Development of instructor – student rapport scale (ISRS) for higher education

Ana Bardorfer and Tina Kavčič

Summary:  Since existing similar scales have several drawbacks, we have decided to develop new instructor– student rapport scale based on Bardorfer’s (2013) new conceptualization of instructor–student rapport in two studies: in study 1 we developed a pool of items based on existing literature and similar scales and tested it on a pilot sample of students. Based on results we modified the scale. Intermediate version of Instructor–student rapport scale was later tested on a different and bigger sample of undergraduate students from natural and social science study programs. After eliminating two problematic items the final 35–item scale proved to have single–factor structure explaining 40.43% of variance. Results showed adequate internal consistency reliability and adequate convergent and criterion validity. Important part of this article represents publicly available scale for measuring student – teacher rapport in higher education that enables teachers to systematically reflect and evaluate their teaching praxis and teaching effectiveness – tools that can be used as a support to their professional development.