ERIC Number: EJ1305118
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0307-5079
EISSN: N/A
Professional Competencies in Engineering: Examining Validity and Measurement Invariance of a Scale
Studies in Higher Education, v46 n8 p1714-1725 2021
This study aimed to validate the factor structure of professional competencies in engineering and test the measurement invariance of these competencies across gender. Through a cross-sectional survey, 552 senior undergraduate students (287 males) responded to a 24-item professional competencies scale. The professional competencies included five dimensions, namely knowledge and reasoning of technical and engineering; personal skills and attitudes; professional and ethical skills and attitudes; interpersonal skills and attitudes; and skills of developing system, product, or process. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded that five-factor structure of professional competencies fitted to the data more suitably than the one-factor structure. Results supported the reliability and validity of all the subscales assessing professional competencies. Tests for measurement invariance of the five factors provided support for configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender. Overall, the obtained factor structure provided evidence in support of the comparability of the model between male and female students.
Descriptors: Minimum Competencies, Technical Occupations, Engineering Education, Undergraduate Students, Test Validity, Test Reliability, Factor Structure, Measures (Individuals), Gender Differences, Job Skills, Soft Skills, Thinking Skills, Ethics, Professionalism, Error of Measurement, Public Colleges, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A