Psychometric Properties of the Inventory of Student Experiences in Undergraduate Research

Abstract

Abstract Student participation in undergraduate research (ugr) may be influenced by interest in research, future career and educational plans, perceived value of undergraduate research experiences, or perceived competence in research skills. The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that could be used to validly and reliably assess students' perceived value of undergraduate research and perceived confidence in their research skills. Undergraduate student participants ranged in age from seventeen to fifty-two years. Respondents were predominantly female, white, and nonparticipants in ugr. Thirteen items were generated. The internal structure of the instrument was established by extracting two latent constructs using exploratory factor analysis. The cumulative percentage of variance explained by the constructs was approximately 55 percent. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the internal structure of the instrument. The most parsimonious model was a twelve-item, two-factor solution with adequate fit. Reliability estimates were generally above 0.80. Initial assessment of the psychometric properties of the Inventory of Student Experiences in Undergraduate Research suggests that it may be a viable tool for undergraduate research programs to use in assessing the results of efforts to increase the value of ugr as well as student confidence in their own research skills.