Design and validate the Employer-Employee-Supported Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (2ES-CTDI) for undergraduates

Liu, Yong and Pásztor, Attila (2022) Design and validate the Employer-Employee-Supported Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (2ES-CTDI) for undergraduates. THINKING SKILLS AND CREATIVITY, 46. ISSN 1871-1871

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Abstract

Even though the framework of critical thinking (CT) comprises both skills and disposition, many studies have placed more emphasis on evaluating CT skills than disposition, probably because of the paucity of disposition instruments. On the contrary, CT disposition (CTD) is more frequently mentioned in the workforce than CT skills. Furthermore, prevalent disposition instruments are mostly based on the literature and suggestions from educators, rather than employers’ or employees’ perspectives. The purpose of this study is to design and validate the Employer-EmployeeSupported Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (2ES-CTDI) for college students to evaluate CTD. Intelligence accumulation (IA) was employed to synthesize the ideas from the literature, 25 employers, 43 employees, and a seven-person expert group. The interpretative structural model (ISM) was used to build the potential inventory. Validation data were collected from 661 Chinese undergraduate students (328 males, 49.6 %, Mean = 19.22, SD = 1.20 and 333 females, 50.4 %, Mean = 19.91, SD = 1.23) in 2021. Explorative factor analysis (EFA) was conducted for consistency between the conceptual framework and data. Confirmative factor analysis (CFA) and the common method variance (CMV) were adopted to check the model fit and structural validity. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to identify the mediating effects among CTD components, and item response theory (IRT) was utilized to evaluate the test endorsement and item discrimination. Finally, a three-factor seven-point CT disposition inventory was confirmed. This newly-developed scale can be used to assess college students’ CTD as expected by the job market. While the inventory has been validated in this study, its contents are limited to intelligence obtained from the participants from some Chinese job markets. Further validations need to be carried out and implications for wider applications need to be considered.

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