Corbin M. Campbell

How Sound Is NSSE? Investigating the Psychometric Properties of NSSE at a Public, Research-Extensive Institution.

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Benchmarks has emerged as a competing paradigm for assessing institutional effectiveness vis-à-vis the U.S. News & World Report. However, Porter (2009) has critiqued it for failing to meet validity and reliability standards. This study investigated whether the NSSE five benchmarks had construct and predictive validity for non-transfer seniors at one mid-Atlantic, research-extensive institution and found that the five-benchmark model had high intercorrelations among the benchmarks, low item loadings, and low reliability scores. This study also found that the NSSE benchmark model was not a valid predictor of cumulative GPA for this institution.

Mentors and College Student Leadership Outcomes: The Importance of Position and Process

Mentorship is empirically related to several desired outcomes in college students including academic success and career development. Yet little is known about how mentorship aids leadership development in college students. This study uses data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, a national study with more than 110,000 participants from 101 institutions, to explore this issue. Findings show that leadership capacity is influenced by the mentorship process and the type of mentor (faculty, staff, employer, or peer). By focusing on who does the mentoring and how the mentoring process unfolds, this study informs best practices in mentoring for student leadership development.

To Heaven or Hell: Sensemaking about Why Faculty Leave

This article analyzes sensemaking about faculty departure among administrators, faculty colleagues, and faculty leavers in one research university. A mixed methods database was analyzed to reveal four dominant explanations for faculty departure and two influences on sensemaking. Dominant explanations included better opportunities, the likelihood the faculty member would not get tenure, family and geographic reasons, and work environment and fit. Sensemaking was influenced by status expectations and proximity to the departure. Implications for future research on faculty careers, and for campuses interested in improving faculty retention, are drawn.

Student Perceptions Matter: Early Signs of Undergraduate Student Retention/Attrition:

Along with the massification of higher education and increasing costs, the pressure on institutions to retain all students to degree completion has been mounting. Early identification of students who are at risk of leaving an institution may help institutions to target and retain these students. This study investigated whether freshmen behaviors, attitudes, and expectations inform the chances of different enrollment patterns at a large, public, research extensive university. Based on data from an institutional survey given to freshmen students and subsequent enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse, this study used Multinomial Logistic Regression to predict four different enrollment patterns: continuously enrolled, stop-outs, transfer-outs, and drop-outs. Findings indicated that freshmen perceptions and certain demographic characteristics seem to matter in subsequent enrollment outcomes.

A New Lens For Identifying Potential Adult Persistent Problem Drinkers During College

Because 20% of college high-risk drinkers continue this drinking behavior into adulthood, we used a development lens to compare the characteristics of high-risk college drinkers who matured out (time limited) with those who remained adult persistent. Respondents (4,428 undergraduate alumni over the age of 34) completed surveys about their drinking habits in college and their current drinking habits and personal characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis showed three components (20 items) that distinguished time limited from adult persistent drinkers and that correlated with student development theories related to drinking behavior, reasons for drinking and matters of control, intervention or consequences. Results suggest directions for prevention and intervention programs, and research to extend these findings.

An Inside View: The Utility of Quantitative Observation in Understanding College Educational Experiences.

Abstract:This article describes quantitative observation as a method for understanding college educational experiences. Quantitative observation has been used widely in several fields and in K–12 education, but has had limited application to research in higher education and student affairs to date. The article describes the central tenets of quantitative observation, using an example protocol, the College Educational Quality (CEQ) study, to illustrate its potential application to higher education and student affairs research. Quantitative observation allows researchers to witness the educational process as it unfolds, and does so in a systematic way that enables understanding patterns across time, groups, and settings.

Serving a Different Master: Assessing College Educational Quality for the Public

Assessing college educational quality has received a significant amount of attention from higher education scholars, policy-makers, institutional administrators, and faculty. The accountability movement calls for transparent, comparable data on college educational quality. Paradoxically, institutions have responded in the “assessment movement” with institution-centric data that is not seen by the public eye. By attempting to serve multiple masters (institutions, policy-makers, and the public), using limited conceptualizations of quality in higher education, and using singular and limited methods of measurement, the assessment movement has not met the underlying needs of the public and instead has created a substantial amount of data that does not illuminate “the black box.”