Browsing by Author "Gonyea, R. M."

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Accuracy of self-reported grades: Implications for research
(2012-06-05) Cole, J. S.; Rocconi, L.; Gonyea, R. M.
Accuracy of self-reported SAT and ACT test scores: Implications for research
(Research in Higher Education, 51, 4, 2010-06) Cole, J. S.; Gonyea, R. M.
Because it is often impractical or impossible to obtain school transcripts or records on subjects, many researchers rely on college students to accurately self-report their academic record as part of their data collection procedures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the validity and reliability of student self-reported academic performance. As expected the study finds overall validity of self-reported test scores to be high. However, correlations between self-reported and actual SAT scores are significantly lower than correlations for self-reported and actual ACT Composite scores. This study also confirms prior research which found that when students are inaccurate in reporting their scores, a disproportionate number of them over-report their scores. Also consistent with other studies, this study finds that lower achieving students for both tests are much less accurate when reporting their scores.
Applying item response theory to examine extreme survey response style
(2017-04-27) Wang, X.; Ribera, A. K.; Gonyea, R. M.
Response style effect is a well-known survey limitation. By applying a generalized item response theory (IRT) model to the Global Perspective Inventory data from the 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), this study provides estimates of college students' extreme response style (ERS) tendency. Furthermore, findings reveal significant group differences in ERS tendency by two student characteristics' first-generation status and major choice (STEM vs non-STEM).
Are our writing assignments effective?
(2014-11-06) Cogswell, C. A.; Howe, E. C.; Gonyea, R. M.
As evidenced by their steadily growing investment in writing-across-the-curriculum programs, institutions recognize how writing can increase student engagement and learning. This session explores how faculty members use writing assignments in their teaching and how this compares across academic disciplines and by faculty characteristics. Special sets of questions appended to the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) point to ways faculty members can design effective writing tasks. Participants will discuss how interactive writing processes, meaning-constructing writing tasks, and clear expectations increase students' likelihood to engage in deep approach to learn. Implications for faculty and academic leaders will be presented.
Assessing what really matters for student learning: Making productive use of your engagement data (Keynote Address)
(2010-02-05) Gonyea, R. M.
CCSSE & NSSE: Using student engagement data for institutional improvement
(Tennessee Association for Institutional Research Conference, 2006-08-04) Gonyea, R. M.; Marti, C. N.
Celebrating NSSE's 20th: Making the most of student engagement data
(Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, 2019-05-30) Gonyea, R. M.; Kinzie, J.
In this session, Bob Gonyea and Jillian Kinzie share NSSE's achievements, highlight effective institutional reporting and data uses, and preview plans for assessment in the project's next several years.
College students' experiences with writing: What do we know, and how are institutions applying local findings?
(Association of American Colleges & Universities Annual Meeting, 2016-01-21) Kinzie, J.; Gonyea, R. M.; McCormick, A.; Paine, C.; Blake, L. P.
"AAC&U's Essential Learning Outcomes and the Degree Qualifications Profile identify writing as a key outcome. Virtually all colleges and universities aim to develop proficient writers. Recent evidence suggests that experiences critical to developing writing competence correspond to broader benefits in student learning. And "Writing Across the Curriculum" initiatives make clear that the responsibility to develop this important competency is shared across departments. Consistent with AAC&U's emphasis on enhancing institutional structures and practices to support student success, many institutions monitor students' exposure to and participation in effective educational practices through the use of student surveys such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). To enable deeper examination of specific practices and experiences, in 2013 NSSE began offering a menu of topical modules to complement the core survey's breadth of focus. Results from topical modules provide a fresh opportunity to "drill down" on educational quality and make targeted improvements in teaching and learning. One of the new modules investigates students' experiences with writing. Whereas the core survey focuses on the number of assigned papers of various lengths, the writing module probes a range of activities and experiences promoted by those who teach composition--interactive writing processes, meaning-making tasks, and clarity of instructor expectations for writing assignments. This research-informed panel presentation session (1) highlights recent findings from NSSE's Experiences with Writing module, including how these experiences vary across subpopulations and major fields, and (2) provides examples of how institutions are making productive use of their results. NSSE researchers report on large-scale findings, and two panelists share what they have learned and how they are using results to guide improvement."
Connecting the dots: Multi-faceted analyses of the relationships between student engagement results from the NSSE, and the institutional practices and conditions that foster student success
(Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, 2007-01) Kuh, G. D.; Kinzie, J.; Cruce, T.; Shoup, R.; Gonyea, R. M.
Connecting the dots: New evidence about why and how student engagement matters
(Association of American Colleges & Universities Annual Meeting, 2007-01-19) Kuh, G. D.; Kinzie, J.; Gonyea, R. M.
Contextualizing student engagement effect sizes: An empirical analysis
(Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, 2015-05-28) Rocconi, L.; Gonyea, R. M.
The concept of effect size--a measure of the strength of association between two variables--plays a crucial role in assessment, institutional research, and scholarly inquiry, where it is common with large sample sizes to find small or even trivial relationships or differences that are statistically significant. Using the distributions of effect sizes from the results of 984 institutions that participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2013 and 2014, the authors empirically derived new recommendations for the interpretation of effect sizes which were grounded within the context of the survey. We argue for the adoption of new values for interpreting small, medium, and large effect sizes from statistical comparisons of NSSE Engagement Indicators, High-Impact Practices, and student engagement data more generally.
Differences in high school engagement and college expectations between underachieving and overachieving students
(Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, 2008-05-26) Cole, J. S.; Gonyea, R. M.
Documenting the value of higher education with student engagement data
(Association of American Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting, 2019-01-24) Kinzie, J.; McCormick, A. C.; Gonyea, R. M.; Nunez, E.
A key component of the college value story is the explication of specific knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that students gain from their undergraduate education. This session will demonstrate the use of aggregate National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results to document graduating senior outcomes, highlight new findings from the Senior Transition module that reveal seniors' confidence in essen - tial skills and abilities valued by employers, and explore the specific educational practices associated with these outcomes. We will discuss the implications of this narrative; illustrate approaches to communicat- ing it; feature examples from institutions that have used their data to communicate their unique value stories, including students' open- ended comments to give authentic voice to the quantitative data and exchange ideas about crafting data-rich value stories.
Driving report generation: Saving time with Excel macros
(Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, 2007-06-05) Gonyea, R. M.; Moore, J.; Shoup, R.
Evaluating CLA and NSSE data together
(CIC/CLA Consortium Summer Meeting, 2009-08-04) Gonyea, R. M.; Nemeth, A.
Evaluating the rationale for affirmative action in college admissions: Direct and indirect relationships between campus diversity and gains in understanding diverse groups
(Journal of College Student Development, 2007-03-15) Pike, G. R.; Kuh, G. D.; Gonyea, R. M.
Afﬁrmative action in college admissions is based on the premise that a diverse student body contributes to interactions among students from different backgrounds, which are in turn positively related to desirable outcomes of college. This study evaluates the merits of this rationale for afﬁrmative action by examining the direct and indirect relationships between student-body diversity and students’ gains in understanding people of other racial/ethnic backgrounds. Data from a nationally representative sample of 428 colleges and universities participating in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicated that student-body diversity was indirectly, but not directly, related to gains in understanding people from diverse backgrounds. Results supported the use of afﬁrmative action in college admissions, indicating that student body diversity is directly related to greater interaction among diverse groups, but not the quality of interpersonal relations on campus. Diversity of the student body was indirectly related to gains in understanding diverse groups, acting through informal interactional diversity.
Examining student leadership as a high-impact practice
(Assessment Institute, 2015-10-26) Gonyea, R. M.; Zilvinskis, J.
Assessment professionals are often asked to measure the quality of co-curricular activities. For example, when a student holds a formal leadership role in a student organization, what does that look like? How does that experience relate to learning and development? High-impact practices (HIPs)- characterized by their intensity, collaboration, and effectiveness- have gained attention in the assessment world. This session explores the quality of student leadership experiences and what it might take to label them "high-impact." The presenters will identify populations that are more or less likely to participate in HIP-level leadership and will recommend how educators can enhance leadership experiences.
Expectations and engagement: How liberal arts college students compare with counterparts elsewhere
(Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, 2006) Gonyea, R. M.; Kuh, G. D.; Kinzie, J.; Cruce, T.; Nelson Laird, T. F.
To learn more about the relationships between students' pre-college educational experiences and their expectations for and experiences in the first college year, we turned to data collected via the newly developed Beginning College Survey of Engagement (BCSSE) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The BCSSE, a companion instrument to the NSSE, measures entering students' expectations for college (with a focus on participating in educationally purposeful activities). It also collects information about selected high school experiences. The NSSE assesses the extent to which first-year students in college engage in empirically-derived good educational practices and what they gain from their college experience. Thus, we can match entering students' responses to the BCSS with their responses to the NSSE at the end of the first year of college to obtain a more accurate picture of what students are like when they start college and what they expect of themselves and their college or university, and compare these responses to what students actually do during their first year of college. A better understanding of these phenomena will be instructive for revising pre-college socialization, orientation, and first-year experience initiatives as well as other efforts designed to enhance student learning and improve persistence and graduation rates. Because the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College is committed to exploring various facets of and promoting liberal arts educational practices and ensuring that the nature of liberal arts education is better understood, we concentrate on the expectations and experiences of students at baccalaureate liberal arts colleges compared to students at other types of colleges and universities. Three central questions guided this analysis: (1) What do liberal arts college students expect to do during their first year of study in terms of academic, social and other activities? (2) How do the expectations of liberal arts college students compare with their experiences during the first year? (3) How do the expectations and experiences of liberal arts college students compare with those of their peers at other types of institutions?
Exploring the relationships between spirituality, liberal learning, and college student
(Center for Postsecondary Research, 2005-07-11) Kuh, G. D.; Gonyea, R. M.
Faculty use of writing assignments: Exploring classroom teaching practices
(Professional & Organizational Development Conference, 2013-11-08) Cole, E. R.; Gonyea, R. M.; Ahonen, C.
As evidenced by their steadily growing investment in writing-across-the-curriculum programs, institutions recognize how writing can increase student engagement and learning. This session explores how faculty members use writing assignments in their teaching and how this compares across academic disciplines and institutional characteristics. Special sets of questions appended to both the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) point to ways faculty members can design effective writing tasks. Participants will discuss how interactive writing processes, meaning-constructing writing tasks, and clear expectations improve students' success in learning. Implications for faculty developers are also presented.