Research

Development of the Appreciative Advising Success Inventory (AASI)

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Abstract

This article describes the process to develop and validate the Appreciative Advising Success Inventory (AASI). The AASI instrument is designed to measure the success of college students, as measured through correlations to student psychosocial factors (PSFs), who interact with academic advisors who are trained in applying the Appreciative Advising theory-to-practice framework. PSFs are attitudes and behaviors that influence how students think about and approach their college experience. Applying psychometric theory and instrument development methods that have been applied in similar projects, the AASI instrument can be used to improve advising practice and measure the impact of Appreciative Advising. The results from this preliminary study suggest that when academic advisors use the Appreciative Advising framework effectively, it directly influences key PSFs that then influence such student success outcomes as academic confidence, academic motivation, and intent to persist.

Keywords: Appreciative advising, academic advising, instrument development, college student success