The essay examines the variety of research methods and measures used in the first-year experience and students-in-transition field over the past 25 years. Interrogating the extant research, Kinzie explores whether the methods and analytic processes most commonly employed are adequate to advance our understanding of complex issues in the field. The…

This article considers the appropriateness of international instruments to measure the separate concepts of graduateness for a research university context. The four concepts of graduateness--reflective thinking, scholarship, moral citizenship and lifelong learning--are operationalized using five existing instruments. These instruments were…