Measuring Campus Racial Climate: A New Framework

• In Event: Measuring Campus Racial Climate: A Collective Effort to Address Campus Racial Equity Gaps

Abstract

Objectives: Every week, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and other news outlets report on racial indicants on campuses across the United States. The goal of the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climate (NACCC) is to help leaders in higher education better understand and more strategically address campus racial problems on campus before they escalate to crises. This paper will explain why we created the NACCC survey, how campus racial climate was measured, and the rigorous validation methods being conducted to ensure the survey quality.

Perspectives: Racism is a complex structure, not an individual event. The survey was designed to include items that measure the different aspects of students’ racial experience on campus. The NACCC survey content is based on more than a decade of the USC Race and Equity Center’s qualitative climate studies at colleges and universities across the country. In addition, a content team, comprised of race, equity, and inclusion experts from across the United States, convened to identify the most salient survey content areas and questions in the field of campus racial climate today.

The NACCC includes the following six content areas essential to measure racial climate on campus: mattering and affirmation, cross-racial engagement, encounters with racial stress, racial learning and literacy, appraisals of institutional commitment, and impact of external environment. The six content areas elicit perspectives from undergraduates on the ways in which they experience the campus racial climate.

Development and Validation of the Instrument: We developed our scale by adapting the processes of DeVellis (2012) and Gehlbach & Brinkworth (2011). Firstly, we drafted a preliminary set of items to measure the content areas listed earlier, using best practices from the survey-development literature (DeVellis, 2012; Tourangeau, Rips, & Raskinski, 2004). With the item pool, our research team conducted more than 60 one-on-one cognitive interviews (Willis, 2005). Interviewees were recruited nationwide from the relevant target population (i.e., undergraduate students in 2-year and 4-year institutions). In these interviews, students completed the NACCC and thought aloud as they progressed through the survey (Willis, 2005). By analyzing the questions asked by respondents as well as any comments or confusion they expressed, the team substantially improved the NACCC content areas, clarity of the survey questions, terminology, and response options, as well as the overall usability of the survey.

Next, we conducted an online pilot using the revised item pool with the participation of a select set of community colleges and 4-year institutions. Pilot testing was to ensure that the NACCC consists of survey questions that gather quality (valid and reliable) data through a secure data collection process on campuses. Pilot testing also allowed for the refinement of the survey questions as well as improvements to the utility of the survey results for campus administrators.

Significance: With the NACCC, higher education leaders are able to know whether, where, and how students might be experiencing racism. Campuses can also use NACCC data to frame important conversations about race and to guide strategic planning for achieving racial equity.

Authors

• Ya-Chi Hung, University of Southern California

• Shaun R. Harper, University of Southern California