Daniel B. Saunders

Online Disclosure: An Empirical Examination of Undergraduate Facebook Profiles

This study advances our knowledge of students’ online self-disclosures by examining a random sample of students’ Facebook profiles at a large, public research University in the Northeast. A quantitative content analysis revealed that the vast majority of students had a Facebook account and very small proportions restricted access of their profile to University staff. Substantial proportions of students’ profiles contained contact information, course schedules, positive references to the University, and pictures of students’ consuming alcohol. Detailed implications for practice are discussed.

How We Know What We Know: A Systematic Comparison of Research Methods Employed in Higher Education Journals, 1996−2000 v. 2006−2010

This study replicates and extends a 2004 content analysis of three major higher education journals. The original study examined the methodological characteristics of all published research in these journals from 1996 to 2000, recommending that higher education programs adjust their graduate training to better match the heavily quantitative and statistically sophisticated journal content. We examine the same journals’ content from 2006 to 2010—one decade later—through the lens of knowledge production in higher education, and explore the ways that dominant modes of research may legitimize and/or delegitimize various forms of inquiry. Our findings reveal a field that continues to be dominated by quantitative methods and which is increasingly using more advanced statistical techniques. We discuss the tensions of a field more aligned with federal and state priorities and therefore better positioned to influence policy, but with a concomitantly contracted scope of and approach to inquiry. We also discuss implications for the training of graduate students, professionals, and policymakers as well as implications for publishing and researching other aspects of knowledge production in higher education.

They do not buy it: exploring the extent to which entering first-year students view themselves as customers

While a number of scholars have discussed the pervasiveness of the conceptualization of students as customers, to date there has been limited reliable research examining the extent to which students actually view themselves as customers. Using a survey that was administered to a census of entering first-year students at a large public research university (59.8% response rate), this study shows that students do not agree with many of the educational beliefs and planned behaviors associated with a customer orientation. Results of exploratory factor analysis suggested only 28.9% of respondents expressed a customer orientation. These results show that contrary to what has become common sense in postsecondary education, most students at this public university do not express a customer orientation towards their education. Such findings should make scholars and practitioners rethink some of their embedded assumptions with regards to the goals, motivations, and general educational orientations of todays college students.

The Impact of Neoliberalism on College Students

Neoliberalism has become the dominant socio-economic paradigm in the United States and as such has tremendous impact on all aspects of our lives. While there is increasing research on the impact of neoliberalism on a variety of areas, little research has been conducted regarding the neoliberal impact on education, particularly on students. At the same time, a variety of higher education scholars have documented rapid and fundamental changes occurring within our colleges and universities, faculty, and students. This paper aims to bridge the gap between these two bodies of literature and begin a conversation focusing on the negative impact of neoliberalism on our students and on higher education.

Who is shaping the field? Doctoral education, knowledge creation and postsecondary education research in the United States

ABSTRACT Previous research has found the field of higher education, particularly in the United States, is dominated by functionalist approaches, a preponderance of survey data, and the ubiquitous use of advanced quantitative methods to investigate educational phenomena. This descriptive study aims to illuminate why the field is constructed in this way. Given that researchers have found doctoral education to influence the way scholars think about, conduct and disseminate their research, we explore the educational histories of published authors in the field with the belief that examining the distribution of institutional affiliations among authors may shed light on the dominance of particular approaches to knowledge production within the field. Specifically, we examined doctoral institutional affiliations of authors published in three top-tier higher education journals in the United States from 2006 to 2010. Our analysis illuminates that knowledge produced in the field of higher education is highly concentrated among both authors and particular institutions. Our findings raise important questions about the social processes governing knowledge generation within the field – including questions about the extent to which such concentration is or is not desirable.

Take Back Higher Education:A Book Review and Discussion of Neoliberalism and Critical Pedagogy

This paper reviews Henry and Susan Girouxs Take Back Higher Education within a larger discussion of neoliberalism and critical pedagogy. It examines the fundamental lack of our critical questioning from our students and our citizenry and the resulting emergence of the democratic consumer: the individual who uses his or her voice solely in the material realm. This passive consumerism that neoliberalism espouses can be combated through the use of critical pedagogy. Higher education must make it a priority to empower our students to be active citizens within their realities and work to be the shapers of the futures.