Content Validity of a Framework for Problem-Solving Competence in Programming Among Information Technology Students: A Two-Round Delphi Study in Vietnam

Competence-based education requires that learning outcomes for information technology (IT) programs rest on a competence framework whose content has been validated by experts, yet Vietnam has no framework for problem-solving competence in programming validated through a quantitative, criterion-based procedure. This study validated the content of such a framework, comprising five competence components, twenty-one criteria, and behavioural indicators across four developmental levels, using a two-round Delphi procedure with a purposively heterogeneous, Vietnam-based panel of 23 experts drawn from programming instruction, the software industry, and educational measurement. Round 1 (21 respondents; 91.3%) elicited structured qualitative judgements that generated six documented revisions. Round 2, sent to the same fixed panel (n = 20; 87.0%; 19 also responding in Round 1), rated 169 items against three consensus criteria set in advance: an item-level content validity index (I-CVI) of at least 0.78, a median of at least 4, and an interquartile range of at most 1. Every one of the 169 items satisfied all three criteria simultaneously, the scale-level index (S-CVI/Ave) reached 0.98, and the predefined stopping rule was therefore met after two rounds; a sensitivity analysis restricted to respondents who passed an embedded attention check left this conclusion unchanged. The validated core comprises twenty-one criteria and eighty-four indicators. Two content areas that experts raised without prompting, collaboration with generative artificial intelligence and exception handling, were integrated as twelve extended indicators at the indicator layer rather than as new criteria, preserving the validated criterion structure; these twelve await separate validation. The framework supplies an evidence-based foundation for writing learning outcomes, constructing analytic rubrics, and designing project-based instruction in IT programmes.