Psychometric study of a questionnaire for the assessment of factors associated with the choice of degrees and universities in the Spanish public system

Abstract

Many different factors are taken into account by students when choosing a degree and University. Some of these are general considerations, such as the quality of the degree course, ratio of available places and places in the degree course chosen as first choice, cut-off mark, etc. Others are subjective factors, such as friends studying the same degree or studying in the same university, etc. Knowledge of these factors and the importance given to them by students can provide a competitive advantage when carrying out activities aimed at advertising and attracting students. This paper presents a psychometric study of a questionnaire that has been developed to assess variables relating to social and personal aspects involved in the selection process and accessing the Spanish public university system. The questionnaire was evaluated by means of a pilot test, the results of which were used to generate a final scale, which was administered to a total of 1532 students from eight Spanish universities. These students can be divided into six major areas of training and courses from 2009-10 up to 2012-2013. All the students had recently graduated from high school and were in their first year at the university. The results showed that the reliability of the both the six factors taken into consideration (Consideration of the University; Perceived Utility; Social Impact; Vocational Aspects; Influence of Surroundings and Geographic Location) and an adjustment of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis used to estimate construct validity was high. Likewise, the results show high discrimination validity between groups defined by relevant variables such as gender or academic area of the university studies.