Development and validation of the groupwork skills questionnaire (GSQ) for higher education

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to develop and provide psychometric evidence in support of the groupwork skills questionnaire (GSQ) for measuring task and interpersonal groupwork skills. A 46-item version of the GSQ was initially completed by 672 university students. The number of items was reduced to 15 following exploratory factor analyses, and a two-factor model consisting of task and interpersonal groupwork skills was revealed. Confirmatory factor analyses with model re-specification on new data (n = 275 students) established that the best fitting model consisted of 10 items and the same two factors (task and interpersonal). Concurrent validity of the GSQ was then determined with 145 participants by demonstrating significant relationships (p < 0.05) with attitudes towards groupwork and groupwork self-efficacy. Test–retest reliability was examined over a one-week interval. Overall, the GSQ demonstrates good validity and reliability, and has potential for both research and pedagogical application.

Keywords:

• collaborative learning
• groupwork
• higher education
• reliability
• self-assessment

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Chloe Arnold, Jessica Fawcett, Daniel Kelly, Orie Lawrence, Joseph Marsh, Emily Novakovic and Claire Owen for their assistance with either the data collection and/or data entry.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The development of the Groupwork Skills Questionnaire was supported by a research grants to the Birmingham Evaluating Skills Transfer (BEST) Project from the Centre for Learning and Academic Development (CLAD), the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, and University Sport Birmingham at the University of Birmingham, and the Higher Education Academy.