factorial analysis and IRT models, to Memory Questionnaire (EMQ-r; Royle and Lincoln 2008) establish safe procedures to the instrument reduction, and the Memory Compensation Questionnaire (MCQ; de while keeping the same original dimensions. The present Frias and Dixon 2005). These instruments do not have a study aimed to develop and present evidences of validity Brazilian Portuguese version so far. Particularities of MIA of a short version of the MIA in Brazilian Portuguese, involve the evaluation of both knowledge and self-efficacy using IRT, exploratory factor analysis, judge's evaluation, of one’s memory, as well as the measurement of dimen- and tests of convergent validity. sions that go beyond memory problems, what predomi- nates in the MFQ and in the EMQ-r. Furthermore, the Method MIA shows many evidences of psychometric validity, such Participants as convergent validity with other instruments (Hertzog A total of five samples of participants were invited and et al. 1989), discriminant validity with other constructs took part in this study. The first one consisted of 185 such as personality, depression, self-efficacy and locus university students, recruited personally in two universities of control (Hertzog et al. 1990a), and predictive validity of the central region of Brazil and one university of the with self-efficacy and memory performance (Hertzog south region. The second sample consisted of 192 partici- et al. 1990b). pants that took part in an online survey, published in social The MIA is also widely used in many different countries, medias and email lists. The last three samples consisted of accumulating evidences of validity in many idioms and participants from the southern region of Brazil, specifically: demonstrating adequate cultural adaptability. The original 19 teachers of elementary schools, 27 adults, and a clinical MIA was developed by studies in the USA and Canada sample of 20 patients with stroke. Table 1 shows demo- (Hertzog et al. 1990a). Since then, adaptations and reduced graphic characteristics of each sample. In the total sample versions were elaborated in other countries, such as (n = 472), participants were 29 years old on average Netherlands (Ponds and Jolles 1996), Arabia (Alquraan and (SD = 18.5), and 69 % were women. Most of them were Aljarah 2011), Japan (Kinjo et al. 2013) and South Africa from the central region of Brazil (53.8 %), followed by (Van Ede 1995). the southern region, (22.9 %), southeastern (10.2 %), In Brazil, the complete instrument was adapted by northeastern (7.8 %) and northern (4.4 %). Most of the Yassuda et al. (2005). This Portuguese version showed participants were university students (57 %). satisfactory reliability indexes in six of its seven factors (α values between 0.79 and 0.87), with the exception of Instruments the Control subscale (α = 0.66). The instrument also Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire (MIA; Dixon showed adequate temporal stability (Spearman correla- and Hultsch 1983a, 1983b; Dixon et al. 1988). We used tions between 0.83 and 0.57, p < 0.05), except in the Locus a Brazilian Portuguese adapted version of the original subscale (p =.43, p < 0.1). Differences were also found MIA (Yassuda et al. 2005). This version has the same between young and older adults in metamemory sub- factorial structure of the original one, with 108 items scales, so that old adults showed greater memory know- divided into seven subscales: Strategy (α = 0.81, n = 18, ledge in general and young adults had more favourable “Do you write appointments on a calendar to help you perceptions and feelings about memory. remember them?”), Task (α = 0.76, n = 16, “For most Despite of the satisfactory psychometric properties of people, facts that are interesting are easier to remember the Brazilian Portuguese MIA version, its extension is than facts that are not”), Capacity (α = 0.82, n = 17, “Iam still a methodological barrier in many research contexts, good at remembering names”), Change (α = 0.86, n = 18, such as with elderly samples, individuals with cognitive “The older I get the harder it is to remember things dysfunctions, or in studies with extensive experimental clearly”), Anxiety (α = 0.82, n = 14, “I