A topical review of evaluation instruments for computing education

As computing education research continues to grow and mature as a field, it becomes more important to focus on the quality and rigor of our research studies. One important aspect of any research study is its formal evaluation. Using standardized and validated instruments relevant to computer science education to perform evaluations can increase the quality of the study and the value of its results. However, researchers often create their own instruments rather than using existing ones, perhaps due to their lack of knowledge of the value of using an existing instrument or due to the challenge of finding such instruments. Through a review of relevant computing education literature, this paper presents a listing of 47 evaluation instruments specifically designed for measuring programs or constructs related to computing that can influence student achievement and learning. Analysis of purpose, target audience, reliability, and validity of the instruments is also presented. The paper ends with a call for the community to begin to make more regular use of validated instruments in their studies when possible and to develop and validate additional instruments in areas where few exist.