Evaluation of a Questionnaire Measuring University Students' Sense of Belonging to and Involvement in a Biology Department

Eva Knekta, Kyriaki Chatzikyriakidou, Melissa McCartney, Eva Knekta, Kyriaki Chatzikyriakidou, Melissa McCartney

Abstract

Sense of belonging and involvement has shown to be positively associated with academic achievement and retention. We argue that a focus on sense of belonging and involvement specifically at the departmental level is valuable, yet rarely discussed in the literature. In this article, we describe the development and evaluation of a questionnaire measuring university students' sense of belonging to and involvement in their "home" department (biology). The questionnaire was named the DeSBI questionnaire (Departmental Sense of Belonging and Involvement) and was administered to students attending an R1 university in the southeastern United States during Spring 2018 (n = 201) and Fall 2018 (n = 737) semesters. Factor analysis indicated a three-factor solution: one factor consisting of five items representing sense of belonging: valued competence; a second factor consisting of six items representing sense of belonging: social acceptance; and a third factor consisting of nine involvement items. Analysis of variance showed significant differences in all subscales between students included in a special biology program, biology majors, and non-biology majors. The study findings support the use of the instrument for measuring biology students' sense of belonging to and involvement in their biology department.

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Results from the final three-factor CFA model. Questionnaire items (for items descriptions, see Table 2) are represented by squares, and factors are represented by ovals. The numbers below the double-headed arrows represent correlations between the factors; the numbers by the unidirectional arrows between the factors and the items represent standardized factor loadings. Small arrows indicate error terms. p < 0.001 for all estimates.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Subscale mean scale scores among student groups. Asterisks (*) indicate significant statistical differences found using ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test: **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

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