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Community of Inquiry Survey

CoI-34
educationsocial sciencesFree for research use

A 34-item survey of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence in online and blended learning communities.

Items
34
Response format
5-point Likert scale
Version
Original 34-item three-presence survey
Subscales
3

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Perceptions of the online learning community were measured with the 34-item Community of Inquiry Survey (Arbaugh et al., 2008), yielding Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence scores (original α = .94, .91, and .95).

Citing this in a methods section? See the APA 7 guide — Author–date citations for psychology and the social sciences. Or compare all six citation styles.

Reliability & validation

Validation population
Graduate students in online education and business courses across four institutions (Arbaugh et al., 2008)
Cronbach's α
0.91–0.95

Subscales

Teaching PresenceSocial PresenceCognitive Presence

Response anchors

Strongly disagree · Disagree · Neutral · Agree · Strongly agree

Known limitations

The original validation sample comprised graduate students in online education and business courses, so generalization to other levels, disciplines, and face-to-face settings should be justified. Scores describe perceived presence, not learning outcomes.

Original citation

Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S. R., Garrison, D. R., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., Swan, K. P. (2008). Developing a community of inquiry instrument: Testing a measure of the Community of Inquiry framework using a multi-institutional sample. The Internet and Higher Education, 11(3-4), 133-136.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003

Questions researchers ask

What does the CoI-34 measure?

A 34-item survey of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence in online and blended learning communities.

How many items does the CoI-34 have?

The Community of Inquiry Survey (CoI-34) has 34 items across 3 subscales: Teaching Presence, Social Presence, Cognitive Presence.

Is the CoI-34 free to use?

The CoI-34 is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the CoI-34 reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.91–0.95. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the CoI-34, and how do I cite it?

Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S. R., Garrison, D. R., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., Swan, K. P. (2008). Developing a community of inquiry instrument: Testing a measure of the Community of Inquiry framework using a multi-institutional sample. The Internet and Higher Education, 11(3-4), 133-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003

Reference only

Folio has verified the citation and methods metadata for this scale, but does not hold confirmed item wording or scoring to import into Surveyor.

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Library entry verified August 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.