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The Academic Persistence Scale

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 Proceeding Book o-ISSN: 2599-3178
The 3rd International Seminar on Education p-ISSN: 2623-0917
November 07th, 2018

The Academic Persistence Scale

Tarmizi Thalib1, Sekar Paramitha Hanafi1, M. Fahmi Aufar A.1,
Shidqi Irbah1, and Eduardus J. S1
1
Graduate Student of Psychology, Psychology Faculty, Gadjah Mada
University, Yogyakarta - Indonesia

E-mail: tarmizi.thalib@mail.ugm.ac.id

Abstract. This research was designed with regard to make a

psychological measuring instrument with a variable academic
persistence on high school students (SMA) named The Academic
Persistence Scale (APS). By knowing the students' academic
persistence, the educational institution is able to measure students'
opportunities on difficult goals, maintain a sense of comfort towards
success, improve students' skills, understanding and confidence. A set
of questionnaires was given to 75 participants selected from various
schools from schools in Java, Sumatra, Nusa Tenggara and Celebes on
May 2018. Participants consisted of 58.3% of students in class X,
29.3% of students in class XI, and 17, 3% of students in class XII. The
research method used is a method of construction of psychology
(psychometric) measuring instruments. Item scale is constructed by 4
item constructors by making each scale. The initial item is then
recapitulated and an internal elimination of the constructor is done
with a total of 20 students of UGM's psychology master's program.
The results of this study are psychological scales consisting of three
dimensions with the distribution of 45 items. These dimensions consist
of Long Term Perspective Purposes, Current Purposes Persuing,
Recurrent of Unattained Purposes with corrected items of 0.290-
0.489, 0.228-0.576, 0.268-0.527 respectively. There are 18 items with
low discrimination power ranging from 0.169 to 0.228 and 27 items in
the high category ranging from 0.253 to 0.576. The values Aiken's V
and Cronbach's Alpha on this scale are 0.462-0.9125 and 0.816
respectively. APS shows the reliability and validity of the content that
is good enough to assess students' academic persistence. A short
version of the academic persistence scale developed and validated in
this study can be used efficiently to evaluate academic persistence in
the community and other research areas..

Keywords: Persistence, Academic, Psychometry

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1. Introduction
Education is the most important element in national development. His role
requires participation from various elements of society, especially for the students
themselves. The role of participation is in the form of sustainability of students in
taking school. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency about School
Participation Rates or APS, Indonesia experienced a decrease in school enrollment
rates from three age groups. From 2011 to 2017, the number of school enrollments in
Indonesia declined every year. The School Participation Rate is divided into several
age groups, namely ages 7-12 years, 13-15 years, 16-18 years and 19-24 years . The
Center for Education and Culture Data and Statistics (2017) also shows a decline in
each level of study [1].
It is suspected that there are various kinds of factors that cause APS to decrease
in each level. The most likely relationship to the causes of low APS is caused by
student learning motivation. This is based on a close relationship between persistence
on motivation [2]. There are several factors that influence learning motivation, namely
desire and interest in doing activities, encouragement and needs, hopes and ideals,
appreciation and respect for oneself, good environment, and interesting activities [3].
The sustainability of students in taking studies is certainly very needed to support
the development of human resources nationally. Although there are various kinds of
challenges or obstacles that are passed by students, their willingness to try to be a
benchmark in psychology. This behavior is referred to as academic persistence.
The term academic persistence is a term used by researchers to formulate various
definitions of persistence in the world of education. According to Mortenson, suggests
that persistence is the conscious action of students to maintain education status and
continue to higher levels of study. In line with Brown, Tramayne, Hoxha, Telander,
Fan, and Lent, states that persistence is a continuation of a student's business which
reflects the length of the higher education program that is being undertaken in a certain
period of time. According to Bermel and Mc Neill, it is very important for universities
to be able to serve, understand, predict and promote persistence to their students.
Because the persistence and education model is a strong predictor for every element
of the university [4,5,6].
So far, research regarding persistence is more often done in universities, such as
the above description. Thalib, Dewi and Hidayat have also researched the same thing
with fresh graduates who are looking for scholarships in Indonesia [7]. Even though
the reality is, quite a lot of students choose not to continue their education at a lower
level. Although research at universities can be generalized in the context of lower
levels of education. However, of course we need more specific things in measuring the
academic persistence of students in Middle School.
According to Constantin [9] initially the concept of persistence reflected self-
regulatory. Therefore, most studies in Indonesia focus more on the variables of self-
regulation personality. Almost no one has examined the academic persistence

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specifically. In addition, Thalib, Dewi and Hidayat still use the measuring instruments
The Motivational Persistence Scale (MPS) from Constantin made that year [7,8].
There are 12 items with discrimination power ranging from 0.281 to 0.614.
Based on the explanation above, we see the importance of examining academic
persistence as part of an integral effort to pay attention to the resilience of human
resources in the world of education. The importance of academic persistence must be
balanced with a measuring instrument that is able to predict the extent of persistent
learners in the study. This study will describe the measuring instrument with the title
of academic persistence scale.
Aspects of persistence actually reflect several characteristics, namely continuous
involvement in an activity (sustained involvement in an activity), renewal of
commitment (intensification of commitment) and intensification of business when
facing obstacles. There are three aspects of persistence taken based on the concept of
motivational persistence, namely long-term purposes pursuing (LTPP), current
purposes pursuing (CPP), and recurrence of unattained purposes (RUP) [9].
LTPP is a condition in which a person refers to the ability to remain committed
to self-development, a goal with a continuous consistency of behavior, despite
obstacles. Not only creating future goals, but staying with those goals is also needed.
The LTPP also refers to a person's ability to refresh and strengthen long-term goals. It
is well aware that everyone has limitations, different and conflicting goals. This makes
the quality of everyone's business [9].
CPP refers to the ability to focus on goals by minimizing boredom, fatigue or
stress. CPP will make daily efforts to fulfill the achievement of goals. This aspect is
an intermediary between LTPP and RUP. However, the CPP can also stop efforts and
worsen commitment. This is caused if there are failures in daily efforts. For this reason,
a combination of maintaining a focus with constant energy is needed during the CPP
process [9].
RUP is the process by which someone repeats a goal that is not achieved in the
CPP process. Repeating unattainable goals is used to protect intentions against goals,
activate motivation, prevent bad alternatives from arising, help detect opportunities for
outcomes and evaluate commitments. Therefore, this quality is characterized by
focusing attention on goals, looking for alternatives and increasing sensitivity to things
that will help achieve goals [9].
The tendency of RUP to continue to pursue the past makes the characteristics of
RUP distinctive. This is shown in different ways, such as the recurrence of ideas or
activities that indicate the abandonment or improvement of information that supports
the achievement of goals. When someone does an RUP, the indication of that person
tends to outweigh his limitations. If someone is committed to RUP, then commitment
to these goals will also increase confidence in the stimulus goals [9].

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2. Methods
2.1. Participants
Participants in the construction process of this measuring instrument are
Indonesian high school students, ranging from grades 1-3, male and female sex, who
come from various types of high school equivalents (both madrasas, vocational
schools, and boarding schools). There are no restrictions on the type of school (public
or private) or the origin of the school area (respondents attend school in various
provinces in Indonesia). The number of expert judgments in the study was 20 people
and the participants/respondents amounted to 75 people.
2.2. Research Procedure
The research uses quantitative research methods. The procedural used is based on
psychometric methods related to the preparation of non-cognitive measuring
instruments. At first, item scale was constructed by 4 item constructors by making each
scale. The initial item is then recapitulated and internal elimination is carried out
between constructors on 30 April 2018 to get the items that will be presented to the
rater. Rater in the construction process of 20 people is a student of psychology master
program at Gadjah Mada University. Rater is in charge of commenting and assessing
the clarity of the sentence presented in the item. In this process the rater provides
quantification of item clarity starting from a scale of 1 (one) for items that are
considered unclear to 5 (five). The results of the items from the rater were then
arranged into a scale of trials on respondents with target characteristics.
The scale is presented in two general forms; (1) digital format, and (2) print
format. In each format it has been explained about the identity of the research team,
the purpose of measurement, and the description of the willingness of the participants
to join in the construction process. Thus, justification can be made that respondents
who fill voluntarily participate without coercion from any party. An explanation of the
freedom of answers given is also explained at the beginning (written), before
participants fill the scale, and it can be said that the participants have understood that
the answers given will not affect the assessment of their learning process in school. As
a form of compensation, researchers also provide rewards for 4 respondents through a
lottery process.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Results
Writing Item
Writing items is based on 3 persistence aspects including Long Term Perspective
Purposes, Current Purposes Persuing, Recurrent of Unattained Purposes. Initially the
researchers compiled 85 items consisting of items favorable and unfavorable on the
three aspects provided. Of all the items, researchers conducted a selection with

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November 07th, 2018

research based on expert judgment. The result, the researchers wrote academic
persistence items as many as 45 items with details as follows:
Table 1. Items of academic persistence scale
Item
1 I have not had a careful plan after graduating from school.
2 I already have a target at what age will be a successful person
3 I prefer to live by flowing without having a goal
4 I have planned a profession to be undertaken
5 I determine whether to work or continue study after graduating
6 I am worried if I cannot achieve my goals
7 Focus on predetermined goals from the beginning of entering college
8 I am worried about the possibilities in the future that have not been realized
My mind is always divided when there are many dreams that interfere and have not
9
been achieved
10 I always remember the ideals that have I specify
11 I design daily activities so that my goals are achieved
12 I always follow activities that will support the achievement of my ideals
If there are activities that are not in accordance with my ideals, then I tend to leave
13
them
14 I have a study schedule outside of hours school for admission to ideal campus
15 I will balance time tu study and play
16 Every time I have a school assignment, I finish it immediately.
17 It is very difficult to complete daily tasks according to planning
18 I ask for help from others to complete my assignment
19 I always complete school assignments
20 I complete daily targets every day
21 In my opinion, obstacles are not things I should worry about.
22 I always focus on what is done to completion.
23 I deactivate my cellphone while studying
I am always looking for a place that is quiet in doing assignments, so that nothing can
24
bother me.
25 I am able refusing invitations to play from friends while completing assignments
26 I was determined to complete the task until it was finished
27 I tended to despair when the assignments did not match expectations
28 I was increasingly active when I got bad grades
29 Failures often made me despair of dreams my dream
30 I keep working a matter of counts until the results are right
31 I ask friends about what I have done
32 I blame myself for the failure
33 Every time I go to bed, I will think about the things I have done today
34 Making mistakes is normal for every human being
35 I cannot find my weaknesses and weaknesses
36 I find new solutions to unresolved problems
37 I am confused about how to overcome failure
38 I often get inspiration from books or videos

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39 I forget the original goal when failed

40 I get new ideals in the course of my life
41 When I fail, I remember that my goal has not been achieved
42 Failure is a sign of a discrepancy between abilities and ideals
43 I am excited when I remember my dreams
44 Failure keeps me away from success
I will follow things that are easier to achieve than the term goal the length of a
45
difficult
item table 1 consists of items favorable and unfavorable. Favorable items covers item number 1, 2, 3, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 , 27, 28, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 41, and 42.
Whereas items unfavorable include items number 4, 5, 19, 20, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 39, 40, 43, 44, and 45.

Content Validation
Siregar states that validity shows the extent to which a measuring instrument is
able to measure what it wants to measure. In this study, the validity used is content
validity [10]. Content validity is related to the ability of an instrument to measure the
concept of a measured variable. Azwar revealed that the measurement of content
validity was carried out by a panel expert [11]. It is they who will carry out an
assessment of the suitability of the items on the indicators and variable aspects.
The expert judgments were chosen 20 Psychology Postgraduate students from
Gadjah Mada University. The accumulation of research results was analyzed by
measuring the coefficient of content validity of Aiken's V. Based on the results of the
assessment from expert judgment, 23 items from 85 items that did not meet Aiken's V
standard (V <0.7) were obtained. Items that do not meet the Aiken's V standard have
V values ranging from 0.4625 - 0.6875. The rest are items that have met Aiken's V
standards ranging from 0.7 to 0.9125.
Based on the Aiken's V computing results above, we found 52 items that are ready
to be used for testing the next measuring device. With many of these items, researchers
want to reduce the number of items based on higher standard values in each aspect.
Therefore, the final accumulation of items is 45 items.
Object Response to the Items
Accumulation of items based on the content validity obtained raises a certain
response on each item. The object response to items was used to determine whether
the items given to the research subjects were able to distinguish ordinal judgments on
the scale. The scale used is Likert. So that the ordinal data consists of "strongly
disagree (STS)", "disagree (TS)", "neutral (N)", "agree (S)", and "strongly agree (SS)".
The results of the object's response to 45 items are generally considered good. There
is only one item that is not normally distributed, namely item 20.
Table 2. Scoring of Likert Model
Response Description F UF
STS Very Disagree 0 4
TS Not Corresponding 1 3

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N Neutral 2 2
S Appropriate 3 1
SS Very Appropriate 4 0

Discrimination and Reliability Test

Discrimination test was also added in this study. Intended to explain the extent to
which the item's ability to describe the measured variable. This academic persistence
measure uses the total item correlation coefficient standard (riX > 0.25). There were 18
items with low discrimination power ranging from 0.169-0.228 and 27 items in the
high category ranged from 0.253 to 0.576.
The reliability approach used is reliability testing by looking at internal consistency
alpha-cronbach's. The coefficient ranges from 0 to 1. The assumption is that the closer
the alpha-cronbach value is to 1, the more reliable the measuring instrument is.
Respondents used in this study were 75 people. The estimated reliability of items on
all respondents on an academic persistence scale resulted in an alpha score of 0.816.
This coefficient shows that the scale of academic competence has good reliability and
can be reliably measured.

3.2 Discussion
In this study, the academic persistence scale was arranged based on the construct
described by [9]. Important aspects in this variable are long-term purposes pursuing
(LTPP), current purposes pursuing (CPP), and recurrence of unattained purposes
(RUP). Based on these aspects, the researcher described 3 indicators in each aspect.
So that in total there are 9 indicators on a scale. These indicators produce 85 items.
Items were then given to expert judgment and produced 45 items ready for trial.
The items that have been assessed based on Aiken's V, were given to 75 students
via Google Form. The use of online media is intended to facilitate the reach of research.
Google form design is made in such a way as to use media based on paper and pencil.
There is a Likert scale in each item with a range of 0-4. The whole shape of the
measuring instrument is listed in Table 1.
The results of content validity using Aiken's V analysis produced 62 items that
were considered good (V> 0.7) with a range of values 0.7 - 0.9125. Based on these
data, the designed measuring instrument is predicted to be able to measure the variable
of academic persistence. The number of items according to the expert judgment is in
accordance with the construct described by the researcher. To be more promising and
more efficient in its implementation, the number of items is reduced to 45 items. The
researcher has seen the representation of indicators in each item.
The response of the expert judgment in answering the items given was very good.
The results of the object response to items based on z table in psychometric
measurements are dominated by the response model 0 1 2 3 4. This shows that each
item has been normally distributed. The only different results are found in item 20 with
the response model 0 1 2 4 4. This means that item No. 20 responses are not well

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distributed because the items are too normative so the response is collected on just a
few answer choices.
Direct trials were given to respondents after researchers considered items that had
been designed to be ready. Based on the results of the analysis above, the measuring
instrument is ready. There are quite different results after field trials. The difference is
the result of the discrimination power and the reliability test. As stated earlier, there
are only 27 items in the high category. The rest is a low item that has doubtful ability.
The researcher predicts the low value of the items because the number of respondents
in this study was only 75 people. It is very possible that the discrimination power will
increase if the number of respondents is added.
Based on the reliability test, the academic persistence scale produced scale score
of alpha-cronbach 0.816. The score coefficient shows that the scale produced is
feasible to be used as an instrument to construct academic persistence.
Suggestions in further research related to the construct of this study are the
number of samples that must be reproduced during the trial. So, the results of original
research give rise to better credibility. In addition, the next researcher can also modify
the item design by changing the aspect of the persistence variable into the research
content. The results of these modifications are a measuring tool that distinguishes the
stages of persistence in academics.

4. Conclusion
Scope of this study is an academic persistence scale that has been tested for content
validity. Starting from 85 items arranged based on aspects of persistence theory, then
reduced to 45 valid items and responded well. Based on the score alpha-cronbach of
0.816 it was stated that the scale of academic persistence is feasible to be a
measurement instrument.

5. Reference

[1] Badan Pusat Statistik. 2018. Angka Partisipasi Sekolah (APS) menurut Provinsi,
2011-2017.
[2] Peterson, C., & Seligmen, M. E. P. 2004. Character Strengths and Virtues: A
Handbook and Classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
[3] Uno, B.H. 2008. Orientasi Baru dalam Psikologi Pembelajaran. Penerbit: PT. Bumi
Aksara, Jakarta.
[4] Vinsant, C. O. 2010. Academic persistence: The relationship between age, gender,
administrative support, faculty support, family Support, alcohol use, drug
use, parental education levels, parental relationship status, student
relationship status, socioeconomic status, job status, and the belief of an
education as a necessity. Tesis Master. Tennessee Technological

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University. Diakses dari ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

(UMI No. 1482398).
[5] Bermel, M. T. 2014. Impact of non-academic factor on students, persistence in
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Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3641180).
[6] Mc Neill, K. M. 1997. Determinants of different types of retention: Goal completin,
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Desertasi Doktoral. University of Oregen. Diakses dari ProQuest
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[7] Thalib, T., Dewi, E. M. P., & Hidayat, N. 2017. Pengaruh Outcome Expectancy
terhadap Persistensi Aplikan Beasiswa LPDP. (Prosiding). Seminar
Nasional & Dies Natalis. Universitas Negeri Makassar.
[8] Constantin, T. 2017. The Motivational Persistence Scale (MPS). (Synthesis).
PsihoProfile.
[9] Hojbotă, A. M., Rusu, A., & Constantin, T. 2013. Beyond the asymmetries between
pleasure and pain. An exploratory study of the links between regulatory
focus, trait affectivity and motivational persistence. Analele Ştiinţifice ale
Universităţii, 14(1), 89-102.
[10] Siregar, S. 2012. Statistika Deskriptif untuk Penelitian. Jakarta: Rajawali Pers.
[11] Azwar, S. 2018. Penyusunan Skala Psikologi. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

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