ABSTRACT
Adapting a student engagement survey in a new cultural and linguistic context requires careful consideration of the student population and education system that are to be explored. It can be useful to view the survey development process not as a drift away from constructs previously developed, but rather as the preservation, as best as possible, of pre-existing approaches while capturing the main specifics of the local context. Here, the development of Chile’s student engagement survey towards a critical mass of coverage is examined according to retrograde analysis, taken from genetic analysis via chess theory. By tracing backwards through the steps and interpretations that have been instilled into the instrument, it is possible to illustrate points of departure between generalised parameters of student life in one system as opposed to others. It is also possible to acknowledge, more fully, collegial, inter-institutional and cultural factors in building up a survey to a place of legitimacy within national policy and practice. Through divulging and understanding the decisions made at different points of honing a survey, comparisons between systems, and any operationalisation of findings from one system to another, can be conducted more meaningfully and insightfully.
