Publisher's Synopsis
From the Editors
Higher education administrators, institutional researchers (IR), and scholars rely heavily on the survey responses of college students, not least to meet mounting accountability pressures to document student learning and institutional effectiveness. However, research on the accuracy of students′ self–reported learning, development and experiences is quite limited. To address this critical issue, Validity and Limitations of College Student Self–Report Data provides seven empirical studies that examine the validity, use, and interpreation of such data, with an emphasis on student self–reported gains. The chapters are written by leading scholars in the field of college student self–reports, and they provide IR practitioners several analytical frameworks to gauge the accuracy of student survey data. The cumulative findings from this volume suggest that self–reported gains exhibit some significant biases, and they often do not constitute an adequate proxy for longitudinal measures of learning and development. Still, student self–reports offer important subjective impressions about learning and affective development that may complement direct measures of outcomes, together yielding a more comprehensive picture of the college experience.
