Revised Study Process Questionnaire
R-SPQ-2FPermission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.
A 20-item instrument measuring two approaches to learning in tertiary students: Deep Approach (driven by intrinsic interest; intention to understand) and Surface Approach (driven by fear of failure; intention to reproduce). Each approach decomposes into Motive and Strategy subscales (5 items each), yielding four 5-item subscales in total.
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Reliability & validation
Subscales
Response anchors
This item is never or only rarely true of me · This item is sometimes true of me · This item is true of me about half the time · This item is frequently true of me · This item is always or almost always true of me
Known limitations
Component subscales (Deep Motive, Deep Strategy, Surface Motive, Surface Strategy) have modest internal consistency because of their brevity; main-factor scores (Deep, Surface) are more robust. Validated originally with Hong Kong undergraduates; invariance across cultures has been tested but is not universal, so cite a matching validation for your sample.
Original citation
Biggs, J., Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. P. (2001). The revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(1), 133-149.
https://doi.org/10.1348/000709901158433Questions researchers ask
What does the R-SPQ-2F measure?
A 20-item instrument measuring two approaches to learning in tertiary students: Deep Approach (driven by intrinsic interest; intention to understand) and Surface Approach (driven by fear of failure; intention to reproduce). Each approach decomposes into Motive and Strategy subscales (5 items each), yielding four 5-item…
How many items does the R-SPQ-2F have?
The Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) has 20 items across 6 subscales: Deep Approach, Surface Approach, Deep Motive, Deep Strategy, Surface Motive, Surface Strategy.
Is the R-SPQ-2F free to use?
The R-SPQ-2F is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.
Is the R-SPQ-2F reliable?
Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.57–0.73. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.
Who developed the R-SPQ-2F, and how do I cite it?
Biggs, J., Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. P. (2001). The revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(1), 133-149. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709901158433
Related scales
Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.