Development of a College Student Validation Survey: A Design-Based Research Approach

Rendón’s (1994) seminal research on validation theory (VT) provided a model for understanding how validating experiences can positively influence “culturally diverse” (p. 33) students in higher education. Validation is “an enabling, confirming and supportive process initiated by inand out-of-class agents that fosters academic and interpersonal development” (Rendón, 1994, p. 44) and is critical for the transition, persistence, and success of college students (Rendón, 1994, 2002). Through this theoretical model, scholars have extensively explored how institutions can provide validating experiences by developing supportive learning environments for general undergraduate populations and specific groups such as Black, Latinx, low-income, first-generation, and two-year college students (e.g., Allen, 2016; Bauer, 2014). Many prior studies have relied on qualitative methods. While Rendón and Muñoz (2011) have called for further study of validation’s impact on student outcomes through quantitative methods, few quantitative instruments of VT exist. The primary tool used for assessing VT consists of two scales from the larger Diverse Learning Environments (DLE; Hurtado et al., 2011) survey that have demonstrated their effectiveness for measuring academic validation in class and general interpersonal validation among college students at large (Hurtado et al., 2015). DLE scales were not, however, designed to match Rendón’s full fourcomponent conception of VT (i.e., academic in-class, academic out-of-class, interpersonal in-class, interpersonal out-of-class). Thus, a new measure of VT is necessary to capture quantitative information aligned with Rendón’s model. The purpose of this study was to expand the field of quantitative VT research by presenting validity evidence from a new survey entitled the Validation Theory Survey (VTS) that was designed to align with Rendón’s VT model and to be used with undergraduate students. One overarching research question guided this study: To what extent did validity evidence (i.e., content, response process, consequential, and internal structure) support the use of the VTS to evaluate undergraduates’ perceptions of their academic and interpersonal validating experiences inside and outside higher education classrooms?