An Exploratory Factor Analysis of an Open-Access Virtual “Privilege Walk” Instrument

Abstract

A virtual “privilege walk” is an interactive survey that helps a respondent consider the role of unfair advantage in social relationships and where he or she stands in relation to social power based on family life, access to resources, social positioning and embodiment, and other factors. In 2014, at Kansas State University, an open-access virtual privilege walk was created to align with the launch of a graduate social justice certificate program. This chapter explores that privilege walk instrument through (1) a computational text analysis, (2) descriptive statistics around the responses to the instrument, and (3) an exploratory factor analysis (based on three years of anonymous data) to see how well the underlying factors align with the intended factors and to find directions for improving the instrument.