We use a longitudinal national dataset to explore the effects of fraternity and sorority membership on students' socially responsible leadership in the fourth year of college. Controlling for a variety of potentially confounding variables, we find no net effect. These findings run counter to an earlier study based on the same students that found…

In this study the authors analyze longitudinal student survey data from the 17-institution Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS) to determine the extent that the influence of overall exposure to clear and organized instruction on four-year growth in two measures of cognitive development is mediated by student use of deep approaches…

The sophisticated analytical techniques available to institutional researchers give them an array of procedures to estimate a causal effect using observational data. But as many quantitative researchers have discovered, access to a wider selection of statistical tools does not necessarily ensure construction of a better analytical model. Moreover,…

Analyzing three-year longitudinal data from 18 diverse four-year institutions, this study investigated the role of race in the solidifying plans for a graduate degree. Net of other influences, African American and Hispanic students were significantly less likely than their White classmates to lower their plans for a graduate degree. However,…

Discriminant analysis was separately employed for men and women in order to determine the independent personality dimensions that discriminate among the four Clark-Trow student types. Two significant discriminant functions placed the male vocational, nonconformist, academic, and collegiate types in positions that are essentially consistent with…

A national sample of college students who initially aspired to be, or later became, physicians was used to determine the influence of precollege characteristics, college origins, and the academic and social experience of college. Major effects on attainment were college characteristics and academic experience. (Author/MLW)

A five-scale instrument developed from a theoretical model of college attrition correctly identified the persistence/voluntary withdrawal decisions of 78.5 percent of 773 freshmen in a large, residential university. Findings showed that student relationships with faculty were particularly important. (Author/PHR)

The validity of Tinto's (1975) theory of student attrition, which asserts that withdrawal relates most directly to students' integration in the social and academic systems of an institution, is examined. This study supports that theory and also suggests that informal interaction with faculty plays an important role as well. (Editor/LBH)