In this era of increased accountability, it is important to consider how student affairs researches and assesses the outcomes of efforts to increase moral competence. This article examines both qualitative and quantitative inquiry methods for measuring moral development. The authors review the instrumentation and methods typically used to measure…

This research examines the effects of an off-campus service learning program on the moral reasoning development of college students. A pre-post quasi-experimental design was employed with two groups of college students (aged 18-22), one that engaged in service learning and the other which did not. The intervention was an eight-week summer service…

Students' moral reasoning was assessed at a religiously affiliated liberal arts university. Cohort data were collected from undergraduate students who had entered the university as freshmen: 364 students in 2007 and 264 students in 2009. The results indicated that there was a significant increase in students' post-conventional moral reasoning…

While John Dewey's learning theory has been widely credited as the essential theoretical underpinnings of service learning, lesser attention has been paid to his concept of moral imagination regarding its immense potentials in nurturing college students' moral growth in service learning. This article explores Dewey's framework of moral imagination…

Reports on a study of the effect of community service on 71 undergraduate students. Finds that community service work combined with discussion of relevant moral issues is an effective way of moving students into the postconventional stage of principled moral reasoning. Discusses other benefits of community service work. (CFR)