New SHAPE Scale Validated to Measure Student Housing Satisfaction and Graduation Plans

Researchers have developed and validated a Chinese-language instrument designed to assess how university students experience their housing and whether those residential experiences relate to their plans after graduation. The tool, called the Student Housing Assessment and Prediction Evaluator, or SHAPE, was adapted for Mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong, a population for which validated housing measures have been scarce.

The study, published in SN Social Sciences, was conducted by Michelle W. T. Cheng and Xinhua Yang. Their starting point was an existing instrument, which they translated into Chinese and supplemented with additional items. The final version contains 22 items covering housing satisfaction and graduation plans associated with residential characteristics, plus 3 items that provide an overall assessment of housing satisfaction.

To test the scale, the team collected data through an online questionnaire survey involving 269 Chinese university students studying in Hong Kong. The responses were then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability testing.

The analyses supported a two-factor structure for the instrument. In practical terms, this means the statistical patterns in students’ responses aligned with the two domains the scale was designed to capture: satisfaction with housing conditions and intentions regarding life after graduation.

Beyond this structural finding, the results demonstrated satisfactory construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and internal consistency.

According to the authors, the findings suggest that SHAPE is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing both student housing satisfaction and post-graduation plans among Chinese university students. The validation was carried out specifically with Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong, so the evidence base corresponds to that group and setting.

The validated scale may facilitate future research on student housing, an area in which rigorous measurement tools have been limited for Chinese-speaking student populations. Because the instrument pairs housing satisfaction items with graduation-plan items in a single questionnaire, it allows researchers to examine both constructs with one consistent measure.

The authors also note a potential applied use: universities could employ the tool to examine how housing experiences and residential preferences may influence students’ post-graduation plans. Such examinations would depend on future data collection, since the present study established the instrument’s psychometric properties rather than testing specific relationships between housing conditions and graduation decisions. As with any validation study, the results rest on a single online survey of 269 respondents, and further research with other samples would be needed to extend the scale’s demonstrated use beyond the population studied.

Subject of Research: Developing and validating the student housing assessment and prediction evaluator (SHAPE) for chinese higher education students

Article Title: Developing and validating the student housing assessment and prediction evaluator (SHAPE) for chinese higher education students

Article References: Cheng, M. W. T., & Yang, X. (2026). Developing and validating the student housing assessment and prediction evaluator (SHAPE) for chinese higher education students. SN Social Sciences, 6(11), Article 579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-026-01891-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43545-026-01891-x

Keywords: Developing, validating, student, housing, assessment, prediction, evaluator, SHAPE, chinese, higher, education, students