Browsing by Subject "Exploratory Factor Analysis"

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate Finnish high-school students and teachers perceptions about what a short-term Nordic study abroad program offers to its participants. The benefits of study abroad were also addressed, as well as their connection to the reasons for attending such a program. Participants were also asked to state the challenges they faced during their study abroad. As data was gathered from three different participant groups, comparison between different participant groups was one of the central aims of the study. Participants. The participants consisted of three different groups; two of which were student groups and one that was a teacher group. One student group participated in an SA in Sweden for one month (Period scholars); the other student group participated in a one to two week long intensive language course in Sweden (Scholars to Sweden). Teachers had stays of different lengths, from less than a week to two weeks in Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland). Methods. The investigation presented herein relied on a mixed-methods strategy. The data of the study consisted of responses from 158 students and 92 teachers to a specifically developed Study Abroad Assessment (SAA) instrument. This data was analyzed quantitatively with SPSS using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and partly also qualitatively categorizing. In addition, material from six (6) students interviews before and after the study abroad (SA) period, and their reports on their stay, were analyzed qualitatively and reported as a case of an average student attending that particular program. Results and conclusions. Based on the analysis, there emerged four factors that represented dimensions which a short-term SA program has to offer. These factors were named according to their content as follows: 1) Personal growth; 2) Links to another Nordic country; 3) Development of Nordic awareness; and 4) Impact on career or study opportunities. Composite variables were created on the basis of these factors. There were some statistically significant differences between groups and group explained differing percentages of variance in each dimension. The Period scholars group differed significantly from other groups statistically in terms of "Personal growth" and "Impact on career or study opportunities" composite variables, whereas the Scholars to Sweden group differed significantly from other groups statistically in terms of the "Links to another Nordic country" composite variable. The Teacher group differed statistically significantly from student groups in terms of "Development of Nordic awareness" composite variable. The qualitative part of the study provided information on the benefits and challenges of study abroad that were compatible with previous studies. As a conclusion, it was noted that participants felt their language threshold to be lower than prior attending the SA, and that personal growth indeed was one of the main benefits of the SA.