Examining a Comprehensive College Transition Program: An Account of Iterative Mixed Methods Longitudinal Survey Design

Darnell Cole (), Joseph A. Kitchen () and Adrianna Kezar
Additional contact information
Darnell Cole: University of Southern California
Joseph A. Kitchen: University of Southern California
Adrianna Kezar: University of Southern California

Research in Higher Education, 2019, vol. 60, issue 3, No 6, 392-413

Abstract: Abstract There are few accounts in the higher education literature of mixing methods at the survey design stage and very little guidance targeting higher education researchers and practitioners who want to implement a mixed methods approach to design survey tools. This article explores an eight-step, iterative, mixed methods approach for creating a longitudinal, multi-institutional survey to assess how participation in a comprehensive college transition program is related to students’ psychosocial and academic outcomes. In the context of a college transition program study, our mixed methods strategy to develop a survey instrument included initial qualitative data collection and review of psychosocial constructs, psychometric pilot, baseline survey, focus groups, case study research, cognitive interviews, follow-up pilot, and follow-up survey. This article makes a unique contribution to higher education research, providing a potential model for others seeking guidance in mixing methods at the study design and instrument development stage. Major lessons learned from the mixed methods survey design process are discussed.

Keywords: Mixed-methods; Survey design; College transition program; Postsecondary program evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-018-9515-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:reihed:v:60:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11162-018-9515-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11162

DOI: 10.1007/s11162-018-9515-1

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Higher Education is currently edited by Robert K. Toutkoushian

More articles in Research in Higher Education from Springer, Association for Institutional Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().