Measuring conceptual understanding in international business students

Conceptual understanding can be defined as a synthesis of declarative, procedural and situational knowledge enabling students to solve complex problems in professional practice. A method to measure conceptual understanding is important so that levels of conceptual understanding can be ascertained and effective teaching strategies to enhance conceptual understanding can be developed. However, an adequate method to measure conceptual understanding in international business students does not yet exist. The goal of this study is therefore to develop an adequate method to measure conceptual understanding. This study will determine which of the following four approaches is the most suitable to measure conceptual understanding in international business students: (1) a concept map, (2) an essay, (3) first a concept map and then an essay, or (4) first an essay and then a concept map. The central research question of this study is: ‘How can conceptual understanding be measured?’ Concept maps and essays were collected from 96 fourth year international business students. To assess conceptual understanding in the concept maps and essays, a rubric was developed and validated by 9 experts. Preliminary results suggest that the most suitable means of measuring conceptual understanding is: first a concept map and then an essay. The preliminary conclusion is that the rubric can be used to assess conceptual understanding. The rubric explicates the required criteria of conceptual understanding: (1) definition of a topic, (2) description of theories and practices, (3) interpretation of theories and practices, (4) explanation, and (5) out-of-the-box, integrated thinking.