A brief validity report for the instructor strictness scales: relationships with instructor communication styles

ABSTRACT

Researchers have begun using strictness as a framework for better understanding the communicative nature of classroom enforcement strategies. In pursuit of operationalizing this construct, the purpose of this study was to provide extended validity evidence for the Evaluative, Regulatory, and Interactive instructor strictness scales through hypothesized relationships with different instructor communication styles: perceived instructor verbal aggressiveness, assertiveness, and responsiveness. Analyses revealed that the strictness subdimensions were positively related to verbal aggressiveness and assertiveness and inversely related to instructor responsiveness. However, on three occasions, students’ reports of strictness related to Norms, Availability, and Testing were not significantly related to assertiveness. Implications for the future study of instructor strictness using the proposed scales are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• strictness
• flexibility
• verbal aggressiveness
• instructor style

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Nick Tatum for the time he spent helping to prepare this article for submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See https://osf.io/u4cfd/?view_only=61141c6d175c49c6a9e1cf5d91fb8339 for a more detailed statement of transparency.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

T. Kody Frey

T. Kody Frey (Ph.D., University of Kentucky, 2019) is an assistant professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on applied and instructional communication primarily within the context of classrooms and higher education. Specifically, his interests revolve around communicative adjustment, classroom policies and procedures, instructional technologies, and innovative assessment techniques