Psychometric Properties of Three Scales Designed to Assess Attitudes and Beliefs toward Interdisciplinary Research and Team Factors

Research Objectives: Examine the reliability and construct validity of three scales designed to assess researchers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding interdisciplinary (ID) research and team factors.

Design: We sampled faculty eligible for ID grants at a research-intensive public university. We utilized Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the scales’ validity and reliability.

Setting: Online survey.

Participants: 345 faculty eligible for university ID grants (2018 - 2020); 6% applied as a principal investigator (PI); 24% not applied. Among PIs who applied, 73% were funded, and 27% were not.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: ID Gains (Non-PIs’ beliefs about ID research outcomes), PI Perceptions of Challenges (PIs’ barriers conducting ID research), and Non-PI Perceptions about PIs (Non-PIs’ beliefs about PIs leading their teams). We also assessed demographics and grant funding experience.

Results: Cronbach's alpha for the three scales were: 0.90 for ID Gains, 0.95 for PI Perceptions of Challenges, and 0.97 for Non-PI Perceptions about PIs. EFA results revealed a two-factor solution for the ID Gains scale: Factor 1 - ID collaboration opportunities and benefits; Factor 2 - ID collaboration enjoyment. The PI Perceptions of Challenges scale resulted in a two-factor solution: Factor 1 - communication and team dynamics challenges; Factor 2 - scientific and publication challenges. The Non-PI Perceptions about PIs scale resulted in a one-factor solution. Model fit indexes indicated good fits for all scales: ID Gains (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA]= 0.05, Comparative Fit Index [CFI]= 0.99, Tucker–Lewis Index [TLI]= 0.99, Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual [SRMR]= 0.03); PI perceptions of challenges (RMSEA= 0.13, CFI= 0.94, TLI= 0.92, SRMR=0.05); Non-PI Perceptions about PIs (RMSEA= 0.20, CFI= 0.95, TLI= 0.91, SRMR= 0.04).

Conclusions: Scales demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability for assessing researchers’ attitudes and beliefs towards ID research and team factors. These scales contribute to ID research toolkits. Future research may apply them to study ID research in rehabilitation.

Author(s) Disclosures: None disclosed