We describe the effects of a change in the mathematics placement policy at a large 4-year public university. The change resulted in a sharp reduction of the number of students placed in remedial courses, while the levels of academic preparedness of the students, the course content, and the instruction methods remained the same. This allows us to…

The purpose of this paper is to describe effect coding as an alternative quantitative practice for analyzing and interpreting categorical, multi-raced independent variables in higher education research. Not only may effect coding enable researchers to get closer to respondents' original intentions, it allows for more accurate analyses of all race…

Armed with a strong toolkit of knowledge and skills, institutional research (IR) professionals often serve as collaborators with campus colleagues who may need assistance with survey design, statistical analysis, program review, and assessment of individual programs or the institution. This paper discusses the role that an IR professional played…

The present study describes the level of faculty-student interaction on 2-year college campuses, examines student characteristics correlated with faculty contact, and considers how interaction may differ among racial subgroups of students. Using data collected from the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) survey, a…

This study tested the Systematic Distortion Hypothesis by examining the factorial validity of student ratings of university teaching. Factorial validity is defined as the degree to which covariance among judged traits resembles the actual or true covariation of observable behaviors underlying these traits. Although many studies have examined the…

Institutions of higher education are looked to by society as the training grounds and gatekeepers for college-trained workers. However, despite a long history of being viewed by many as unresponsive to labor force needs, the academy has not found ways of effectively meeting these demands, nor articulating why it is that they have difficulty doing…

An important part of the analysis of the expected effects of institutional closure is estimation of redistribution of students attending the closed school. How coefficient estimates from models of enrollment demand can be used to predict the alternative attendance choices of students enrolled at the closed school is discussed. (Author/MLW)

The use of "neutral or unsure" on an instrument designed to measure identity development in college students was explored. The nominal response model from item response theory was used to evaluate whether "neutral or unsure" was used more frequently by those at low or middle levels of development; the results depended on the subscale and sometimes…