Validating a creative teaching inventory: A mixed method approach to construct validity

Abstract

Creative pedagogies are increasingly important as the demand for a creative workforce grows. However, there are limited measures of creative pedagogy. One such measure is The Inventory of Teaching Practices in Higher Education. Only one study has been published examining its factor structure when used with undergraduate students. The present study aims to further investigate its construct validity using a convergent mixed methods design. We recruited students (n = 268) from a private university in Texas and administered a modified version of the inventory, with items from each factor presented together followed by two open ended items asking for them to first define and then give an example of each factor. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the original four factor structure (CFI = 0.991; TLI = 0.990; RMSEA = 0.055; SRMR = 0.070). Thematic analysis of the open-ended responses revealed low alignment for factor one and four between participants conceptualization of the factor and the original factor conceptualization. Our conceptualization, based on participants’ perceptions, offers a broader definition of the factors applying the concept of pedagogical convergence. There was moderate to strong alignment between our conceptualization and the original conceptualization of factors two and three. Integration of the quantitative and qualitative findings reveal evidence for the inclusion of each item on its respective factor as each item was represented by at least one subtheme from the thematic analysis. This study demonstrates that mixed methods designs can strengthen structural and construct validation studies.