Participation in Higher Education: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Perceived Participation Opportunities of Students

Abstract

The subject of this article is the development and validation of a questionnaire to assess students' perceived opportunities for participation. The content is based on a questionnaire developed for the secondary level. The total of 54 items cover the fields of learning content and objectives, teaching methods, social forms, assessment criteria and examination modalities. The three-dimensional factor structure found for the secondary level (“self-determined participation”, “conditional co-determination”, “external determination”) can also be demonstrated across all fields in the context of higher education. The descriptive characteristics and correlations of the dimensions with motivation are in line with expectations.