Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) is the combination of meta-analysis (MA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). With new MASEM methodologies developed over the past few years, there is an opportunity to compare the past approaches with the new ones. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, the parameter estimates,…

A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted within the measurement portion of a structural equation model (SEM) looking at first time, full time freshmen's perceptions, commitments, and behaviors in the early part of the first fall semester. Survey items collected within the first three to five weeks of the initial fall semester were found to…

This quantitative study examined the effects of marijuana on academic and social involvement in undergraduates using a structural equation model. The study was conducted at a midsized comprehensive community college in the Midwest and was guided by Astin's (1985) theory of student involvement. A survey link was e-mailed to all 4,527 eligible…

Despite the fact that international students face challenges at the United States (U.S.) universities and colleges, little research exits on these student's sense of belonging. This study investigates the factors of sense of belonging for international students and provides insights on factors like academic adjustment, homesickness, peer…

Measurement shortcomings have hampered the understanding of institutional commitment (IC) in college students. Therefore, this study sought to (a) develop validated indices of IC and associated psychosocial attributes and (b) use these indices to test a nomological network of variables and their direct and indirect relationships to IC. Exploratory…

Student satisfaction has become an important concept in higher education because students are paying higher tuition fees and increasingly seeing themselves as customers and because satisfaction is commonly used as an indicator of quality by quality assurance agencies and the compilers of rankings and league tables. In business organisations, it…

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students' learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not…

Central in this study is the role of student variables and the fit between secondary education and university education in the explanation of first-year student achievement. The fit between two levels of education can be defined in different ways. In this study the focus is on four fit-aspects: appropriateness of expectations, and the degree to…

This study explores the deployment of electronic portfolios to a university-wide cohort of freshman undergraduates that included a subgroup of at-risk and lower academically prepared learners. Five evaluative dimensions based on persistence and engagement theory were included in the development of four assessment rubrics exploring goal clarity,…

Researchers express growing concern over the increasing higher education achievement gap between subgroups of Black American students (e.g., Massey, Mooney, Torres, & Charles, 2007). Whereas the number of degrees awarded to Black females has consistently grown for each of the past twenty years, the number of degrees awarded to Black males during…

This research tested a structural equation model of educational outcomes for three socioeconomic status (SES) groups of African-American students enrolled in a community college (total sample of 315). The structural model, which was based on a variant of Tinto's (1987) model, contained two exogenous constructs, educational intentions and…