Developing of an instrument for assessing students' data analysis skills in the undergraduate physics laboratory

This paper describes the development and field test of the Laboratory Data Analysis Instrument (LDAI), aimed at diagnosing first-year students' understanding of data analysis procedures. The design of this student-centered instrument is based on difficulties related to students' data analysis skills required in an introductory physics laboratory. Difficulties were determined from previous literature, observations in laboratory classes, and interviews with students. The LDAI is single-context based, consisting of 30 multiple-choice and true/false questions embedded in a real laboratory report from a real laboratory. It was validated by seven experts: three physics professors, one science education lecturer, and three experienced laboratory instructors. Administration to 77 participants resulted in a Cronbach's alpha of 0.702. The LDAI is a promising step toward having a valid and reliable diagnostic instrument that can be used by laboratory instructors in undergraduate physics laboratories.