Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument

High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines are an ongoing problem. Graduate student attrition, in particular, is understudied. Most past studies have focused on students’ attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Emerging results f...

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Autores principales:	Diana Sachmpazidi, Charles Henderson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2021
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b1d3475369e34183b2230f0c09fc0890
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b1d3475369e34183b2230f0c09fc08902021-12-02T14:02:00ZDepartmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.0101232469-9896https://doaj.org/article/b1d3475369e34183b2230f0c09fc08902021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010123http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010123https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines are an ongoing problem. Graduate student attrition, in particular, is understudied. Most past studies have focused on students’ attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Emerging results from the implementation of the American Physical Society Bridge Program (APSBP) suggest that departmental support structures could lead to increased retention. However, there are no validated instruments to measure students’ experience of the departmental support structures. This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the aspects of student experience scale (ASES). Items were developed based on prior literature and the APSBP recommendations, revised based on APSBP feedback, and subjected to psychometric evaluation. Principal components analysis of data from 397 students at 19 physics graduate programs (2 M.S. and 17 Ph.D.) across the U.S. resulted in four distinct factors: (a) mentoring and research experience, (b) professional development, (c) social and academic integration, and (d) financial support. ASES meets the standard criteria for divergent validity, discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Results of students’ ASES response ratings are discussed, along with comparisons between students enrolled at APSBP and non-APSBP affiliated graduate programs. On average, we find that physics graduate students experience adequate mentoring and financial support; however, they report experiencing limited social and academic integration and a lack of professional development. We also find that students in APSBP affiliated programs report better experiences on all four factors than students in non-APSBP affiliated programs, with higher differences in social and academic integration and financial support. This study is a starting point for the refinement process of this instrument.Diana SachmpazidiCharles HendersonAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 17, Iss 1, p 010123 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Diana Sachmpazidi Charles Henderson Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
description	High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines are an ongoing problem. Graduate student attrition, in particular, is understudied. Most past studies have focused on students’ attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Emerging results from the implementation of the American Physical Society Bridge Program (APSBP) suggest that departmental support structures could lead to increased retention. However, there are no validated instruments to measure students’ experience of the departmental support structures. This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the aspects of student experience scale (ASES). Items were developed based on prior literature and the APSBP recommendations, revised based on APSBP feedback, and subjected to psychometric evaluation. Principal components analysis of data from 397 students at 19 physics graduate programs (2 M.S. and 17 Ph.D.) across the U.S. resulted in four distinct factors: (a) mentoring and research experience, (b) professional development, (c) social and academic integration, and (d) financial support. ASES meets the standard criteria for divergent validity, discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Results of students’ ASES response ratings are discussed, along with comparisons between students enrolled at APSBP and non-APSBP affiliated graduate programs. On average, we find that physics graduate students experience adequate mentoring and financial support; however, they report experiencing limited social and academic integration and a lack of professional development. We also find that students in APSBP affiliated programs report better experiences on all four factors than students in non-APSBP affiliated programs, with higher differences in social and academic integration and financial support. This study is a starting point for the refinement process of this instrument.
format	article
author	Diana Sachmpazidi Charles Henderson
author_facet	Diana Sachmpazidi Charles Henderson
author_sort	Diana Sachmpazidi
title	Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
title_short	Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
title_full	Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
title_fullStr	Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
title_full_unstemmed	Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
title_sort	departmental support structures for physics graduate students: development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b1d3475369e34183b2230f0c09fc0890
work_keys_str_mv	AT dianasachmpazidi departmentalsupportstructuresforphysicsgraduatestudentsdevelopmentandpsychometricevaluationofaselfreportinstrument AT charleshenderson departmentalsupportstructuresforphysicsgraduatestudentsdevelopmentandpsychometricevaluationofaselfreportinstrument
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Departmental support structures for physics graduate students: Development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report instrument

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