Reliability and Validity of Measuring Instruments of Inclusive Practice in Higher Education

Abstract

Previous studies on students with special educational needs (SEN) focused on primary and secondary schools. As more and more students with SEN pursue their study at tertiary level, a set of measures that evaluate students’ psychosocial adjustment to inclusive settings of higher education is necessitated. This study investigated the reliability and validity of five measures that are applicable to assessing experience of students with and without SEN in inclusive settings of higher education. These measures included: (i) Core Values of Inclusive Education, (ii) Attitude towards Inclusive Education, (iii) Interaction with People with disabilities, (iv) Perception of Inclusion Questionnaire, and (v) Academic Motivation Scale. With references to literature specifying the minimum sample size of testing reliability and validity, a total of 90 students (mean age = 21.3 years, 70% males) of higher education were recruited for the present study. The data indicated that the five measures were of satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s  = .70 to .96). Content Validity Index ranged from .86 to 1.00. Construct validity was demonstrated by the expected moderate relationship between the measuring instruments and the criterion variables (p < .05). The psychometric properties of the five measuring instruments for inclusive practice in higher education were confirmed. Limitations of this study were considered and future studies suggested.