ERIC Number: EJ1274860
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0897-5264
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Identifying Meaningful Individual-Level Change in Educational Experiences: Adding to Our Methodological Toolkit
Niehaus, Elizabeth; Nyunt, Gudrun
Journal of College Student Development, v61 n5 p637-643 Sep-Oct 2020
In recent years, improving the quantitative methods used to assess the effect of college, and particular college experiences, on student outcomes has received increased attention (e.g., Mayhew et al., 2016). In "How College Affects Students," Mayhew et al. (2016) highlighted the importance of issues of practical vs. statistical significance, self-selection into college (and by extension, self-selection into particular experiences), and direct and indirect effects, among other methodological challenges in identifying the relationships between college experiences and student learning and success. One particularly difficult challenge is identifying the conditional effects of experiences on student outcomes. Who benefits, or who does not, from particular experiences? The most common methods of assessing conditional effects rely on group-level analyses (e.g., introducing interaction terms or conducting subgroup analyses). Yet, these methods do not provide a way to determine whether an experience has had a positive, negative, or neutral effect on an individual student. Examining individual-level change can help researchers and practitioners further understand the complexities of how educational experiences affect students. With this article the authors aim to build on the work on conditional effects in higher education (e.g., Seifert et al., 2014) to provide a way to assess meaningful individual-level change. The authors provide a theoretical framework for understanding why educational experiences might lead to positive or negative outcomes; discuss the challenges in assessing individual-level change; describe one method of assessing individual-level change; provide an example of how researchers might use this method to consider positive and negative outcomes for individual students; and discuss how this consideration might change the way college experiences are viewed.
Descriptors: Educational Experience, Change, College Students, Research Methodology, Outcomes of Education, Error of Measurement, Study Abroad, Measurement Techniques
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A