Survey Instrument Validation for a Learner’s Motivation to Attain Digital Badge for Micro-Credential Courses: Cognitive Interview and Validity Test

COVID-19 has lately changed the way that people learn and teach by making it accessible at any time, from any location, and for a reasonable price. Traditional face-to-face teaching and learning are losing in popularity as more students choose hybrid or online mode study. The gig economy expansion in today's fast-paced business requires the cultivation of people and specialists with increasingly specific skill sets to fill increasingly specialized positions. Micro-Credential is a prominent actor in 21st-century training and education that offers higher education providers a more dynamic and quick learning style to match these demands. It is observed that learners in Malaysia are substantially new to the Micro-Credential and Digital Badge. Hence, this paper aims to present the findings on survey instrument validation in measuring the motivation of learners to attain the digital badge. The study uses a cognitive interviewing method for pre-test in validating the items of the adopted survey instrument. Then, in a pilot test, the survey instrument is again evaluated to measure the validity and reliability of the items using SPSS statistical software. The findings from the pre-test summarized the feedback and suggestions for improvements in fitting the study context and language used. The improved survey instrument undergoes a pilot test to confirm the validity and reliability of the survey items. The finalized survey instrument is then adopted for the main study with a larger sample of learners – university students, working professionals, business owners, and non-working adults using purposive sampling.