PV & SRI 1

Running head: HABITS OF STUDENT EFFECTIVENESS

The Private Victory and the Student Readiness Inventory

Sean Weigold Ferguson

Rollins College

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Abstract

This study tested the validity and reliability of the Private Victory (PV) using items from 5 of

subscales of the Student Readiness Inventory (SRI). The sample consisted of 230 college

students from a small liberal arts college. After normalizing and removing inconsistent items, the

internal consistency of the three PV subscales were (α = .62, .72, and .73). The SRI items

displayed an internal consistency of (α = .75). The SRI shared significant correlations with all 3

PV subscales (r = .44, .45, and .66, p < .01) and college GPA (r = .28, p < .01). These results

establish a baseline for the construct validity of the PV and indicate the need to refine its

subscales.

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Do the components of life effectiveness translate into success in the college classroom?

The clear bridge between the two resides in student psychosocial factors (PSF)s; specifically

those found to have incremental validity in predicting college performance. Certainly high

school grades and standardized test scores can validly predict outcomes, but even when

combined they only account for 25% of the variance in a college student's first-year GPA (ACT,

1997; Boldt, 1986; Mathiasen, 1984; Mouw & Khanna, 1993; as cited by Robbins et al., 2004).

The ability of these factors to predict performance declines over time illustrating the need for

more sustainable predictors.

The Student Readiness Inventory

Robbins et al. (2004) saw the clear need to look beyond traditional predictors. In a meta-

analysis of 108 studies measuring college success and PSF factors, researchers established the

foundation for what would become the Student Readiness Inventory (SRI). Based on the

research, ten psychosocial and study skills constructs: achievement motivation, academic goals,

institutional commitment, perceived social support, social involvement, academic self-efficacy,

general self-concept, academic related skills, and contextual influences. Of these, academic self-

efficacy, achievement motivation, and academic goals were shown to incrementally predict

college GPA after controlling for more traditional predictors. Le et al. (2005) used the findings of

this study to create the SRI which is composed of ten slightly different constructs: general

determination, academic discipline, goal striving, commitment to college, study skills,

communication skills, social activity, social connection, academic self-confidence, and emotional

control. In a study of over 14,000 students, Robbins et al. (2005) found significant correlations

between college GPA and academic discipline, academic self-confidence, and commitment to

college. For the purposes of this study, five relevant constructs were chosen.

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Academic Self-Confidence (ASC)

As defined by Le et al. (2005), ASC is “the extent to which students are confident that

they can perform well in school.” An adaptation of the earlier construct academic self-efficacy,

ASC correlates significantly with academic discipline (AD), goal striving (GS), and commitment

to college (CC). Of the SRI constructs, it is the most highly correlated with ACT score and high

school GPA.

Commitment to College (CC)

From Le et al. (2005), “the extent to which students appreciate the values of education

and are committed to attaining the college degree.” Similar to goal focus from Robbins et al.

(2004), CC shares significant correlations with ASC, AD, GS, and communication skills. CC is

also correlated with gender as females tend to score higher than men on the scale. Additionally, it

shows a positive correlation with high school GPA.

Academic Discipline (AD)

AD is defined by Le et al. (2005) as “the extent to which students value schoolwork and

approach school-related tasks.” Females tend to score higher on the AD scale than do males.

High school GPA and AD are positively correlated. AD shares positive correlations with GD, GS,

and study skills.

General Determination (GD)

Le et al. defines GD as “the extent to which students are dutiful, careful, and

dependable.” Compared with the the findings of Robbins et al. (2004), GD contains some of the

elements of conscientiousness. GD correlates positively with AD, GS, CC, and communication

skills.

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Goal Striving (GS)

The definition of GS according to Le et al. (2005) is “the extent to which student (a) set

important goals, (b) make efforts to achieve the goals, and (c) are confident about their abilities

to succeed.” GS correlates directly with GD, AD, CC, study skills, and communication skills. GS

contains elements of the original scales of conscientiousness and goal focus.

The Private Victory (PV)

The findings of the aforementioned researchers are of great value, but they are specific to

the academic environment. To seek out similar constructs that apply universally requires

expanding beyond the traditional psychological literature. Interestingly enough, it is from the

personal development industry that one finds a construct that addresses sustainable life

effectiveness. In one of the bestselling personal development books of all time, The 7 Habits of

Highly Effective People, Covey (1989) defines effectiveness:

The Seven Habits are habits of effectiveness. Because they are based on principles, they

bring the maximum long-term beneficial results possible. They become the basis of a

person's character creating an empowering center of correct maps from which an

individual can effectively solve problems, maximize opportunities, and continually learn

and integrate other principles in an upward spiral of growth.

The difference between effectiveness and efficiency is that the latter over-emphasizes

production and neglects production capacity. Balancing the investment of resources into both

factors is the essence of effectiveness. This definition of effectiveness is useful in that it focuses

on long-term consequences. The ability to make predictions beyond a one semester time frame is

extremely valuable.

For the purposes of this study, the three habits most relevant to the academic environment

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were chosen. As defined by Covey (1989), a habit is:

the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm,

the what to do and the why. Skill is the how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want

to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three.

The first three habits, Be Proactive (H1), Begin with the End in Mind (H2), and Put First

Things First (H3) compose the Private Victory (PV). The PV construct is characterized by

independence, self-mastery, inner-direction, self-reliance, and self-confidence. Low PV indicates

one has a high degree of dependence on others, while those high on the PV scale display a high

degree of inner guidance and independence.

Be Proactive (H1)

H1 is a measure of one's proactivity. High scorers are considered proactive while low

scorers are termed reactive. Not to be confused with merely taking initiative, being proactive

means being

responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our

conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the

responsibility to make things happen. Highly proactive people recognize that

responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their

behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values,

rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling (Covey, 1989).

Those considered reactive are often influenced by their environment, both social and

physical. Their emotions and subsequent actions are dependent on external stimuli. H1 is

strongly related to the the self-efficacy and locus of control constructs. We expect it to contain

elements of ASC, GD, and GS.

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Begin with the End in Mind (H2)

According to Covey (1989), high scorers in H2 use the end of their life as a reference to

examine their behavior. They have a clear understanding of their life vision and most important

values, and follow a mission statement derived from those elements. This mission statement or

creed is the foundation for their decisions. Those high in H2 center their lives on principles,

defined by Covey (1989) as self-evident natural laws that govern human behavior. It is expected

that H2 contains elements of CC, GD, and GS.

Put First Things First (H3)

As defined by Covey (1989), H3 is “the fulfillment, the actualization, the natural

emergence of Habits 1 and 2. It's the exercise of independent will toward becoming principle-

centered. It's the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing it.” H3 centers around the concept

of self-management, or the implementation of H1 and H2. Self-management is defined by Covey

(1989) as “the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the

ability to act rather than to be acted upon, to proactive carry out the program we have

developed.” We expect H3 to contain elements of AD, GD, and GS.

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Methods

Participants

In total, 230 college students from a small, 4-year liberal arts secondary education

institution volunteered to participate in this study. To meet these criteria, participants were

removed (n = 50) from the sample if they were not college students, not attending the institution

being studied, or did not complete at least 10% of the SRI and PV. Participants' ages ranged from

18 to 61, with a mean age of 23.7 years (SD = 8.7 years; median = 21 years). The sample was

70% female. Only 9 students did not report their high school grade point average (GPA1).

Students' GPA1 ranged from 0.90 to 4.00 with a mean of 3.49 (SD = .48; median = 3.65). In

total, 187 students reported their SAT score. Scores ranged from 660 to 1600 with a mean of

1255 (SD = 160; median = 1269). Additionally, 104 students reported their ACT score which

ranged from 12.0 to 36.0 with a mean of 27.5 (SD = 4.5; Median = 28.0)

Only 8 students did not report their college GPA (GPA2). GPA2 ranged from 1.60 to 4.00

with a mean of 3.40 (SD = .46; median = 3.47). The mean number of semesters completed by

students in this sample was 4.6 (SD = 2.9), and the mean number of college credits obtained was

79.4 (SD = 43.4). The most commonly listed student majors were psychology (n = 35),

economics (n = 20), English (n = 19), and international relations (n = 19). A student major index

was created allowing students to be sorted into groups based on their focus on study. Groups

were business (n = 67), arts and language (n = 60), social sciences (n = 64), physical sciences (n

= 34), and other or no answer (n = 5).

Measures

The Private Victory (PV) Assessment contains 30 items and assesses the degree of

integration of Covey's (1989) first three habits: Be Proactive (H1), Begin with the End in Mind

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(H2), and Put First Things First (H3). PV items were developed using Covey's (1989) diction,

themes, definitions, and examples. Items are scored using a 7-point scale with anchors of

Nothing like me (1), and Exactly like me (7). Of the 30 items, 15 are reverse-scored. H1, H2, and

H3 each initially contained 10 items before removing 3, 2, and 0 respectively to increase internal

consistency. The mean of the remaining items within each subscale equates to a participant's

score on that habit's construct. The mean of H1, H2, and H3 equates to one's PV score.

According to Le et al. (as cited by Peterson et al., 2006),

The Student Readiness Inventory (SRI) is a 108-item inventory comprising 10 scales that

measure students' academic-related personality facets and skills. The inventory was

designed to assist postsecondary institutions in identifying and intervening with students

at risk for drop out or poor performance. Items are scored using a 6-point, Likert scale

that ranges from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Scales range from 10 to 12 items

and have demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency reliabilities (alpha range

= .81 to .87; median = .84), as well as incremental validity over demographic,

institutional, and standardized achievement variables.

Of the 10 SRI scales, the five showing the strongest (r ≥ .25) correlations with GPA2

were chosen for this study. The chosen scales were academic self-confidence (ASC),

commitment to college (CC), academic discipline (AD), general determination (GD), and goal

striving (GS). As the SRI in its entirety was unavailable for use, the mean of two sample

questions found in the ACT's (2008) SRI User's Guide was used to represent each scale. The

mean of all five scales was used to represent the SRI.

Procedure

The assessment was created using an online survey research tool. It was then hosted on

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the tool's website. Students were contacted in person, by email, and through social networking

websites. An informed consent form was provided at the beginning of the online assessment

assuring participants that their responses would remain confidential. Additionally, it informed

participants of the expected time commitment (10 minutes), and allowed them to input their

email address to receive the results of the study. The contact information of the primary

researcher and the Chair of the Committee for Protection of Human Participants was listed at the

bottom of the form. After agreeing to the terms of the study, participants were taken to a form to

input their sex and age. Participants then completed the PV assessment. This was followed by a

form collecting GPA1, SAT score, and ACT score. At the bottom of this form, participants were

asked if they were currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program. Those that indicated

they were not were taken to the end of the assessment.

Those that answered affirmatively were taken to a page containing the ten SRI questions.

Upon completion, the next page asked students for their college major, college minor (or second

major), number of semesters completed, number of credits obtained, and GPA2. This page

included a link to students' academic institution's website, and encouraged students to look up

this information so as to give an accurate response. The next and final page of the assessment

thanked the participant and provided the contact information of the primary researcher. In this

assessment, only two questions were required for the participant to continue moving forward.

These were the participant's agreement to the informed consent form and their current college

enrollment status.

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Results

Table 1 shows the number of items, standard deviation, and internal consistency of the

SRI, the PV, and the subscales of both. The standard deviations and alphas showed no similarity

to the findings of Peterson et al. (2006). This was expected as the subscales of the full SRI each

contain ten to twelve questions rather than two, influencing both the alphas and standard

deviations. Of the PV subscales, H1 was found to have a relatively low alpha even after

removing three items indicating that the construct requires revision.

Table 1

Descriptive statistics and Cronbach's coefficient alpha of the SRI, the PV, and their subscales

Scale N SD α

SRI 10 .55 .75

ASC 2 .82 .54

CC 2 .81 .42

AD 2 .78 .38

GD 2 .85 .58

GS 2 .82 .50

PV 25 .47 .85

H1 7 .55 .62

H2 8 .58 .72

H3 10 .57 .73

Table 2 shows the intercorrelations of the SRI subscales in this study. Correlations range

from .19 to .47, with a median of .29. The lowest correlations exist between GS and CC, and

between GS and ASC. The highest correlations exist between GS and AD, and between GS and

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GD. All correlations are significant p < .01.

Table 2

Intercorrelations of the SRI subscales from this study

Scale ASC CC AD GD GS

ASC –

CC .32 –

AD .26 .19 –

GD .26 .33 .35 –

GS .21 .24 .47 .47 --

Note. N = 229. All correlations are significant (p < .01).

Table 3 shows intercorrelations of the SRI subscales from Robbins et al. (2005).

Correlations range from .40 to .79 with a median of .58. The lowest correlation exists between

ASC and GD. The highest correlation exists between GS and GD. With the exception of CC, the

correlation pattern between the two tables is roughly similar. If CC is removed, the two sets of

correlations show a significant relationship (r = .77). The lower correlations in Table 2 are likely

attributable to the smaller sample size and fewer SRI items in the current study.

Table 3

Intercorrelations of the SRI subscales from Robbins et al. (2005)

Scale ASC CC AD GD GS

ASC –

CC .43 –

AD .44 .54 –

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GD .40 .63 .69 –

GS .49 .63 .62 .79 --

Note. N = 14,464.

All three PV subscales significantly correlated with one another (p < .01). H1 related to

H2 at .52, and to H3 at .53. H2 and H3 shared a strong correlation of .62. These high

intercorrelations indicate that there is cause to consider the PV as a singular construct.

Table 4 features correlations between the SRI and the PV. As expected, the SRI showed a

strong relationship with the PV (r = .59). Including both sets of subscales, correlations ranged

from .19 (CC, H1) to .60 (SRI, H3) and all were significant (p < .01). The SRI and the subscales

of the PV were strongly related (r = .45 to .60). The PV showed strong relations with the

subscales of the SRI ranging from .25 (CC), to .57 (GS). The strongest relations within subscales

were found in GS and H3 (r = .56), GD and H3 (r = .48), GS and H2 (r = .46), AD and H3 (r

= .44), and GS and H1 (r = .42). The weakest relationships were between H1 and CC (r = .19),

and H2 and CC (r = .19).

Table 4

Correlations of the SRI and subscales with the PV with subscales

Scale H1 H2 H3 PV

ASC .24 .24 .25 .29

CC .19 .19 .25 .25

AD .29 .29 .44 .41

GD .36 .31 .48 .45

GS .42 .46 .56 .57

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SRI .45 .44 .60 .59

Note. N = 228. All correlations are significant (p < .01).

Participant demographics were significantly correlated with several scales. Age displayed

a direct relationship with H1 (r = .20, p < .01), H2 (r = .18, p < .01), H3 (r = .14, p < .05), PV (r

= .20, p < .01), and GS (r = .17, p < .05). Sex showed significant relationships with H1 and CC.

An independent samples t-test confirms that on average males scored .44 points lower on CC (t =

3.9, p < .01), and .19 points higher on H1 (t = 2.4, p < .05).

Several significant relationships were found between GPA2 and other demographics and

scales. GPA2 shares a positive relationship with GPA1 (r = .61, p < .01), SAT score (r = .19, p

< .01), and ACT score (r = .33, p < .01). Additionally, H3 shares a positive correlation with

GPA2 (r = .17, p < .05).

The SRI shares a positive relationship with GPA2 (r = .28, p < .01). SRI subscales AD (r

= .42, p < .01), and ASC (r = .30, p < .01) show significant positive correlations with GPA2.

These correlations are similar to those found by Peterson et al. (2006) as seen in Table 6.

Table 5

Correlations of GPA2 with the SRI subscales from the current study compared with the

correlations found by Peterson et al. (2006)

GPA2

Subscale Current Studya Peterson et al. (2006)b

ASC .30** .34**

CC .10 .27**

AD .42** .50**

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GD .06 .30**

GS .06 .25**

Note. Correlations from Peterson et al. (2006) are as listed before partialing out social

desirability.

an = 222. bn = 359.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

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Discussion

This study establishes a baseline for the construct validity and internal consistency of the

PV. As was expected, the SRI and the PV are clearly related (r = .59, p < .01). Furthermore, H1,

H2, and H3 are all directly related to the SRI; (.45, .44, and .60) respectively. All of the SRI

subscales and the PV subscales showed direct relationships with one another (range = .19 to .56,

median = .29, p < .01). As expected, the SRI scales significantly correlated with GPA2. H3 also

significantly correlated with GPA2, although not as strongly as the SRI.

It is to be expected that the SRI would act as a better predictor of GPA2 than any of the

PV constructs. The PV is a universal measure of effectiveness while the SRI's questions are

tailored towards the educational environment. Additionally, Covey's (1989) assumption is that

the habits are being integrated within a natural system such as a farm, within which it is

impossible to over-invest resources in production and ignore production capacity. As evidenced

by phenomenon such as cramming, academic outcomes can be manipulated. Future research

should validate the PV against a long-term, natural construct of effectiveness.

Strengths of this study include the high percentage of respondents that shared their

college GPA. The sample size of this study was reasonable, and eschewing the tendency of most

psychological studies, included fair degree of variability within college major. There are several

limitations to this study. The sample contained a high proportion of females to males, albeit

within the normal range of psychological research. The assessment did not collect data on

socioeconomic or minority status.

The low reliability of H1 needs to be addressed in a future study, and the other two habits

should be reviewed to improve internal consistency. Also, the PV only represents three of seven

habits. As they do not exist in isolation, it is worth including the other four in future research.

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One major limitation was the small pool of SRI questions from which to choose from. While

unfortunate, the data collected suggests that the items were generally representative of the scales

they were intended to measure.

The next study on the PV should validate against the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Since

Robbins et al. (2006) have already validated the SRI against the BFI, the present data could be

used to generate hypotheses for this future study. This study would allow us to improve the

reliability of the PV, and validate against a well-established psychological construct.

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References

ACT, Inc. (2008, December). SRI User's Guide. Retrieved April 9, 2009, from

http://www.act.org/sri/pdf/UserGuide.pdf

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal

Change (pp. 18-179). 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020: Free Press.

Le, H., Casillas, A., Robbins, S. B., & Langley, R. (2005). Motivational and skills, social, and

self-management predictors of college outcomes: Constructing the Student Readiness

Inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 65(3), 482-508.

Peterson, C. H., Casillas, A., & Robbins, S. B. (2006). The Student Readiness Inventory and the

Big Five: Examining social desirability and college academic performance. Personality

and Individual Differences, 41(4), 663-673.

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98(3), 598-616.

Robbins, S. B., Lauver, K., Le, H., Davis, D., Langley, R., & Carlstrom, A. (2004). Do

Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes? A meta-analysis.

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