Dr Jenn Cumming

As part of the http://www.bestskills.co.uk project, the Groupwork Skills Questionnaire (GSQ; Cumming, Woodcock, Cooley, Holland, & Burns, 2015) was developed to measure task and interpersonal groupwork skills.  The 10 items can be used to measure how students generally contribute to groupwork or contextualised to a particular groupwork activity.

The GSQ has good psychometric properties, acceptable internal reliability, some temporal stability, and concurrent validity with related constructs (i.e., attitudes towards working in a group and groupwork self-efficacy).

It is currently available in English and is being translated into Japanese.  We also welcome requests to translate the GSQ into other languages.

Papers published that have used the GSQ

Cooley, S. J., Burns, V. E., & Cumming, J. (2016). Using outdoor adventure education to develop students’ groupwork skills: A quantitative exploration of reaction and learning. Journal of Experiential Education, 39(4), 329-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825916668899

Cooley, S. J., Eves, F. F., Cumming, J., & Burns, V. E. (2020). “Hitting the ground running”: preparing groups for outdoor learning using a theoretically-based video. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 20(1), 30-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2018.1558081

Cumming, J., Woodcock, C., Cooley, S. J., Holland, M. J. G., & Burns, V. E. (2015). Development and validation of the groupwork skills questionnaire. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40, 988-101. https:/doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.957642  Download here.

Abstracts/conference proceedings that have used the GSQ

Cooley, S. J., Cumming, J., & Burns, V. E. (2013). Outdoor education increases students’ groupwork skills, attitudes and self-efficacy during higher education. In Proceedings of The Sixth International Outdoor Education Research Conference, University of Otago, New Zealand. Download here.

Manual (for items and scoring information)

Cumming, J., Woodcock, C., Cooley, S. J., Holland, M. J. G., & Burns, V. E. (2014). The Groupwork Skills Questionnaire Manual. Birmingham, UK: Author. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2698.5764. Download here.

Related Research

Cumming, J. (2010). “Student-Initiated Group Management Strategies for More Effective and Enjoyable Groupwork Experiences.” Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, & Tourism Education 9. doi:10.3794/johlste.92.284. Download here.

Cumming, J. (2013). Two issues in educational research: A response to “Reviewing Education Concerns”. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 13, 1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jhlste.2013.03.001. Download here.

*If you have used the GSQ and would like to add your citation to this list, please J.Cumming@Bham.ac.uk.