Higher Education Quality Indicators: A Scale Development Study

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop a Likert-type scale aimed at determining how quality indicators in higher education are perceived by faculty members. A pilot study of the research was conducted with the participation of 390 faculty members. As a result of the factor analysis applied to test the construct validity of the 67-item draft scale, a measurement tool consisting of 9 dimensions and 49 items was developed. The first dimension is named Education and Instruction, the second is Structure of the University, the third is Socio-Cultural Opportunities, the fourth is Internationalization, the fifth is Economic Opportunities, the sixth is Student Requirements, the seventh is Accreditation, the eighth is Preferability, and the ninth is Technological Competence. The overall Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale has been calculated as 0.96. Additionally, as a result of the independent groups t-test for the reliability of the scale, it has been determined that items and factors are distinctive between the lower and upper 27% groups; the item-total and item-remainder correlation values are significant. Correlation coefficients between factors and the test-retest correlation coefficient for the entire scale have been found significant. Based on the conducted analyses, the validity and reliability of the scale have been established. The scale has been named the Higher Education Quality Indicators: Faculty Member Scale (HEQIFMS).