How College Makes a Difference: A Summary

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How College Makes a Difference A Summary

• By E.T. Pascarella and P.T. Terenzini (1991).
  From How College Affects Students Findings and
  Insights from Twenty Years of Research

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Introduction

• A study on how college influences the
  development of college students
• Previous research
• Feldman Newcomb (1969)
• Bowen (1977)
• Numerous Others

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Research Questions

• Do students change during college, and if so, to
  what extent and direction?
• To what extent are these changes due to college
  rather then outside influences?
• Do these changes depend on the type of
  institution students attend?

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Research Questions (continued)

• Are changes dependant on the individual or do
  they happen uniformly for all students?
• Are these changes affected by student
  characteristics (personality, background,
  culture)?
• Does college have a lasting effect on students?

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Methods

• Excerpt from a book providing a narrative
• explanatory synthesis of research
• The researchers chose not to use a meta-analysis
  because of the extreme variations in the ways
  research was conducted

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Results

• During College there are four main categories of
  change.
• Psychosocial
• Moral Development
• Values and Attitudes
• Cognition and Learning

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Quick note on the statistics used

• In this study the researchers were comparing
  differences between freshmen and seniors in order
  to determine the effect that college has on the
  students.
• The researchers assigned number values to student
  characteristics they observed.
• There are three statistical values from this
  study that we need to understand.
• Effect Size (Senior Mean-Freshmen Mean)
  (measure the magnitude of an effect)
• Freshmen Standard Deviation
• Percentile difference If you converted the
  effect size to an equivalent percentage point
  under a normal curve where the mean is set at
  50, The percent difference is the effect sizes
  percentage amount.
• Percentage point difference between freshmen and
  seniors percentage /- of seniors who hold a
  particular view vs. that of freshmen. This is
  also a more comprehensive number for widely
  variable data.

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Cognition and Learning

• This is the most significant change that takes
  place during college
• Changes in cognition and learning
• General Verbal 21 (Difference sen. to fresh.)
• Quantitative 10
• Specific Material for Major 31
• Formal Reasoning 13
• Abstract Reasoning 34
• What this tells us about seniors, compared to
  freshmen
• They gain more factual knowledge
• They are more cognitively developed/Organized and
  can thus deal with more complex forms of thinking
• This has the most enduring implications for post
  college life

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Psychosocial

• Only modest changes, and these could be based off
  of the cognitive changes
• Two main sections of psychosocial self systems
  and relational systems.
• Self systems
• Identity status 15 to 25 (difference sen. to
  fresh .)
• Ego development 19
• Self esteem 23
• Relational
• Autonomy or independence 14
• Personal adjustment 16
• Interpersonal relations 6
• Intellectual orientation 12
• Seniors think better of themselves, are more
  mature, and are better at dealing with other
  people

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Moral Development

• The difference between seniors and freshmen is
  consistent with other changes
• The researchers where unable to estimate a
  magnitude of effect, but the major change was
  from a conventional to post-conventional or
  principled reasoning

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Values and Attitudes

• Religiosity -11 in Conventional Religious
  Preference
• Humanism 2-8
• Political and Social
  
  Liberalism 15-25
• Value placed on
  
  Liberal education 20-30
• Aesthetic, Cultural and
  
  Intellectual Values 10-15 diff.
• Shift towards openness, tolerance, and desire for
  human rights. Also a clear shift towards a more
  liberal way of thinking and reasoning.

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Who Benefits from this Research?

• Administrators of higher education
• Improved programs
• Better quality of life
• Graduate students going into teaching
• Knowledge of how students change
• Greater self-awareness
• State and federal policymakers
• Improved schools
• Knowledge of the importance of schools
• Students
• Knowledge of what they are going through
• Knowledge of what to expect in the future

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Problems and limitations with findings and
research

• Evidence was based on studies that measured the
  average change, this can mask individual
  differences.
• Some students may change a lot, others very
  little
• Some students may change counter to the movement
  of the group
• Students may move one way with certain variables
  and another way with other variables

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Problems continued

• The evidence does not necessarily reflect the
  impact of college
• There was no control group to compare non-college
  students development during these years
• There may be a developmental base for many of the
  changes
• Absence of change does not necessarily reflect
  the absence of college impact, maybe college
  fixes development.

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More problems

• Non traditional students were not addressed
• Most research did not address minority students
• Most of the studies focused on 18-22 year old
  students, attending a four year institution full
  time, and living on campus
• The evidence does not necessarily point to
  internal growth / development
• Change can have multiple influences some
  internal, some external

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Questions

• What do you think explains the shift during
  college to more liberal religious and political
  views?
• Do you see the changes cited as being due to
  development or being in college? A combination of
  the two? What does development during this time
  look like if you arent in college?