Towards More Precise Measurement: Exploring Mathematics Self‐Efficacy and Self‐Concept in Undergraduates

ABSTRACT Student confidence is an important research topic in mathematics education as it is positively associated with student performance, persistence, and engagement. Confidence is measured with various instruments which represent theoretical descriptions differently. This can lead to incongruence between researcher objectives and measurement instruments, and inaccurate findings. The purpose of this mixed methods paper is to examine how theoretical descriptions are represented on different survey instruments, and to identify distinctions between instruments used in researching self‐concept and self‐efficacy in mathematics that may contribute to inconsistent results. This paper reports results from four surveys administered to 225 college undergraduates. Items were examined using an iterative process of coding and factor analysis verification. Results highlight distinctions in theoretical representations among both the self‐concept and self‐efficacy instruments and identify eleven distinct components across all surveys. Findings reveal the need to consider temporal alignment, attitudes related to mathematics, and the use of implicit evaluations when selecting or creating a survey measuring confidence. Differences related to gender are discussed with directions for future research.