Measuring the quality of collaborative group engagement: Development and validation of the QCGE self-assessment scale (QCGE-SAS)

Abstract Quality of collaborative group engagement (QCGE) is conceptualised as a complex, shared, and multidimensional construct critical to learning outcomes in collaborative learning. It is currently measured in a variety of ways, including rich observation-based methods. However, a standardised self-assessment method for the construct of QCGE has not yet been developed. This contribution presents a pragmatic self-assessment approach to QCGE for higher education contexts and a new self-assessment scale: the QCGE-SAS. Our findings from a study with N = 246 students support the four-factor structure of QCGE originally proposed by Sinha et al. (2015), namely behavioural, social, cognitive, and conceptual-to-consequential collaborative group engagement, and demonstrate that the QCGE-SAS can successfully capture the multidimensional nature of QCGE. Construct and criterion validity were supported by significant correlations with related scales and with self-reported and objective learning outcomes. However, while three subscales proved reliable, the social engagement dimension subscale showed unsatisfactory reliability, indicating further refinement of the scale in future research. Overall, our findings contribute to an accurate operationalisation of the QCGE construct and complement existing methods and comprehensive multi-method approaches to measuring QCGE, thereby informing CSCL research and practice.