Validation and Normalization of Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Style Inventory in Faculty Members of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences

INTRODUCTION: Considering the importance of teaching styles and their impact on promoting higher education, and the lack of a valid and reliable tool in universities of medical sciences for measuring this concept, as well as no instruments normalized for Faculty of Medical Sciences, the aims of this study were to 1) evaluate and normalize Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Style Inventory and 2) determine the teaching style of the faculty members of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences during 2018–2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a methodological study. In order to carry out this study, Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Style Inventory was translated and culturally adopted. To measure validity, reliability, and normalize the questionnaire, it was distributed among the study population composed of 361 faculty members (instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor) who were taught theoretical and practical courses in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, during the academic year 2018–2019. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach’s alpha using SPSS version 16 were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The results of data analysis showed that of the 361 participants, 212 were men and 149 were women. The mean age of the participants was 42.52 ± 7.72 years and their average work experience was 10.12 ± 7.61 years. Content validity was calculated using content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) for each item, and it was reported 97.4 and 68.5, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the internal consistency, and its value was 95%. The construct validity of the Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Style Inventory was assessed using CFA by EQS version 6.1. The value of root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.075 with the 90% confidence interval, and the GFI value was 0.74. The mean scores and standard deviations (SD) of teaching styles were 5.61 ± 0.61 for Expert teaching style, 5.23 ± 0.72 for formal authority teaching style, 5.39 ± 0.66 for personal model teaching style, 5.43±0.71 for facilitator teaching style, and 4.99 ± 0.82 for delegator teaching style. Our results suggested dominance of the expert (88.6%) and delegator (79.8%) teaching styles as well as the modest use of personal model (65.9%), formal authority (59.3%), and facilitator (55.7%) teaching styles among the faculty members of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. DISCUSSION: The results of the current study will be effective in promoting education level and increasing students’ satisfaction with the academic courses. Researchers and those interested in university medical education and development centers can benefit from the results of this study. For the first time, the psychometric test (normalizing and validating) of Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Style Inventory has been carried out at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. Also, this questionnaire has been applicable to determine teaching styles of faculty members. CONCLUSION: Overall, the results of the present study showed that the Grasha–Riechmann teaching Style Inventory had a good internal consistency and can be used as a valid tool for evaluating teachers’ teaching style.