2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Cognitive Interviews for Scale Development to Measure Intercultural Competency of Graduate Engineering Students in Faculty-led Laboratories

Presented at ERM: Methods in Graduate Education

This empirical research full paper presents the results of a series of qualitative cognitive interviews conducted to adapt the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Inventory (E-CQS) for use with engineering graduate students pursuing research-based degrees in the United States. This study launches the beginning of an exploration of how intercultural competence is developed in faculty-led labs, given the increasing globalization and international collaboration in engineering fields. Moreover, with a significant proportion of graduate students in the United States being international students, faculty-led labs provide a rich context for studying intercultural interactions. Developing intercultural competence is crucial for engineers, as they solve complex global challenges that transcend national and cultural boundaries. Graduate students play a pivotal role in addressing these challenges. Despite the recognized importance of intercultural competence, a significant gap exists in understanding how these skills can be effectively cultivated in graduate engineering programs. To address this gap, 16 graduate students from mechanical engineering departments at two large, research-intensive, land-grant institutions in the United States participated in cognitive interviews. Using content analysis, including heat maps and cognitive notes, the results revealed that the E-CQS scale could not be directly transferred to a graduate student context without significant modifications. These findings highlight the need for further refinement of the E-CQS to ensure its applicability in graduate engineering settings.

Authors

Nosakhare Iyobosa Idiaghe http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-4152-0267 University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Nosakhare I. Idiaghe is a doctoral candidate in the engineering education research program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Benin, Benin City
Erin Johnson Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Erin Johnson is a PhD candidate at Pennsylvania State University in Mechanical Engineering. She is under the advisement of Dr. Catherine Berdanier in the Engineering Cognitive Research Laboratory (ECRL). In 2024, Erin was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). She completed her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Tuskegee University and a M.S. in Engineering Design at Pennsylvania State University
Catherine G. P. Berdanier http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3271-4836 The Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Catherine G.P. Berdanier is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from The University of South Dakota, her M.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and her PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research expertise lies in characterizing graduate-level attrition, persistence, and career trajectories; engineering writing and communication; and methodological development.
Dr. Jessica Deters http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-8766-9548 University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Dr. Jessica Deters is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Discipline Based Education Researcher at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She holds her Ph.D. in Engineering Education and M.S. in Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Colorado School of Mines. Her research focuses on engineering culture, workplace preparedness and career trajectories of undergraduate and graduate students, and student well-being. She is the 2025 recipient of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award and the Henry Y. Kleinkauf Family Distinguished New Faculty Teaching Award.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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