Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education
Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College
http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/
Research findings:
Four broad categories of teaching practices and institutional conditions predict growth on
a wide variety of student outcomes including moral reasoning, leadership, openness to
diversity and challenge, and positive attitude toward literacy. These four categories of
high-impact teaching practices and supportive institutional conditions were derived from
survey questions in the Wabash National Study about student experiences. The questions
come from both the Student Experiences Survey and the National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE).
• Good Teaching and High-Quality Interactions with Faculty, which includes:
Faculty interest in teaching and student development
Prompt feedback
Quality of non-classroom interactions with faculty
Teaching clarity and organization
• Academic Challenge and High Expectations, which includes:
Academic challenge and effort
Frequency of higher-order exams and assignments
Challenging classes and high faculty expectations
Integrating ideas, information, and experiences
• Diversity Experiences, which includes:
Meaningful interactions with diverse peers – I
Meaningful interactions with diverse peers – II
• NSSE Deep Learning, which includes:
Higher-order learning
Integrative learning
Reflective learning
Students who report higher levels of these experiences tend to grow more on the outcome
measures. Similarly, students who report lower levels of these experiences are less likely
to grow on the outcomes.
The study measures both student outcomes and student experiences using the following
instruments:
Outcome Measures
CAAP Critical Thinking Test
Need for Cognition Scale
Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale (M-GUD-S)
Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2)
Defining Issues Test (DIT-2)
Professional Success
Openness to Diversity and Challenge
Academic Motivation
Positive Attitude toward Literacy
Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being
Contribution to the Arts
Contribution to the Sciences
Political and Social Involvement
Experience Surveys
NSSE
Student Experiences Survey
Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) Critical Thinking Test
The CAAP Critical Thinking Test is a 32-item, 40-minute instrument that measures
students' skills in clarifying, analyzing, evaluating, and extending arguments. The
Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency is a national, standardized assessment
program based on professional research and development by ACT.
Need for Cognition Scale (NCS)
Developed by John T. Cacioppo and Richard E. Petty, the Need for Cognition Scale
measures how much people enjoy engaging in effortful cognitive activities. Individuals
who rank high in "need for cognition" enjoy thinking and do it more often than
individuals who rank low in this area and who only engage in careful thought when they
have to. The scale has 18 items arranged in a Likert-scale fashion.
Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale – Short Form (M-GUDS-S)
The M-GUDS-S is a 15-item multiple-choice questionnaire that measures student
attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors regarding diversity. Developed by Marie L. Miville,
this instrument uses a 6-point Likert-type scale to assess student awareness and
acceptance of both similarities and differences among people. A longer, 45-item version
of this scale is also available.
Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2)
Developed by Tracy M. Tyree and designed as a tool for use in assessing college
students’ participation in a process of socially responsible leadership, this 68-item
instrument (version II) measures the eight C’s of the Social Change Model (SCM) for
leadership development: consciousness of self, congruence, commitment, collaboration,
common purpose, controversy with civility, and citizenship. These seven fall around one
central value, change.
The Defining Issues Test (DIT-2)
The Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) is an updated version of the DIT, a well-validated and
widely used measure of moral reasoning. It consists of five social problems to which
participants respond.
Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being
Designed to measure six dimensions of psychological well-being: self-acceptance,
environmental mastery, positive relations with others, personal growth, purpose in life,
and autonomy.
Contribution to the Arts and Humanities
Measures the importance students place on making a contribution to the arts and
humanities.
Contribution to the Sciences
Measures the importance students place on making a contribution to medicine or science.
Political and Social Involvement
Measures the importance students place on volunteering, promoting racial understanding,
and influencing political structures.
Professional Success
Measures the importance students place on entering a prestigious, high status, wellpaying occupation.
Openness to Diversity and Challenge
Measures students’ interest in exploring diversity in culture, ethnicity, perspectives,
values, and ideas.
Academic Motivation
Measures students’ interest in working hard, getting good grades, and engaging
challenging intellectual material.
Positive Attitude toward Literacy
Measures students’ enjoyment of reading and writing.
These last seven scales were empirically derived from the Wabash National Study
Student Experiences Survey by Ernest T. Pascarella and colleagues at the University of
Iowa Center for Research on Undergraduate Education.
Experience Surveys
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
Administered by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research in
cooperation with the Indiana University Center for Survey Research, the NSSE gathers
information about students' participation in programs and activities offered by the
institution. It is "designed to assess the extent to which students are engaged in
empirically derived good educational practices and what they gain from their college
experience."
Student Experiences Survey
Designed for the Wabash National Study by Ernest T. Pascarella and colleagues at the
University of Iowa's Center for Research on Undergraduate Education, this survey
gathers information about students' academic and cocurricular experiences and activities.
It contains questions about classroom experiences, interactions with faculty and peers,
and students' values. Twenty-one of the items come from the CIRP (Cooperative
Institutional Research Program) Survey.