Convergent Validity Testing of a Value-Achievement-Cost Motivation Survey for 12th Grade Female Career and Technical Education Health Sciences Students for Use in Serious Simulation Games

Abstract

A Value-Achievement-Cost (VAC) Survey was psychometrically tested to continue to establish its predictive utility for future research with 12th grade female Career and Technical Education (CTE) health science classroom cohorts of less than 50 students. In this study, a 10-construct, 46-item VAC Survey was administered to 31 college-bound 12th grade female students who had self-selected themselves to participate in a year-long, dual enrollment, CTE health science program. The VAC Survey was used to measure student motivation associated with science in general, health sector science learning, and playing health sciences-related games. Convergent validity was established in nine of the ten constructs by comparing the Cronbach alpha coefficients of the 10-construct, 46-item VAC Survey compared to the same instrument previously tested with a similar CTE health science student cohort (n = 37). Internal consistency for these nine VAC Survey constructs were strong with Cronbach alpha coefficients between 0.80 and 0.93. This study has provided additional psychometric evidence that reinforces the VAC Survey's construct validity and internal consistency. The study further supports the predictive utility of the instrument to measure 12th grade female CTE health sciences student motivation associated with science in general, health sector science learning, and playing health sciences-related games.