Skip to main content

Purpose of Measure: "To measure indicators of role orientation related to science identity."

Lay-Person Terms: Respondents' report of the strength of their identity as scientists and their belonging within their field's scientific community

Measure:

The following questions ask how you think about yourself and your personal identity. We want to understand how much you think that being a scientist is part of who you are. For the purposes of this study, when you see the word “scientist,” it is intended to mean a professional undertaking research activities in your area of study (e.g., a biologist or a research psychologist.) Please select the best answer on the scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree).

1.       Strongly Disagree 2. 3. 4. 5. Strongly Agree
I have a strong sense of belonging to the community of scientists.
I derive a great personal satisfaction from working on a team that is doing important research.
I have come to think of myself as a ‘scientist.’
I feel like I belong in the field of science.
The daily work of a scientist is appealing to me.

Type of Validity: Chronbach's alpha = 0.86

Citation of Publication: Estrada, M., Woodcock, A., Hernandez, P. R., & Schultz, P. W. (2011). Toward a model of social influence that explains minority student integration into the scientific community. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(1), 206–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020743 The measure itself is found within the paper, in the "measures" subsection of the Methods.

Instructions to analyze and interpret: Five item scale. Calculate the mean scale score (mathematical average) of all the items within the scale for a particular respondent. Higher scores represent higher self-reported science identity for that respondent. Use in postdoc populations would require revalidation.

Other citations: Chemers M. Unpublished manuscript. University of California; Santa Cruz: 2006. Science identity and self-efficacy.