Weighting adjustments are used in some studies to compensate for biased estimators produced by su... more Weighting adjustments are used in some studies to compensate for biased estimators produced by survey nonresponse. Using data from the 2004 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the NSSE poststratification weighting algorithm, this study found that weighting adjustments were needed for some, but not all institutions. Unfortunately, no simple criterion for determining when weighting adjustments were needed could be identified. In addition, weighting adjustments reduced the precision of estimators for a majority of the institutions. Based on these findings, institutions and researchers concerned about compensating for nonresponse would be well advised to carefully evaluate the need for, and consequences of, weighting before employing weighting adjustments.
This final chapter examines some of the factors that may influence whether colleges and universit... more This final chapter examines some of the factors that may influence whether colleges and universities are able to respond effectively to the renewed interest in accountability and suggests that institutional researchers have an important role to play in moving ahead constructively.
This study examined the contingent relationships between learning community participation and stu... more This study examined the contingent relationships between learning community participation and student engagement in educational activities inside and outside the classroom using data from the 2004 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Results indicated that learning community participation was positively and significantly related to student engagement, both for first-year students and seniors. For some types of engagement, relationships were significantly stronger for seniors than for first-year students. Analyses also revealed there was substantial variability across institutions in the magnitude of the relationships between learning community participation and first-year students’ levels of engagement. Although institutional characteristics accounted for some of the variability across institutions, a substantial amount of the variability in engagement–learning community relationships remained unexplained.
The widespread popularity of programs for first-year students is due, in large part, to studies s... more The widespread popularity of programs for first-year students is due, in large part, to studies showing that participation in first-year programs is significantly related to students’ academic success. Because students choose to participate in first-year programs, self-selection effects prevent researchers from making causal claims about the outcomes of those programs. The present research examined the effects on first-semester grades of students participating in themed learning communities at a research university in the Midwest. Results indicated that membership in themed learning communities was positively associated with higher grade point averages, even after controlling for entering ability, application date, gender, and first-generation/low-income status. However, when instrumental variables were introduced to account for self-selection, the effects of themed learning communities on grades were not statistically significant. The results have implications for campus leaders and assessment practitioners who are working to develop methods for understanding the effects of programs designed to enhance the undergraduate educational experiences on their campuses.
Calls for accountability in higher education are prompted in part by questions concerning whether... more Calls for accountability in higher education are prompted in part by questions concerning whether colleges and universities use their resources effectively to promote student learning. Unfortunately, too little is known about whether money matters to desired outcomes of college. Using students’ responses to the 2004 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in concert with institutional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Board, this study examined the relationships between educational expenditures, student engagement and selected student self-reported learning outcomes, controlling for student and institutional characteristics. Results indicated that expenditures were modestly related to student engagement and learning outcomes. However, the nature of these relationships differed, depending on the engagement/outcome measure and student year in school.
A suite of assessment tools, including measures of student engagement, powers a cycle of activiti... more A suite of assessment tools, including measures of student engagement, powers a cycle of activities that create an institutional culture of planning and decision making based on evidence.
This chapter describes the ongoing development of a survey of students' workplace skills, civic e... more This chapter describes the ongoing development of a survey of students' workplace skills, civic engagement, and global awareness that colleges and universities can use to document their contributions to the public good.
This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 200... more This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 2005 revision of the classification, and selected variables underlying Carnegie’s expanded 2005 classification system using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement’s spring 2004 administration. Results indicate that the 2000 and 2005 classifications generally offer comparable explanatory power for measures of self-reported gains and student engagement, but the new variables from the 2005 system are more strongly related to cognitive outcomes and engagement than were the two categorical groupings. The variables most consistently related to outcomes and engagement are graduate-undergraduate coexistence, residential character of the campus, and arts and sciences share of undergraduate majors. Implications of the findings for research and assessment are discussed.
... Downloaded from the National Survey of Student Engagement web site: http://www.iub.edu/~ nsse... more ... Downloaded from the National Survey of Student Engagement web site: http://www.iub.edu/~ nsse/html/benchmark.htm. Jordan, GW, III. (2004). Race-conscious university admissions challenges in attaining student body diversity in the Grutter/Gratz era. ...
Calls for accountability, coupled with a desire to improve teaching and learning, have prompted m... more Calls for accountability, coupled with a desire to improve teaching and learning, have prompted many colleges and universities to consider ways of assessing the effects of postsecondary education on student growth and development. Despite widespread support for the concept of assessing student change, relatively few institutions have implemented this type of assessment, in part because of a concern about the best method of measuring change. This article describes the use of structural equation models with latent variables to assess the effects of education on change. Advantages of using structural equation models with latent variables include error-free measurement of change, direct tests of the assumptions underlying change research, along with the power and flexibility of maximum likelihood estimation. An analysis of data on freshman-to-senior gains provides evidence of the advantages of latent variable structural equation modeling and also suggests that the group differences identified by traditional analysis of variance and covariance techniques may be an artifact of measurement error.
... Athens: University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education. Thorndike, RL (1966). Intellectu... more ... Athens: University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education. Thorndike, RL (1966). Intellectual status and intellectual growth. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57, 121-127. Warren, J. (1984). The blind alley of value added. AAHA Bulletin, 37(1): 10-13. Gary R. Pike is Director ...
Weighting adjustments are used in some studies to compensate for biased estimators produced by su... more Weighting adjustments are used in some studies to compensate for biased estimators produced by survey nonresponse. Using data from the 2004 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the NSSE poststratification weighting algorithm, this study found that weighting adjustments were needed for some, but not all institutions. Unfortunately, no simple criterion for determining when weighting adjustments were needed could be identified. In addition, weighting adjustments reduced the precision of estimators for a majority of the institutions. Based on these findings, institutions and researchers concerned about compensating for nonresponse would be well advised to carefully evaluate the need for, and consequences of, weighting before employing weighting adjustments.
This final chapter examines some of the factors that may influence whether colleges and universit... more This final chapter examines some of the factors that may influence whether colleges and universities are able to respond effectively to the renewed interest in accountability and suggests that institutional researchers have an important role to play in moving ahead constructively.
This study examined the contingent relationships between learning community participation and stu... more This study examined the contingent relationships between learning community participation and student engagement in educational activities inside and outside the classroom using data from the 2004 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Results indicated that learning community participation was positively and significantly related to student engagement, both for first-year students and seniors. For some types of engagement, relationships were significantly stronger for seniors than for first-year students. Analyses also revealed there was substantial variability across institutions in the magnitude of the relationships between learning community participation and first-year students’ levels of engagement. Although institutional characteristics accounted for some of the variability across institutions, a substantial amount of the variability in engagement–learning community relationships remained unexplained.
The widespread popularity of programs for first-year students is due, in large part, to studies s... more The widespread popularity of programs for first-year students is due, in large part, to studies showing that participation in first-year programs is significantly related to students’ academic success. Because students choose to participate in first-year programs, self-selection effects prevent researchers from making causal claims about the outcomes of those programs. The present research examined the effects on first-semester grades of students participating in themed learning communities at a research university in the Midwest. Results indicated that membership in themed learning communities was positively associated with higher grade point averages, even after controlling for entering ability, application date, gender, and first-generation/low-income status. However, when instrumental variables were introduced to account for self-selection, the effects of themed learning communities on grades were not statistically significant. The results have implications for campus leaders and assessment practitioners who are working to develop methods for understanding the effects of programs designed to enhance the undergraduate educational experiences on their campuses.
Calls for accountability in higher education are prompted in part by questions concerning whether... more Calls for accountability in higher education are prompted in part by questions concerning whether colleges and universities use their resources effectively to promote student learning. Unfortunately, too little is known about whether money matters to desired outcomes of college. Using students’ responses to the 2004 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in concert with institutional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Board, this study examined the relationships between educational expenditures, student engagement and selected student self-reported learning outcomes, controlling for student and institutional characteristics. Results indicated that expenditures were modestly related to student engagement and learning outcomes. However, the nature of these relationships differed, depending on the engagement/outcome measure and student year in school.
A suite of assessment tools, including measures of student engagement, powers a cycle of activiti... more A suite of assessment tools, including measures of student engagement, powers a cycle of activities that create an institutional culture of planning and decision making based on evidence.
This chapter describes the ongoing development of a survey of students' workplace skills, civic e... more This chapter describes the ongoing development of a survey of students' workplace skills, civic engagement, and global awareness that colleges and universities can use to document their contributions to the public good.
This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 200... more This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 2005 revision of the classification, and selected variables underlying Carnegie’s expanded 2005 classification system using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement’s spring 2004 administration. Results indicate that the 2000 and 2005 classifications generally offer comparable explanatory power for measures of self-reported gains and student engagement, but the new variables from the 2005 system are more strongly related to cognitive outcomes and engagement than were the two categorical groupings. The variables most consistently related to outcomes and engagement are graduate-undergraduate coexistence, residential character of the campus, and arts and sciences share of undergraduate majors. Implications of the findings for research and assessment are discussed.
... Downloaded from the National Survey of Student Engagement web site: http://www.iub.edu/~ nsse... more ... Downloaded from the National Survey of Student Engagement web site: http://www.iub.edu/~ nsse/html/benchmark.htm. Jordan, GW, III. (2004). Race-conscious university admissions challenges in attaining student body diversity in the Grutter/Gratz era. ...
Calls for accountability, coupled with a desire to improve teaching and learning, have prompted m... more Calls for accountability, coupled with a desire to improve teaching and learning, have prompted many colleges and universities to consider ways of assessing the effects of postsecondary education on student growth and development. Despite widespread support for the concept of assessing student change, relatively few institutions have implemented this type of assessment, in part because of a concern about the best method of measuring change. This article describes the use of structural equation models with latent variables to assess the effects of education on change. Advantages of using structural equation models with latent variables include error-free measurement of change, direct tests of the assumptions underlying change research, along with the power and flexibility of maximum likelihood estimation. An analysis of data on freshman-to-senior gains provides evidence of the advantages of latent variable structural equation modeling and also suggests that the group differences identified by traditional analysis of variance and covariance techniques may be an artifact of measurement error.
... Athens: University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education. Thorndike, RL (1966). Intellectu... more ... Athens: University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education. Thorndike, RL (1966). Intellectual status and intellectual growth. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57, 121-127. Warren, J. (1984). The blind alley of value added. AAHA Bulletin, 37(1): 10-13. Gary R. Pike is Director ...
This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 200... more This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 2005 revision of the classification, and selected variables underlying Carnegie’s expanded 2005 classification system using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement’s spring 2004 administration. Results indicate that the 2000 and 2005 classifications generally offer comparable explanatory power for measures of self-reported gains and student engagement, but the new variables from the 2005 system are more strongly related to cognitive outcomes and engagement than were the two categorical groupings. The variables most consistently related to outcomes and engagement are graduate-undergraduate coexistence, residential character of the campus, and arts and sciences share of undergraduate majors. Implications of the findings for research and assessment are discussed.
Uploads
Papers by Gary Pike