Reliability and Validity using SmartPLS

In the previous tutorial about CFA or Confirmatory Factor Analysis using SmartPLS, the tutorial is all about how to start a project and do the CFA. And this time, I will explain how to do reliability checking of the data after CFA is performed. So then, we can see the hypotheses are significant or not.

After do the confirmatory factor analysis, you can do a further analysis using Bootstrapping Method... click on the bootstrap menu on the top menu. 

You can see a dialog box...but just click Finish...

Taipei Flower Exhibition 2013

Just like my post one year ago, this year this event held once more...but have different theme...this year's theme is about tales... the location is still the same...in the Yuanshan Park...

You can visit for free... so don't worry... 

You can go there by MRT and go to exit 1... you will see the entrance of he Yuanshan park...

Below are several photos about the event... ^^

International Muslim Culture Exhibition 2013

International Muslim Culture Exhition or IMCE is one of my favorite event in Taiwan...not only because I'm the committee but also because this event's aim is to make people understand about Islam and Muslim's daily life... I like this year's activity because FREE FOODS!!! hahaha
I also can make henna in my hand...wanna know? check this picture below. ^^

Confirmatory Factor Analysis SmartPLS

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is a method used to get value from several factors that affect data and whether the data itself is approriate to do next analysis. Many softwares can be used to perform CFA. But, if your data are less than 200, then it's better to use SmartPLS. If more, you can use SPSS or AMOS. Usually, many research used more than one software to perfom quantitave analysis.

This time, I want to make tutorial on hoq to perform CFA using SmartPLS. It is a free software which can be downloaded from its website. The free version is only the 2.0 version. The 3rd version is not free because you have to buy the license, even for the students the functionality are limited. 

We start with creating a new project

Click FILE - NEW - CREATE NEW PROJECT

You will see a dialog box to input your project name ... then click NEXT

Choose your project file. The type file that associate with SmartPLS is only .csv ... So, prepare the .csv file. If you want, you can convert your data from SPSS to .csv file... Then, click OK.

You will see in the PROJECTS area your new project which have two things... .splsm and .csv file... .csv file is your raw data which need to be analyzed...

and .splsm is the file which you can use for making your data model and do analysis...

Look at the menu in the top of the window.... Tere is a blue circle with + in the corner... It is used for insertion mode to build several factors in your model.

Click on the .splsm window and there will be several circles which you can use for factors in your model...

You also can rename the circle...just do the right click - rename variables or press F2 on your keyboard...

Let's see in the left of the window...there are several indicators from your raw data...drag your indicators to its factor variables....

You can change the position of the indicators with right click on the variable and click Align Top, Bottom, Left, or Right

Then, how to make the relationship? look beside the circle with + icon... there is a two circle icon which related each other using a line... click that icon...

And make relationship between variables... the orange circle will be changed to blue color...and ready to be analyzed...

For the first analysis... click on the PLS Algorithm in the menu....

Then you will see a dialog box...just click Finish....

Then you can see the result... in the relationship line, you can see there are several values. That values represent the factor loadings of the data...

If you want to see the full report, click on the report on the menu....

You will see a new window open that represent the result...but how to read it?

To see the factor loadings, click on the PLS- Calculatin Result - Outer Loadings
There will be several correlation and you can see the value of each factors. Sometimes, the value need to be more than 0.7 or 0.65... if you have an item that the value is less than 0.7 or 0.65, you need to eliminate it from your model for further analysis because it's not significant enough.

Then, you can also see the AVE value, composite reliability, R square, cronbach alpha, and other... in the Overview...

So..you can see all of the things that need to be seen in the CFA... maybe yes it's not easy to see...you need to move those values to excel and move it to appropriate tables than everyone can see your result easily..

Hope this tutorial help you and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me...i'll be happy to help you.. ^^

Data Frequency SPSS

Sebelum melakukan sebuah quantitative research, biasanya researcher akan mencari tahu lebih dahulu frequency dari data yang dimilikinya. Jika menggunakan SPSS, hal yang bisa dilakukan cukup mudah dan sederhana untuk mendapatkan data seperti dibawah ini.

Hal yang harus dilakukan adalah:

Open your data in SPSS and click Analyze - Descriptive - Frequencies...

You will see a small window dimana kita bisa memasukkan variabel yang akan dianalisis...

Click on the variables you want to analyze and click the arrow to put them in the next box.

Then click OK

You will see in the output window the result of the frequency

If you want the result to be like the first picture, you need to make it by yourself while you see the result from SPSS...  

Hope this information help you...and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me and i'll be happy to help you ^o^

Miniatures Museum of Taiwan

This museum as you know from the name contains many kinds of miniatures displayed. It located near the Songjiang Nanjing MRT station. You can refer to the map below...

You need to pay 150 if you are students and 180 if you're not... :) ahhh and don't forget to buy a stamp passport for 20 NT. ^^

Many kinds of little things here... the beautifully decorated room miniatures, barbie, tales miniatures, and many other things. I can't describe it very well because too many things there...haha But, to prevent this, I made a video about this museum...check this out... ^^

Regrets in Life : I'm not

NOT TRAVELLING WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE

I think...i always do this... if i have the chance, i will travel everywhere... maybe several people will think this statement as travelling around the world...but not for me. Travelling means EVERYWHERE... ga harus ke luar negeri...di dalam negeri juga okeh...ga kalah kali Indonesia... ^o^ dan karena kondisiku di Taiwan...so means a lot to me... can go everywhere in Taiwan...

MISSING THE CHANCE TO SEE YOUR FAVORITE MUSICIAN

My favorite musician... who? i don't know... i like any kind of music. But, I've ever go to one of the concert. international concert in Surabaya... Secondhand Serenade....jarang-jarang ada konser beginian di Surabaya bok... jadi capcus deh langsung beli tiket walopun harga mahal...bisa bisa sekali seumur hidup...haha

Trus..kalo artis indonesia...pernah nonton UNGU di BACKSTAGE...ALhamdulillah punya ibu seorang dokter yang bisa masukin ambulance ke dalam tempat konser...hahahaha Trus... COKLAT, J-ROCK, dan DREW... ini sih karena acara pensi sekolah SMA dulu... tapi lumayan lah... emang suaranya rocker abis... ^o^

STAYING IN A BAD RELATIONSHIP

I've never done this... If I had a relationship dan menurutku relationship itu membuatku sedih...sakit...dan segala tetek bengek dunia permewekan lainnya...I will go out from there!

Secara ya... dunia itu indah.... cowok ga patut ditangisin. Apalagi masih pacar. 

Kecuali... kalo suami...harus patut dipertahankan... dan supaya menghindari bad relationship dalam hubungan pernikahan ya ada trik khususnya...jadilah wanita baik-baik...insyaAllah dapat suami baik-baik pula dan diridhai Allah... ^o^

FAILING TO MAKE PHYSICAL FITNESS A PRIORITY

Sebenere jujur aku rada ga paham maksudnya fitness disini apa... kesehatan kah? diet? wah kalo ini... bisa dikatakan susaaahh... namanya uga orang suka makan ya...--" tapi bisa dicoba lah...hahaha

NOT QUITTING A TERRIBLE JOB

Dikarenakan aku pernah kerja secara formal di satu tempat...itupun juga keluar karena mau sekolah lagi...bisa dibilang statement ini ada benernya. Aku keluar ga cuma karena mau sekolah...tapi yaa gimana yaa... agak susah sih kerja di situ. Bosnya sih baik. Tapi kebijakan perusahaan yang ga baik. Mobile programmer satu-satu nya di kantor bikin kerjaan ku gila-gila an padahal baru masuk...gaji juga ga bisa dibilang pantas. Alhamdulillah aku bisa keluar dari sana dengan alasan sekolah dan juga didikung sama manager...bayangin aja didukung keluar loh sama manager...hahaha

AFRAID TO SAY I LOVE YOU

Maybe at first...namanya juga cewek...ada masanya mikir dulu sebelum bilang i love you...but, i'm not afraid to say I Love You to some people who I truly love from the deepest of my heart... My Mom...My Dad...My Family...and My boyfriend... :">

CARING TOO MUCH WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK

Ini adalah aku beberapa bulan yang lalu... tapi sekarang, nggak. Karena udah muak mikirin apa yang dipikirin orang lain...akhirnya aku berkata "I DON'T CARE" dan aku adalah aku... aku berjalan sesuai apa yang aku percaya baik untukku dan baik untuk lingkunganku... lagian orang lain hanya bisa ngomong koq. Anjing menggonggng khafilah pun berlalu... ya ga?

NOT VOLUNTEERING ENOUGH

I think... I already join many kind of voluntary activities... I'm very grateful I did that... can change myself personally and also my friends there... :) If I had the chance, i will always do the voluntary activities

NEGLECTING YOUR TEETH

Since I was in elementary school...aku udah dipakein kawat gigi...sakiiiittt banget. Tapi aku bersyukur. Sekarang udah ga bermasalah sama gigi. Dan dokter yang merawatku sejak aku SD sampe sekarang juga sama dan aku selalu kesana tiap 6 bulan sekali. Kecuali pas di Taiwan ini...aku kesana kalo pas lagi pulang doank sih...hehe

NOT LEARNING HOW TO COOK ONE AWESOME MEAL

So....it's hard to say but yes I can't cook...hahaha But I've ever learn... I always learn...and I always promise to myself that I will learn to cook something delicious for my family when I go home... ^o^

NEVER PERFORM IN FRONT OF PUBLIC

I did performs a LOT... Waktu SMA aku ikut teater...bayangin aja tampil di depan ratusan orang dan yang ditampilin juga abstrak...awalnya sih malu. Tapi lama-lama itu membangun keberanian dalam diriku sendiri supaya bisa "FACE PEOPLE"...Trus karena ikut berbagai macam organisasi, mau ga mau ya harus tampil di depan umum...perform ataupun speech... dan Alhamdulillah ada sesuatu di baliknya... bukan karena pengen jadi artis...hahaha

NOT STOPPING ENOUGH TO APPRECIATE THE MOMENT

Appreciate the moment... yeah many kind of moment... and I do appreciate those moments with my scrapbook...my diary...my schedule book...my thinking in this blog...

Subhanallah I can see many beautiful things in this world...not just nature but also friendship..

Notes For Jeremy Part 5 : My Best Friend

Next thing I want to share about something in my Notes for Jeremy is...my best friend. Her name was Resviani Soraya or called Vivin...
Maybe...some of you notice...why i used "was"? why not "is"?
Because she's not in this world already....

She was my best friend since we were in elementary school...She was beautiful and small...like me. hehe Her hair was curly brown and when she smiled, she had dimple in her cheek, so sweet. She like to laugh and told me many comedical stories. We always went to school together every morning used our bike.

When we were in junior high school, she moved to Medan, another city in Sumatra island. So far away from Gresik..our city. When I was in high school...that disaster happened.

I told by my friend who i didn't know that he knew about Vivin... He told me in our class..

Him : "Tan...you know Vivin, right?"
Me  : "Vivin...who?" (at that time...i didn't know Vivin he mentioned was my Vivin)
Him : "Resviani Soraya...."
Me  : "Ohh yes...i know... why? She is my best friend by the way"
Him : "mmm...she died"
Me  : "....... ha ha ha don't be kidding!! not funny at all..."
Him : "but i'm not kidding...my parents called me and said that..."
Me  : (start to cry)

Then I ran to my friend's class...she was vivin's neighbor before... and i asked her about this... and she said...it's true...

My heart aching... so much.

I want to know what happened...but after I asked several people, they said different things... some people said she had a car crash... some others said she had a heart attack... but some said she suicide...

I don't know what exactly happened but the truth is...I lost her...forever....

Descriptive Statistics SPSS

Ketika melakukan analisis sebuah data yang biasanya adalah data hasil survey (di bidang ku), hal pertama yang perlu dilakukan adalah melakukan perhitungan statistik yang merangkum Mean, Standard Deviation, Skewness, dan Kurtosis.

Skewness dan Kurtosis dilakukan untuk mengetahui apakah data yang didapatkan terdistribusi secara normal dan adil atau istilahnya adalah fairly normal distributed. Standar nya adalah kurang dari 2.3.

Ada banyak software yang bisa digunakan untuk mendapatkan descriptive statistic...salah satu nya adalah SPSS. Di sini aku akan menjabarkan bagaimana cara melakukannya.

1. Buka data yang sudah dimiliki

2. Klik Analyze - Descriptive Statistics - Descriptives ...

3. Masukkan variabel yang akan di tes ke dalam kolom kanan.

4. Klik Options... lalu pilih apa saja yang ingin diketahui dari data...untuk tutorial ini contohnya adalah Mean, Standard Deviation, Kurtosis, dan Skewness...Lalu klik Continue...

5. Tidak perlu dilakukan Bootstrap jika hanya ingin data standar...Lalu Klik OK

6. Akan muncul Output window seperti gambar di bawah yang menjelaskan tentang descriptive statistics variable yang dianalisis...

Seperti yang tertera pada output window, skewness dan kurtosis data ada di bawah nilai 2.3 yang mengindikan bahwa data hasil survey fairly normal distributed atau distribusi nya normal dan adil sehingga bisa dilakukan analisis lanjutan...

Semoga bermanfaat...jika ada pertanyaan... please ask me anytime and I am happy to help you ^o^

Contoh Surat Rekomendasi or Letter of Recommendation

Biasanya yang nyari tentang contoh surat rekomendasi adalah yang mau kuliah S2 / S3... karena emang ga bisa dipungkiri sebagian besar universitas memiliki persyaratan pendaftaransurat rekomendasi oleh dosen atau siapapun mengenai diri pelamar.

Okay...so, pertanyaan pertama... "Siapa yang perlu aku mintain surat rekomendasi ya?"
Jawabannya...
Dosen yang paling dekat dengan kita saat di bangku kuliah S1 (untuk yang mau S2) atau S2 (untuk yang mau S3)... kenapa? karena mereka yang paling mengerti tentang akademis kita sejak awal kita menginjak kampus itu...dan dia bisa memberikan kalimat yang bagus untuk sura rekomendasi kita.
Professor di jurusan adalah seorang yang bagus untuk dimintain...karena biasanya kampus tujuan akan mencari nama pemberi rekomendasi atau bahkan mengontak mereka. Semakin tinggi jabatannya atau semakin banyak research yang menghasilkan paper, kemungkinan diterima akan tinggi.

Pertanyaan kedua... "Isinya seperti apa?"
Setelah aku googling dan searching (sama aja ya? :p) ada beberapa hal yang bisa dijadikan patokan...Biasanya kalo kita minta ke seseorang, dia akan menjawab "kamu bikin draft nya ya...nanti saya edit". Nah ini nih yang repot...apa yang mau kita tulis? -.-" dan jawabannya adalah.... BE PROUD OF YOURSELF a.k. Narsis dipersilahkan... hahaha
Surat rekomendasi itu pastinya merekomendasikan kita buat masuk k erguruan tinggi tertentu...dan supaya diterima, isinya yang baik-baik doank donk... nah baik-baik ini yang kayak gimana? Silahkan nge-bluff tapi ga boleh bohong!!
Contoh : Intan adalah seorang mahasiswa yang pandai dan mengikuti berbagai organisasi. Dia juga pernah meraih juara A dan B. Dia juga aktif di Lab C dimana saya menjadi koordinator.
Itu kenyataan...dilarang bohong!! kalau bohong trus dikonfirmasi ternyata salah...Anda sendiri yang salah.hohoho

Pertanyaan ketiga... "contohnya ada ga?"
Ada donk... silahkan dicek... ^o^

Letter of Recommendation

Attestation to: Ms. Lala

To Whom It May Concern

I am proud to recommend a good student, Lala De Lopez, for PhD program in Department of Cooking Ohlala University.  I was asked to write as one who has functioned in capacity of Dean of Cafetaria Engineering Ohlala University, but I would first like to say a few words about her as a student.

lala is an extraordinary young woman.  I know her since 1990 when she was born. I have seen many examples of her talent and have long been impressed by her diligence and work ethic. I understand that Lala is applying to PhD Program in the Department of Cooking at Ohlala University. I would like to recommend her for admission.

She has been assisting as research assistant in Cake Laboratory since 2010. She performed it very well. She also joined several organizations in here, such as Cooking Demo Organization and How to Cook Well. 

According to her excellent performance and her skills, I believe that she could succeed in her study. I strongly recommend Lala for post-graduate studies toward doctoral degree at Ohlala University. If I can be of any further assistance, or provide you with any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Oklahoma, November 27^th, 2013

  

Lupos D'pont

Dean of Cafetaria Engineering

Ohlala University

Email: lupos@gmail.com

So...that's the example... bagaimana menurutmu? Semoga bermanfaat... if you have anything to ask, please let me know... ^o^

Why Ph.D ? Is Master degree not enough?

Actually...now I have to make a preparation to apply in several universities in Taiwan and Japan for my Ph.D degree... sounds waow right? but actually i do this because i wanna be a lecturer and change the next generation to a better generation when I come back to Indonesia. 

Several people asked me... "why? don't you wanna have fun before PhD? is Master degree not enough for you?" and i said.... 

NO. 

I'm thirsty of education and as long as I have opportunity to go out of Indonesia to steal other race education, I will do it.

I'm still young. even someday I'll get married, it's ok...i will do it... 

Even if someday I'm just being a housewife...i will still do it. why?

Because I will teach my child with different methods...what do you think if they teach by Doctor since they born? not only when they're in university? the result will be very different...

I want to learn as many as I can... not only my degree education a.k. computer science or information management... but also Life education.

Live in different countries will make your life different... you will learn how to live with different language and culture...that's LIFE education.

when someone asked me... don't you wanna take a rest first after you had your Master? and I said...

I don't think I wanna take a rest...

Because I've ever done that before when I graduate from Bachelor degree and have 6 months worked in Jakarta. After that, I realize...my brain become ice. 

I forgot many kind of thing teacher said to me when I was in school... I don't want that happened again...

another friend ask me... why in other country? don't you think Indonesia is not good enough for you? and I said...

Hmm... if I said Indonesia is good enough for me...it's lie.

Indonesia have very good universities... but, what I wanna do is not going to those universities and learn...

But, I wanna STEAL other countries' education and I will bring back what I've got to universities in Indonesia, so they will be better more than now....

another friend of mine ask me... Ph.D is very difficult and no one can guarantee your graduation...don't you afraid? and I said...

Afraid...not really. :Like they said, no one can guarantee my graduation when I have my PhD because PhD studnts need to submit several amount of journal and it's not easy and of course take a long time.... but no one know what will I had right?

I just say...I will do my best. I will graduate in 3 years. insyaAllah... and I'm not afraid...