Validity and Reliability Considerations for Undergraduate Engineering Education Research Studies Involving Salivary Biomarkers

This research-to-practice full paper explores the influence of video-based and paper-based training materials on undergraduate engineering students' development of skills and competencies in biomedical laboratory techniques, from a multimodal perspective. With recent advances in physiological and biological detection methods, scholars increasingly rely on laboratory sensors and techniques to investigate potential connections between academic physiological and psychological stress and performance. For this work, we explored the biological measure of salivary hormonal biomarkers (e.g., alpha-amylase) and their relationships to performance. For this work, we conducted an exploratory study on 7 undergraduate engineering students participating in a summer research experience. These students were provided with pre- and post-quizzes before and after their initial training in laboratory cell culture preservation techniques. During the quiz-taking experience, students responded to quizzes developed by their research advisor, while saliva samples were collected at three points: before, during, and after the quiz. To ensure the validity of the experiment, the researchers engaged in extensive discussions on overcoming the challenges of designing an experimental study that combines biological, physiological, and performance measures. This research-to-practice paper focuses on the considerations necessary for designing a quasi-experimental study that utilizes biometric tools to assess academic performance and stress management among undergraduate engineering students. Our findings suggest that both video-based and paper-based training materials significantly impact students' skill acquisition and competency development in biomedical laboratory techniques. We also observed that salivary hormonal biomarkers could be useful indicators of stress and performance during academic tasks. This research provides valuable insights into the interplay between training materials, stress, and performance, highlighting the importance of multimodal approaches in educational research. We offer recommendations for other researchers interested in conducting similar studies in the future. These include strategies for effectively integrating biometric tools into educational research, addressing potential challenges, and ensuring the reliability and validity of the collected data. By sharing these insights, we aim to contribute to the advancement of research methodologies in the field of engineering education.