Empirical Evidence to Support the Measurement of Sense of Belonging in Graduate Students

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Assessing Sociopsychological Student Experiences in Higher Education (Table 5)

Abstract

This paper investigated empirical psychometric evidence to support the interpretation and use of a Sense of Belonging measure for graduate students. We conducted secondary data analysis using data from the 2021 GradSERU survey. We found that there is evidence for the underlying factor structure of SoB that identifies a single latent trait amongst 12 survey items. Furthermore, there is weak to strong evidence that SoB is associated with internal and external factors such as mental distress and program satisfaction. Our results expand on graduate students’ sense of belonging and can inform the decisions that researchers and administrators make with respect to graduate education and graduate student success.

Authors

• Tai Tri Do, University of Minnesota
  Presenting Author

• Carlos Chavez, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rik Lamm, Bloomington Public Schools
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael C. Rodriguez, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author