Volunteering for Research: A Test of the Psychometric Properties of the Volunteer Functions Inventory with Online Panellists.

The article focuses on a study which examined the motivations of research participants in joining a voluntary online panel. Motivations for volunteering under the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) include values, social, career, understanding, enhancement and protective. There are 30 items included in the VFI, which has been used in a variety of volunteering situations. A web-based, self-reported survey data from a sample of members belonging to an Australian online panel was used in this study. Results of the study showed a lack of statistical significance in the relationship between the latent variables Protective and Value Expressiveness. It also found that the first-order structure of the VFI has a stronger solution than second-order models.