A brief validity report for the instructor strictness scales: relationships with instructor communication styles

Abstract

ABSTRACT Researchers have begun using strictness as a framework for better understanding the communicative nature of classroom enforcement strategies. In pursuit of operationalizing this construct, the purpose of this study was to provide extended validity evidence for the Evaluative, Regulatory, and Interactive instructor strictness scales through hypothesized relationships with different instructor communication styles: perceived instructor verbal aggressiveness, assertiveness, and responsiveness. Analyses revealed that the strictness subdimensions were positively related to verbal aggressiveness and assertiveness and inversely related to instructor responsiveness. However, on three occasions, students’ reports of strictness related to Norms, Availability, and Testing were not significantly related to assertiveness. Implications for the future study of instructor strictness using the proposed scales are discussed.