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Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics
written by Diana Sachmpazidi and Chandra Turpen
Efforts to promote inclusive and sustainable cultural change in physics departments require reliable tools to measure progress. This paper describes the co-design and development of two survey instruments to assess departmental culture regarding inclusion and systemic change. Using human-centered design principles, we brought together stakeholders from physics and astronomy education in a series of facilitated co-design sessions. These collaborative discussions informed the survey constructs, representation of results, and alignment with users' values and goals. We detail our facilitation strategies and co-design activities, showing how this approach built consensus around key constructs for measuring cultural change. We also reflect on lessons learned and provide recommendations for others interested in using collaborative design to create tools that support and measure change. This work contributes to the growing practice of involving participants directly in the development of survey instruments. By centering users' experiences, we aim to support more effective and inclusive approaches to evaluating and advancing departmental change.
Physics Education Research Conference 2025
Part of the PER Conference series
Washington, DC: August 6-7, 2025
Pages 386-391
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Assessment
= Methods
- Research Design & Methodology
= Evaluation
- Societal Issues
= Cultural Issues
- Teacher Characteristics
= Affect
Education Practices
- School Improvement
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Researchers
- Administrators
- application/pdf
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2025…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:
American Association of Physics Teachers
DOI:
10.1119/perc.2025.pr.Sachmpazidi
Keyword:
PERC 2025
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created October 20, 2025 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
October 27, 2025 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
October 28, 2025
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Record Link
AIP Format
D. Sachmpazidi and C. Turpen, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, 2025, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099).
AJP/PRST-PER
D. Sachmpazidi and C. Turpen, Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, 2025, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099>.
APA Format
Sachmpazidi, D., & Turpen, C. (2025, August 6-7). Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC. Retrieved November 10, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099
Chicago Format
Sachmpazidi, Diana, and Chandra Turpen. "Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, August 6-7, 2025. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099 (accessed 10 November 2025).
MLA Format
Sachmpazidi, Diana, and Chandra Turpen. "Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics." Physics Education Research Conference 2025. Washington, DC: 2025. 386-391 of PER Conference. 10 Nov. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Diana Sachmpazidi and Chandra Turpen", Title = {Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2025}, Pages = {386-391}, Address = {Washington, DC}, Series = {PER Conference}, Month = {August 6-7}, Year = {2025} }
Refer Export Format

%A Diana Sachmpazidi %A Chandra Turpen %T Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics %S PER Conference %D August 6-7 2025 %P 386-391 %C Washington, DC %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2025 %O August 6-7 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Sachmpazidi, Diana %A Turpen, Chandra %D August 6-7 2025 %T Measuring what matters: A human-centered design approach to survey development around departmental culture in physics %B Physics Education Research Conference 2025 %C Washington, DC %P 386-391 %S PER Conference %8 August 6-7 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17171&DocID=6099


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