Assessment of students' perceptions about interdisciplinarity: Instrument validation for higher education students

Abstract

The present work shows the construction and validation (reliability and validity analysis) of a measurement instrument for the perception of interdisciplinarity in higher education students. A total of 279 students enrolled in a second-year course from various academic programs participated in the study. The instrument consists of a survey of thirteen items graded in a Likert scale (Cronbach's alpha = 0.704), classified in three dimensions related to the perception of competences for interdisciplinarity (showing a moderated Pearson correlation for every dimension). This study contributes with a validated test to measure perceptions that students from any disciplinary field have about knowledge integration in their educative experiences. The use of this instrument supports the relevance of an interdisciplinary approach in university formation.