2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

What Does it Test? Psychometric Properties of the Electronics Concept Inventory with Data from Fourth-Year Electrical Engineering Students in the U.S.

Presented at Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE) Technical Session 11

This full paper seeks to contribute to course and curriculum design, improvement, and assessment. With the rise of electronic devices in our lives, electronics has become a key area in advancing technology and enhancing the quality of life. Understanding electronics fundamentals is crucial in many engineering fields, especially for electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students. The Electronics Concept Inventory (ECI), developed in 2004, can help educators identify students’ misconceptions in electronics based on common misunderstandings. However, the literature lacks testing of ECI’s validity and reliability. This study provided content and construct validity and internal consistency reliability evidence for the ECI through psychometric analysis rooted in the classical test theory. By comparing the ECI content with a common Electronics I textbook, three professors and one doctoral student with an electrical engineering background provided content validity evidence for the ECI. An exploratory factor analysis identified the latent factor structure of the ECI for construct validity evidence using the data from 210 fourth-year ECE students at a southern R1 public university from 2015 to 2017. The ECI included five questions assessing students’ understanding of introductory circuits, rather than electronics. Questions about analog and digital integrated circuits are fewer than those about devices and basic circuits. Regarding construct validity, a 0.4 cut-off for factor loadings resulted in 19 items in a three-factor latent structure. Cronbach’s α was 0.65 for the original 35-item concept inventory and 0.61 for the retained 19 items after excluding 16 items from the EFA. The findings of this study suggest room to improve the validity and reliability evidence of the ECI to identify students’ misconceptions in understanding electronics.

Authors

Mr. Iman Shayegani http://orcid.org/https://0009-0008-8930-3724 University of Cincinnati [biography]

Iman Shayegani is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at the University of Cincinnati. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran and his Master's degree in the same field from Shiraz University. His research focuses on designing and implementing instructional interventions in Circuits I courses to enhance students’ conceptual understanding of electrical circuits. He is also actively engaged in assessment development, with a particular interest in psychometric analysis and the refinement of concept inventories related to circuits and electronics.
Dr. So Yoon Yoon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1868-1054 University of Cincinnati [biography]

Dr. So Yoon Yoon is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering and Computing Education in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati, OH, USA. Dr. Yoon received her Ph.D. in Gifted Education and an M.S.Ed. in Research Methods and Measurement with a specialization in Educational Psychology, both from Purdue University, IN, USA. She also holds an M.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics and a B.S. in Astronomy and Meteorology from Kyungpook National University, South Korea. Her work centers on elementary, secondary, and postsecondary engineering education research as a psychometrician, data analyst, and program evaluator with research interests in spatial ability, STEAM education, workplace climate, and research synthesis with a particular focus on meta-analysis. She has developed, validated, revised, and copyrighted several instruments beneficial for STEM education research and practice. Dr. Yoon has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings and served as a journal reviewer in engineering education, STEM education, and educational psychology. She has also served as a PI, co-PI, advisory board member, or external evaluator on several NSF- and NASA-funded projects.
Dr. Gregory Warren Bucks http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-0986-7941 University of Cincinnati [biography]

Gregory Bucks joined the Department of Engineering Education at the University of Cincinnati in 2012. He received his BSEE from the Pennsylvania State University in 2004, his MSECE from Purdue University in 2006, and his PhD in Engineering Education in 2010, also from Purdue University. His research interests lie in first-year pedagogy and program assessment as well as conceptual understanding of fundamental computing concepts.
Mr. Adam Barnes University of Virginia [biography]

Adam Barnes graduated with a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech. He worked in small business and industry for 18 years before returning to Virginia Tech to teach engineering as a professor of practice. He then moved to Charlottesville and began teaching at the University of Virginia in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, where he has now been for 5 years.
Caroline Crockett University of Virginia [biography]

Caroline Crockett is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. She received her PhD degree from the University of Michigan in electrical engineering. Her research interests include image processing and conceptual understanding.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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