I have a question on a survey that asks students how useful a feature of the software was that they used for learning. I then have three questions that assess in what way the feature was useful. The measures use a 7-point Likert scale from Very Strongly Disagree to Very Strongly Agree:
The [[feature]]
...was useful for learning overall
...helped me to mentally organize the structure of the content.
...enabled me to control my learning pace
...made it easy for me to find the content I needed
The question I'm trying to answer is "If the feature was useful, in what way was it useful?"
I'm wondering what kind of statistical tools can be used to do this. Could a covariance matrix determine this sufficiently? Could I compute Cronbach's alpha for each question paired with the first question? I have also come across Confirmatory Factor Analysis, but I don't yet understand it well enough to know if it is an applicable tool.
I'm new to stats so I'm just looking for a pointer in the right direction.
Edit: If it makes a difference, it is a within-subjects experiment where the student has used the software both with and without the feature.
