Assessing structure and level of virtue in the Chinese “Code” for moral education: bifactor model and item response theory analysis

The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the structure or dimensionality of the official Chinese Code for Primary and Secondary-School Students as well as the “moral-character salience level” that the 35 Code items assess. Although the Code can be perceived as a major aspirational behavior document for students to follow, no previous evidence has analyzed the structure of the Code instrument and what level of moral character the Code items are likely to assess. Such a lack of psychometric analysis hinders the effective discussion and communication of the Code in the moral-education literature, nationally and internationally. Based on factor and bifactor models, our findings demonstrated that the 35 Code items do have a unidimensional structure, dominated with a general factor, and reveal the salience level of the items, which could offer practical implications for a potential revision of the Code. We also relate our discussion to the structural analysis of the positive psychological VIA-instruments, in order to advance cross-cultural dialogue on measures of Chinese and Western moral education.