Date of Award:

12-2016

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Scott C. Bates

Committee

Scott C. Bates

Committee

Susan L. Crowley

Committee

Renee Galliher

Committee

Christopher Johnson

Committee

Troy E. Beckert

Abstract

Students respond to instructor characteristics. Instructor approachability is one such characteristic that is often discussed yet inconsistently defined in the literature. The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a new measure, the Instructor Approachability Scale. The present study used a rationally derived process to generate a list of items that are representative of instructor approachability. Factor analysis was conducted to establish psychometrics for the scale. Regression analyses were then conducted to examine the impact of instructor approachability on several outcomes, including students’ help-seeking attitudes, satisfaction with the course, and mastery of course content. Several significant main effects were detected, indicating that instructor approachability impacted: help-seeking attitudes and satisfaction with the course. While instructor approachability was not significant in predicting student learning outcome directly, it was indirectly predictive through help-seeking attitude, which suggests that the instructor can enable student access to resources, but students are ultimately responsible in translating the resources into results. These findings and implications are also discussed.

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