Research Paper: Development and Validation of a Depoliticization in Engineering Scale.

The ideology of depoliticization in engineering refers to the pervasive belief that engineering work is technical, should be carried out objectively, and should be devoid of social bias. This research paper offers a description of the development and validation of a survey instrument measuring the degree to which students believe in the ideology of depoliticization in engineering, a first step in understanding the role this ideology plays in teaching and learning, marginalization, and exclusion in engineering. I begin by describing the development of survey items related to the ideology of depoliticization in engineering. I also describe the process of establishing various forms of validity in survey design. During the scale validation process, 162 first- and second-year engineering students at a large, Midwestern research intensive institution completed online versions of the Depoliticization in Engineering scale. I used confirmatory factor analysis to establish construct validity for the scale. Results from the quantitative analysis indicate excellent model fit and offer support for the validity of the Depoliticization in Engineering instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]