Towards valid and reliable measurement of sustainability knowledge

Abstract

As sustainability is increasingly integrated into higher education, being able to assess the level of learners’ sustainability-related knowledge is critical to understand where potential gaps are and how curricula can be (re)designed to foster higher levels of attainment. Research on measuring knowledge of sustainability is sparse due to the contested nature of the construct and the lack of valid and reliable measurement tools. In this research, we aim to address these barriers. We consider how different conceptualizations of sustainability could lead to different manifestations of the latent construct and thematic structure of measurement tools. We introduce The Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge (TASK) which employs an “embedded” conceptualization of sustainability to measure the knowledge of the interrelatedness of ecological and social systems (of which economic systems are embedded). Regarding the reliability of sustainability knowledge measurement tools, we posit that the assumption of unidimensionality should be rejected, given the interrelatedness of sustainability as a concept. We describe the use of Multidimensional Item Response Theory employed in TASK and demonstrate the strong psychometric properties such an approach offers. We contribute novel insights regarding sustainability knowledge assessments garnished through developing and piloting TASK to further theoretical and practical discussions of sustainability knowledge assessments.