Reliability and validity of the Graduate Student Behaviors Inventory (GSBI)

The purpose of the current study was the generation of an instrument to measure graduate degree-seeking behaviors. Goals included the establishment of strong psychometric properties through evidence of face validity, construct validity, discriminant and convergent validity, and predictive validity. Additionally, a goal of the study was to establish an instrument with good internal consistency reliability of the subscales. Analysis of the data with 247 graduate students at a large MidWestern University and a response rate of approximately 16% indicated stong validity of the Graduate Student Behaviors Inventory (GSBI). Cronbach's alphas for the subscales ranged from 0.58 to 0.95 indicating moderate to high reliability for the instrument. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated strong construct, discriminant and convergent validity evidence. Further, Structural Equation Modeling suggested predictive validity of Psychological factor indicators for students' satisfaction with their graduate program experiences. Suggestions include providing interim measures of students' emotional attributes of the graduate degree program each semester in order to gauge their intent to persist with the degree.