Measuring Advisor Relationship Perceptions Among First-Year Students at a Small Midwestern University
In this article, I report on the development and validation of a new survey instrument measuring first-year students' perceptions of the advising relationship. I collected survey data from 113 residential freshmen enrolled in a first-year seminar course at a small, public, midwestern university during the fall of 2009. Factor analysis of students' responses to the survey revealed three key components of the advising relationships: advisor concern, advisor contact, and advising relationship quality. Internal consistency of students' responses to questions loading on each factor, as measured with Cronbach's a, ranged from .89 to. 93, and the internal consistency for all survey items was .95. The article concludes with a revised version of the questionnaire as a basis for future replication studies.
Contributor Notes
Kristi Bitz is currently employed with the Bismarck, North Dakota Public School District, teaches adjunct for the University of Mary, Bismarck, and is completing her doctorate in teaching and learning at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND. Her research interests include first-year experience and academic advising. She can be reached at kristibitz@gmail.com. While completing this project she was employed at Mayville State University, Mayville, North Dakota.
She would like to extend thanks to Steven LeMire, University of North Dakota, Joe Cuseo, Marymount College, and Ray Gerszewski, Paul Kincs, Mark Skean, and the first-year seminar course instructors at Mayville State University for their contributions to this manuscript.
