Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Khuzestan Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources University
Abstract
One of the most important factors affecting students' research is their beliefs about their abilities in this field. Research self-efficacy is a significant predictor of research productivity among students and it is confirmed as an important predictor for the stability and academic progress of students. The present study aimed to investigate the factors affecting research self-efficacy among graduate students of agricultural sciences and natural resources universities of Iran. The statistical population included all postgraduate students of Iranian universities of agricultural sciences and natural resources. The inverse square root method was used to determine the number of statistical samples, and finally 384 students were selected through random sampling.
The research instrument was a questionnaire with a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. Its content validity was confirmed through expert consultation in agricultural extension and education, while its reliability was established via ordinal theta coefficient (θ=0.71-0.80). convergent validity was assessed through factor loadings and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE=0.51-0.68). Collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including correlation and structural equation modeling with a confirmatory factor analysis approach to extract the measurement model, in SPSS and Amos software. the results obtained from the path analysis structural equation model showed that the variables of research experience, professor-student relationship, motivation for progress, interest, and verbal encouragement have a positive, direct, and significant effect on the research self-efficacy of graduate students, and these five variables in total are able to predict 61 percent of the changes in research self-efficacy.
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