One of the most common discussions around engagement in the research I have encountered is: How do you measure engagement? Goldspink and Foster (2013) explored this issue in their research. Their goal was to come up with a comprehensive and valid scale for measuring student engagement. They broke down measuring engagement into three categories:
- Student behaviour – measured through observation.
- Affect: reasons for observed behaviour – measured by answers to questionnaires*.
- Cognition: what the learner thinks about the situation and how deeply the student feels he or engaged with their learning – measured by answers to questionnaires*.
Goldspink and Foster also incorporated the idea of flow into their research, which they defined as “the experience of total immersion in an activity because of the intrinsic rewards it offers” (2013, p. 293). This idea of flow strongly ties to their points on how engagement and well-being, which they defined as “happiness and satisfaction… and social functioning” (p. 302) are closely related. They found strong relationships between certain variables and levels of engagement, such as prior knowledge and relatedness.
It is important to note that in their work, Goldspink and Foster allowed students to reflect on their own engagement. Other studies that I have examined relied entirely on observable behaviour, which led to discrepant conclusions where students felt they were more engaged than the teachers perceived them to be. Using student reflection as a measure of engagement offers more concrete, inclusive results.
*Questionnaires consisted of multiple choice and open-ended questions.
Source: Goldspink, C., & Foster, M. (2013). A conceptual model and set of instruments for measuring student engagement in learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(3), 291-311.