Abstract
BackgroundEducators today have to be able to make current empirical research results usable for everyday practice. Consequently, there are increasing endeavors to develop and assess competencies in consuming empirical research (CCER) on an academic level. However, problems with regard to recruiting and motivating test participants—rooted in the prevalence of low-stakes testing conditions—could limit confidence in the validity of the findings. The current study presents a structure and proficiency level modeling for CCER under high-stakes conditions.MethodThe sample comprises N = 155 bachelor students of Human Resource Education and Management. The assessment design of the 26 items complied with demanding standards for designing tests (such as Evidence-Centered Design and authenticity).ResultsThe results are as follows: (1) We were able to confirm our expected structural model which consists of two dimensions (‘conceptual competencies’ and ‘statistical competencies’) instead of one overarching dimension. (2) The test items are of a high quality. (3) Three levels of CCER could be defined according to two task characteristics (cognitive processes and complexity) which explain nearly 100% of the prospective educators’ CCER abilities.ConclusionThe results of the study show that we succeeded in designing a reliable and valid test instrument for assessing (prospective) VET-educators’ competencies in consuming empirical research.
Highlights
Educators today have to be able to make current empirical research results usable for everyday practice
Research questions We addressed the following three research questions (RQs), which were derived from the presented theoretical explanations: RQ 1 (Structural model): Are the two theoretically modeled dimensions of consuming empirical research (CCER) empirically distinguishable? RQ 2 (Quality of the test instrument): Do the empirical quality measures concerning the performance test instrument indicate: RQ 2a) ... that the central Rasch-modeling assumption of equal discriminability regarding all test items is met? RQ 2b) ... that the test items allow a reliable and valid measurement of CCER? RQ 3 (Level model): Which levels of CCER can be defined by task characteristics that significantly determine the item difficulty?
To provide a generalizable evaluation of prospective vocational education and training (VET)-educators’ CCER, it would be interesting to analyze how the test participants perform in CCER follow-up tests
Summary
Educators today have to be able to make current empirical research results usable for everyday practice. There are increasing endeavors to develop and assess competencies in consuming empirical research (CCER) on an academic level. The current study presents a structure and proficiency level modeling for CCER under high-stakes conditions. Conclusion: The results of the study show that we succeeded in designing a reliable and valid test instrument for assessing (prospective) VET-educators’ competencies in consuming empirical research. Educators too have to be familiar with principles of empirical research in so far as they are able to reflect and to Wiethe‐Körprich and Bley Empirical Res Voc Ed Train (2017) 9:8 critically question the findings of scientific research. The sector of science benefits if the latest research results are applied in economic practice. Slavin provides a pithy summary of the situation: Educators need to be sophisticated consumers of research, regardless of whether they are producers of research (2007, p. 2)
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