The “What Is Happening in This Class” Questionnaire: A Qualitative Examination in Elementary Classrooms

The classroom psychosocial climate (CPSC) is a multidimensional construct, the indicators of which are being operationalized through the subscales of CPSC measuring instruments, such as the What Is Happening in This Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire. As opposed to studies with secondary students, elementary student studies have produced inconsistent results in terms of the factorial structure of such instruments. The purpose of the present study was to thoroughly examine the construct of the elementary CPSC. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six teachers and 24 students from Greek elementary classrooms and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The findings generally supported the presence of the CPSC indicators in this context and indicated potential differentiations in terms of content and conceptual independence for at least four of them.