Validating a Critical Consciousness Scale for Civil Engineers

Abstract

Civil engineering students in the United States rarely receive instruction about how their work affects social inequities. Indeed, research reveals that most engineering students lack critical consciousness and fail to recognize and analyze real social inequity challenges as they arise in engineering contexts. As history demonstrates, this can lead to engineering projects that exacerbate inequality, ignore community questions and concerns, or fail to consider the consequences of communities when assessing project success. A key component to addressing these issues includes educators’ ability to evaluate the critical consciousness (CC) of civil engineering students using survey approaches. Toward this goal, this research tested a critical consciousness scale for civil engineers (CCSCE). The CCSCE scale summarizes and factorizes 46 items that capture systems of oppression in civil engineering. The instrument included three indicators measuring critical consciousness (i.e., Critical Reflection: Perceived Inequality; Critical Reflection: Egalitarianism; and Critical Action: Sociopolitical Perception). The CCSCE scale was tested with 150 students at two universities in the United States. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a set of 15 items measuring critical reflection and action items. This study supports the development of concise measures of CC for civil engineers that is valid and reliable. The development of a CCSCE scale is vital for civil engineering education as it provides educators with an instrument to assess whether any educational interventions aimed at enhancing CC are indeed efficacious. The instrument can also be used to assess Accreditation Board of Engineering & Technology (ABET) learning Outcomes 2 and 4.