The Engineering Student Identity Scale: A Structural Validity Evidence Study
Researchers have theorized that having a strongly developed identity as an engineering student contributes to persistence within engineering. Even so, there are no empirically supported measures of engineering student identity. The purpose of this study was to provide structural validity evidence for one such measure, the Engineering Student Identity Scale (E-SIS). This paper explores findings and implications of multiple investigations into the structure of the E-SIS. The data collected in this study do not support the current interpretations of the E-SIS as a unified measure of identify with 11 subscales derived from multiple approaches to measuring identity. The results do provide important information regarding revising the E-SIS to align more with fewer subscales and to focus exclusively on items that are directly affected by identity.
Nick Curtis serves at the lead student assessment consultant to academic programs at James Madison University, providing assistance to programs in all stages of assessment including using the results for meaningful student learning improvement. He works on several cross-disciplinary teams including with Olga Pierrakos, of the JMU Engineering program and Robin Anderson, of the JMU graduate psychology program. He received his master’s and educational specialist degrees in school psychology and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Assessment and Measurement.
Robin D. Anderson serves as the Academic Unit Head for the Department of Graduate Psychology at James Madison University. She holds a doctorate in Assessment and Measurement. She previously served as the Associate Director of the Center for Assessment and Research Studies at JMU. Her areas of research include assessment practice and engineering education research.
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-8171-4862
James Madison University
[biography]
Olga Pierrakos is a Founding Faculty and Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering at James Madison University. She is currently a Program Director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education. Her expertise and interests focus on diversity and inclusion, engineer identity, problem based learning, innovative learning-centered pedagogies, assessment of student learning, engineering design, capstone design, etc. She also conducts research in cardiovascular fluid mechanics and sustainable energy technologies. She holds a BS and MS in Engineering Mechanics and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering
from Virginia Tech.
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