Abstract

Objective: One of the primary aims of postgraduate education is to enhance the quality of educational services and address the challenges faced by students during the thesis writing process. This study was conducted to design and psychometrically measure the perspectives of postgraduate students at the University of Social welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (USWR) regarding the thesis completion process.

Method: This deductive study was a tool-development type with a sequential-exploratory combined approach. The sampling method employed was full count, and 160students participated. First, by creating a pool of items, a questionnaire containing 68questions was developed, comprising three general parts: the thesis process(30items), students' self-evaluation(10items), and the selection of a supervisor and advisor(28items).

The Likert-scale questions used a 5-point response range from "very much"(scored as5) to "very little"(scored as1). To evaluate the qualitative, content, and face validity, the opinions of 10faculty members and 10postgraduate students were sought, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to assess the construct validity for the thesis section. The reliability of the questionnaire was examined through internal consistency and test-retest methods.

Findings: Based on the experts' opinions, all the proposed items were accepted, and the qualitative content validity was confirmed. The face validity was assessed by examining the opinions of 10students, and no corrections were deemed necessary. In the exploratory factor analysis of the thesis section, 4 items were removed, and the remaining questions were arranged into 6dimensions, which explained 51.8% of the total score dispersion. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire ranged from 0.72to0.91, confirming the internal consistency of the dimensions. In the test-retest reliability assessment conducted after 14days, the correlation coefficient was between 0.92and 1, indicating that the questionnaire has good reproducibility.

Conclusion: According to the results, this questionnaire demonstrates appropriate validity and reliability for examining the perspectives of postgraduate students regarding the thesis process.