The purposes of this study are first to identify the construct of social presence and then to develop a set of valid measurement of it in higher distance education. The literature on social presence in general was reviewed to examine the construct of...
The purposes of this study are first to identify the construct of social presence and then to develop a set of valid measurement of it in higher distance education. The literature on social presence in general was reviewed to examine the construct of social presence. Based on the literature review and statistical factor analysis, four factors are established to constitute social presence. They are mutual support and empathy, affective connectedness, sense of community and open communication.
With a view to develop and validate a measurement of social presence, dozens of survey items were collected from the literature to be followed by three consecutive examinations by experts. A pilot test with sample 1 was then executed to establish 37 preliminary items.
Testing of the measurement was conducted in 4 phases of analysis with 3 different samples to verify validity and reliability. The numbers of those samples used in analysis are 401, 497 and 221 for sample 1, 2 and 3 respectively. As the first phase, an exploratory factor analysis with sample 2 produced 5 factors with 25 items and 4 factors with 19 items as alternative models for the social presence construct. Cronbach a was high enough to verify the reliability of the measurement.
In the second phase, a confirmatory factor analysis was done with sample 3. Alternative first order models of 1 factor, 4 factors and 5 factors were compared based on goodness of fit of chi-square values and other fit indices. Accordingly 4 factor model proved to be a better model than the others, showing its model fit, .938, .947 and .057 for TLI, CFI, and RMSEA respectively and chi-square 384.8 with 146 for degree of freedom(p<.01). Four factors were positively correlated one another but their patterns shown were not clear enough to hypothesize second order model.
In the third phase, the Rasch model was applied with sample 3 to further verify the measurement. Uni-dimensionality was confirmed to show that the measurement items were measuring the same construct. The 5 likert scale used in the measurement was verified for its validity with category probability curves. MNSQ(mean-square infit or outfit statistic) showed that all the items except item 5 were within the satisfactory range, resulting only 1 item was deleted, which further verified uni-dimensionality of the remaining items. Reliability was verified with item-individual separate reliability and item-individual separation indices.
In the fourth phase, criterion-related validity was verified by examining the relationship between social presence and other variables, including demographical variables, distance learning readiness and learning outcome. It was done with sample 4. It was shown that social presence is positively correlated with sex, the number of participation in face-to-face orientation, prior experience of distance learning, perceived learning achievement and learning satisfaction.
In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that this scale is valid and reliable to measure social presence in higher distance education. By measuring social presence using the scale developed in this study, one can understand different sets of emotions that distance learners experience such as isolation, loneliness, indifference and so on. It is left to further research to verify criterion related validity of social presence scale by using social presence related variables, such as social space or cognitive presence or teaching presence. By applying a variety of distance learners including young learners, the measurement developed in this study can extend its usage and be further verified for its validity.
Key words : social presence, scale development, distance higher education, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, Rasch model