Assessment of psychometric properties of the questionnaire on supervisor-doctoral student interaction (QSDI) in Iran

BACKGROUND: One of the main elements that help students in research projects and composing dissertations is the student-supervisor relationship. A valid and reliable tool to measure this seems essential and it is the objective of the present study to validate and assess the psychometric properties of a questionnaire on supervisor-doctoral student interaction (QSDI) in Iran. METHODS: Before starting the study, a permission from the developer of the tool was secured. Then the tool was forward-backward translated. After preparing the Farsi version of the tool, content validity was confirmed through qualitative and quantitative methods. To examine construct validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted with participation of 218 and 410 MD, MSc, and PhD students of medical sciences, respectively. To check reliability of the tool, correlation coefficient was used. To examine internal consistency of the tool, Cronbach’s alpha was used. Data analyses were done in SPSS (v.25) and LISREL (v.8). RESULTS: The EFA and CFA results revealed eight factors and 39 items. The value of R-square for the model was equal to 0.99, which means 99% of changes in the dependent variable (supervisor-student interaction) is attributed to the independent variable (41 items). That is, 99% of the dependent variable changes is due to the independent variables. The main indices of the model based on factor analyses were supported (0.9<), which indicated goodness of fit of the model (χ2/df = 1.76, CFI, NFI, TLI = 0.98 GFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.043, R-square = 0.99). The significance level for correlation coefficient was below 0.05. Reliability of the tool was supported based on internal correlation (Cronbach’s alpha) equal to 0.943 for the whole tool and in 0.89–0.97 range for the subscales. CONCLUSION: In general, the results showed that the Farsi version of QSDI (eight factors and 39 items) had acceptable and applicable indices and it can be used as a valid tool in different fields for higher education students of medical sciences. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-021-02932-0.