Learning and Assessment

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Significant research has been central to the development of best practices in learning and assessment relevant to GSL. We list these pieces immediately below and offer article abstracts farther down the page. Every effort is made to list the abstracts in the same order as the pieces are listed above (generally by most recent publication). The list developed here is listed chronologically in reverse-order, to show the conceptual development and research foundation in this growing field. We kindly request that any individuals interested in adding to this wiki do so by following the guidelines we have established.

Peer Reviewed Articles:

Books:

 

Chapters:

 

Dissertations, Theses, and Other Works:

Articles in Major Newspapers and Periodicals:

 

Websites:

 

Article Abstracts:

Jones, S.R., Rowan-Kenyon, H.T., Ireland, S.M-Y., Niehaus, E., & Skendall, K.C. (2012). The meaning students make as participants in short-term immersion programs. Journal of College Student Development, 53, 201-220.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of a multi-site case study designed to investigate students’ experiences as participants in four week-long immersion programs (New York City, Peru, the Czech Republic, Chicago). Results highlight the significance of the context of the trips and specific characteristics of the trip (e.g., getting out of the bubble, boundary crossing, and personalizing), which served as the springboard for learning and meaning making. In particular, meaning making focused on developing new understandings of social issues, privilege, and stereotypes, reframing experiences upon participants’ return, and shifting sense of purpose and career planning.

Celio, C.I., Durlak, J., & Dymnicki, A. (2011). A Meta-analysis of the imapct of service-learning on students. Journal of Experiential Education, 34(2), 164-181.

Service-learning (SL) has become a popular teaching method everywhere from elementary schools to colleges. Despite the increased presence of SL in the education world, it is still unclear what student outcomes are associated with SL programs and what factors are related to more effective programs. A meta-analysis of 62 studies involving 11,837 students indicated that, compared to controls, students participating in SL programs demonstrated significant gains in five outcome areas: attitudes toward self, attitudes toward school and learning, civic engagement, social skills, and academic performance. Mean effects ranged from 0.27 to 0.43. Furthermore, as predicted, there was empirical support for the position that following certain recommended practices-such as linking to curriculum, voice, community involvement, and reflection-was associated with better outcomes. Current data should be gratifying for educators who incorporate SL into their courses, and should encourage more SL research to understand how students benefit and what conditions foster their growth and development.

 

Hutchinson, M. (2011). Measuring engagement impact on communities: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 15(3), 31-44.

This article describes the author’s reflections on a service-learning course at Penn State Lehigh Valley, a campus of The Pennsylvania State University. The author provides background about the university, the community need, and the service-learning course. Reflections from assessing two semesters of the service-learning course are provided.

 

Bowman, N.A., Brandenberger, J.W., Snider Mick, C., & Toms Smedley, C. (2010). Sustained immersion courses and student orientations to equality, justice, and social responsibility: The role of short-term service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 17(1), 20-31.

Previous research has established numerous outcomes associated with taking service-learning course- work during college. However, most studies have examined the impact of three- or four-credit courses involving engagement of several hours per week, and other research has suggested that the gains associated with service-learning are directly related to the amount of time spent engaging with the community. This study explored whether one-credit courses employing a single, sustained community immersion experience (2-7 days) are capable of improving college student outcomes. A total of 354 students who participated in one-credit service-learning courses, along with 115 students who participated in three-credit summer service-learning courses with longer immersions (8-10 weeks), completed surveys gauging orientations toward equality, justice, and social responsibility. Students in the one-credit courses gained significantly on the majority of outcomes, and these increases were generally comparable to those of students taking longer three-credit courses. Implications for practice are discussed.

 

Polin, D. K. & Keene, A. S. (2010). Bringing an ethnographic sensibility to service-learning assessment. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 16(2), 22-37.

This paper explores the methodological implications of applying an ethnographic sensibility to evaluation in service-learning. It describes the evolution of such a method over the past 10 years within the Citizen Scholars Program at the University of Massachusetts, and outlines what we have learned from employing this method, as well as the challenges we face as we move toward institutionalizing this approach.

 

Swords, A., & Kiely, R. (Fall, 2010). Beyond pedagogy: Service learning as movement building in higher education: Integrating Teaching, Research, and Service. Through Community Engagement and Partnership. A Special Issue. Journal of Community Practice, 18(2), 148-170.

This article focuses on how service learning can function as a democratizing and empowering approach to pedagogy, research, organizational learning, and community development. The dominant discourse of service learning has evolved into a narrowly-defined alternative pedagogy that promotes student learning and enrichment but very little community development, institutional change, and policy change. For service learning to lead to more meaningful social change, beyond pedagogical innovation, it must be reinvented as a more robust approach including pedagogy, research, organizational learning, and community development. We illustrate weak and robust forms of each of the previously mentioned dimensions with concrete examples from our service-learning work and in particular, from case study research comparing two global service-learning programs in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. We discuss challenges and implications for designing, implementing, and sustaining a more robust approach to service learning, beyond current pedagogical practice and toward social movement learning aimed at policy and institutional change.

Sandmann, L.R., Kiely, R.C. & Grenier, R.S. (2009). Program planning: The neglected dimension of service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 15(2), 17-33.

While service-learning has distinguished itself in the literature as a problem-based experiential alternative to dominant classroom-based, subject-centered pedagogies, there is a strange absence of research based on program planning theory. This work introduces program planning theory to the field of service-learning and reports findings from a comparative analysis of service-learning case studies that led to the development of a relational model for understanding program planning theory and incorporating it in service-learning research and practice.

 

Mitchell, T.D. (2008). Traditional vs. critical service-learning: Engaging the literature to differentiate two models. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 14(2), 50-65.

There is an emerging body of literature advocating a “critical” approach to community service learning with an explicit social justice aim. A social change orientation, working to redistribute power, and developing authentic relationships are most often cited in the literature as points of departure from traditional service-learning. This literature review unpacks these distinguishing elements.

 

Tryon, E., Stoecker, R., Martin, A., Seblonka, K., Hilgendorf, A., & Nellis, M. (2008). The challenge of short-term service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 14(2), 16-26.

This paper presents the results of interviews with staff from 64 community organizations regarding their experiences with service-learners. One of the themes that emerged from the interviews focused on concerns related to short-term service-learning commitments that last a semester or less. We explore the challenges presented to community groups by short-term service: investment of staff time; staff capacity to train and supervise; incompatibility with direct client service; timing and project management; and academic calendar issues. Despite these obstacles, many community organization staff reported their desire to continue working with service-learners for altruistic and other reasons. The paper concludes with thoughts on how to deal with the challenges presented by short-term service-learning.

Cuban, S. & Anderson, J. (2007). Where’s the justice in service-learning? Institutionalizing service-learning from a social justice perspective at a Jesuit university. Equity & Excellence in Education, 40, pp. 144-155.

We attempt to answer where the social justice is in service-learning by probing what it is, how it looks in the process of being institutionalized at a Jesuit university, and why it is important. We develop themes about institutionalizing service-learning from a social justice perspective. Our themes were developed through an analysis of service-learning research focused on institutionalization and social justice, and a case study of a Jesuit university attempting to institutionalize it, including five faculty action research service-learning projects. From these themes, we share lessons that we learned from this experience.

 

Parker, B. & Dautoff, D.A. (2007). Service-learning and study abroad: Synergistic learning opportunities. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 13(2), 40-53.

International service-learning (SL) and study abroad (SA) courses are increasingly part of university curricula. A literature review shows these two types of experiential learning share similarities that offer potential synergies for the growing numbers of both types of experiences. This possibility is explored further by analyzing results from a business school course that combined SL and SA activities. Student outcomes were measured at two points: immediately after course completion and four years later to explore how SA and SL activities contributed to content, affective, and connective learning. The results suggest that while both SL and SA activities stimulate content and affective learning, connective learning more frequently results from SL activities. The implications for practice and future research are explored.

Cooks, L. & Scharrer, E. (2006). Assessing learning in community service learning: A social approach.Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 13(1), 44-55.

This essay advances a way of thinking about assessment that envelops both process and outcome. We assert that learning in community service learning and the assessment thereof might fruitfully be considered in communication with others (the students, constituents from the community, instructors, etc.). Concepts central to a social approach to learning are identified, and examples of ways to assess those concepts are advanced. Finally, methods of assessing the social dimension of learning are provided, including interviews and focus groups, the analysis of journal assignments, and the observation of videotaped interactions.

Harrison, Kline. (2006). The Relationship between International Study Tour Effects and the Personality Variables of Self-Monitoring and Core Self-Evaluations. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 13, 1-22.

Over the past fifteen years, at least a dozen articles have appeared in the management and marketing literature describing and supporting international study tours as valuable educational experiences. These articles, however, have focused primarily on the design and implementation of such tours, with minimal emphasis given to outcome assessments or analysis. This limited attention to empirical support for these programs is surprising given their increasing popularity, especially among business students (“Business Students Flock,”2002). The purpose of this article is to extend the existing literature by assessing the effects of an international business study tour in terms of participants’ perceived cross-cultural connectivity and professional development, and then examining those results in light of two personality traits among participants— self-monitoring and core self-evaluations. Reaction measures from study tour participants were strong, indicating that the tours were effective in facilitating cultural connectivity and enhancing professional development; however, only self-monitoring proved to have a significant impact on both these measures. Nevertheless, post hoc analysis did reveal that a subfactor of core self-evaluations (labeled core self-determination) had a significant impact on professional development. These findings support the value of study tours as positive and beneficial learning experiences for participants. Furthermore, they suggest that self-monitoring capabilities may inform the selection and/or training of study tour participants.

Gumpert, J. & Kraybill-Greggo, J.W. (2005). Affecting attitudes toward the poor through group process: The alternative break service trip. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 10(3), 7-22.

The intensive group process inherent in alternative break service trips offers a unique opportunity to foster transformative learning in undergraduate students. This exploratory study focuses on a two-year project in which graduate students who were professionally educated in group work led undergraduate students in national and international service trips focused on working with the poor. Analysis of triangulated data suggests a significant change in attitudes toward the poor during the service trip. This shift appears to be facilitated through the group process guided by the graduate student group leaders. Specific strategies that promote group development and reflective group interaction are identified. Areas for additional study are suggested.

Cooks, L., Scharrer, E., & Paredes, M.C. (2004). Toward a social approach to learning in community service learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 10(2), 44-56.

The authors describe a social approach to learning in community service learning that extends the contributions of three theoretical bodies of scholarship on learning:social constructionism, critical pedagogy, and community service learning. Building on the assumptions about learning described in each of these areas, engagement, identity, and community are key concepts through which learning can be questioned and evaluated. The authors offer assessment concepts based on the social approach,such as privileging the absent, engaging resistance, and terms for identity and practice. Techniques for assessing learning are also included, such as using videotape and cross-group focus groups.

Ferrence, R.A. & Bell, S. (2004). A cross-cultural immersion in the U.S.: Changing preservice teacher attitudes toward Latino ESOL students. Equity & Excellence in Education, 37, 343-350.

This paper describes a two-week cross-cultural immersion experience in the United States for preservice teachers attending a small liberal arts college in the Southeast. This immersion occurs early in their teacher training and is designed to positively affect preservice teachers’ attitudes toward Latino students who do not speak English well. As a result of this short, local cross-cultural immersion, preservice teachers enhanced their knowledge, skills, and dispositions about immigration, matching their prior knowledge, culture, preconceptions, misconceptions, and feelings of isolation, with ESOL (English for Speakers & Other Languages) methods and curriculum. Through description and qualitative analyses, this study shows that an immersion of this type, along with an infused multicultural teacher preparation program, can help future teachers address issues of diversity and social justice in their classrooms.

Medine-Lopez-Portillo, Adriana. (2004). Intercultural Learning Assessment: The Link between Program Duration and the Development of Intercultural Sensitivity. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 179-200.

The study tries to better our understanding of intercultural learning by highlighting the relationship between developing intercultural sensitivity and program duration. Program duration plays a pivotal role in the intercultural learning outcomes of a student abroad. The study uses three models to produce a framework to document the development of students’ intercultural sensitivity: The Intergroup Contact Theory, The Model of the Transformation Process, and the Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. The results of the study show that there specific conditions that optimize the intercultural learning while abroad.

 

Tonkin, H., & Quiroga, D. (2004). A Qualitative Approach to the Assessment of International Service-Learning. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 131- 150.

International service-learning combines aspects of study abroad and community service to produce an integration with the target culture and community through very intensive community service activities. Through qualitative assessment the study tries to evaluate the degree to which such community integration takes place and what effects it has on the students. The target organization in the study was International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership (IPSL) which has a 20 year history of providing international service-learning trips for American students. Through alumni interviews of the Program, the study shows that the international service-learning trips were viewed as a very important event in the lives of the participants, one that transformed their mindset, illustrated what is meaningful in life, and provided a manner of reflection on cultural values, gender, race, national identity, and more.

 

Brookfield, S. (2002). Overcoming alienation as the practice of adult education: The contribution of Erich Fromm to a critical theory of adult learning and education. Adult Education Quarterly, 52, (2) 96-111.

Erich Fromm’s analysis of the commodification of contemporary life, his description of automation conformity, and his call for the overcoming of alienation represent important, though ignored. elements of the critical tradition that have great resonance for the practice of adult education. Drawing particularly on the early Marx of the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. Fromm conducted a radical, yet highly accessible, analysis of adult life and learning. He argued that learning to penetrate ideological obfuscation, and thereby overcome the alienation this obfuscation induced, was the learning task of adulthood. Adult education as a force for resistance would make people aware of ideological manipulation and educate them for participatory democracy. By calling his ideas humanist, Fromm ensured that his work beckoned enticingly to many educators. But his normative humanism was a militant, Marxist humanism, entailing the abolition of capitalist alienation and the creation of democratic socialism.
Gillespie, J. (2002). Colleges need better ways to assess study-abroad programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 5.
A well-constructed assessment program should make clear to students what they can expect and what we can expect from them. It also would make advising easier. The major responsibility of on-campus advisers is matching a student with a program that promises to meet his or her goals, then ascertaining that the program makes good on that promise through a reliable method of quality control. And finally, by building assessment into educational policy, we would announce a commitment to long-range planning and continuous improvement. Our programs have grown enormously in popularity and variety. Now it’s time to build and adopt the tools that will demonstrate their integrity.

Steinke, P. & Buresh, S. (2002). Cognitive outcomes of service-learning: Reviewing the past and glimpsing the future. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 8(2), 5-14.

This article critically reviews the research literature on cognitive outcomes of service-learning over the past decade with an emphasis on how convincing the results are to faculty. Self-report measures produce the most consistent positive findings yet are one of the least persuasive measures to faculty. The use of problem-solving protocols shows promise in measuring both student knowledge and the complexity of student thinking but needs further development. Recent work in the learning sciences provides direction for future outcome research and suggests how service-learning will help to transform education.

 

Baumgartner, L. (2001). An update on transformational learning. In S. Merriam (Ed.), The new update on adult learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 89, 15-24.

The word “transformation” evokes the notion of profound physical or psychological changes. Visions of caterpillars emerging as butterflies and deathbed conversions are popular images of transformation. Perhaps because transformational learning incites such far-reaching changes, interest in the topic continues to grow. In 1998, 150 people attended the First National Conference on Transformational Learning (Weissner and Mezirow, 2000). The conference is now an annual, eagerly anticipated event. The nature of transformational learning theory and its continued development are topics examined in this chapter.

 

Brookfield, S. (2001). Repositioning ideology critique in a critical theory of adult learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 52, (1) 7-22.

Contemporary adult educational readings of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, as interpreted via Habermas, risk sliding into an exclusive engagement with the pragmatic dimensions of his thought to the exclusion of its Marxist underpinnings and its concern with ideology critique. Building on Max Horkheimer’s recently republished essay on “Traditional and Critical Theory,” this article attempts to reposition ideology critique as a learning process crucial to the realization of adulthood. It discusses critical theory as a response to Marx and argues that a critical theory of adult learning should focus on how adults learn to recognize and challenge ideological domination and manipulation. Such learning is necessary if adults are to counteract the continuous reproduction of blatantly unequal structures and create more inclusive democratic arrangements. The article concludes with a warning for critical theory to be on guard against its own ossification and entombment by engaging with the pragmatist spirit.

 

Taylor, E. W. (2001). Transformative Learning Theory. International Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol. 20, No. 3, 218-236. PA: Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Transformative learning as explained by Mezirow in the field of adult education has been criticized as a process that is overly dependent on critical reflection, such that it minimizes the role of feelings and overlooks transformation through the unconscious development of thoughts and actions. This paper further substantiates these concerns by exploring the emotional nature of rationality and unconscious ways of knowing (implicit memory) from the field of neurobiology and psychology and offers a physiological explanation of the interdependent relationship of emotion and reason and the role of implicit memory in transformative learning theory. Recent research not only provides support that emotions can affect the processes of reason, but more importantly, emotions have been found to be indispensable for rationality to occur. Furthermore, brain research brings to light new insights about a form of long-term memory that has long been overlooked, that of implicit memory, which receives, stores, and recovers outside the conscious awareness of the individual. From implicit memory emerges habits, attitudes and preferences inaccessible to conscious recollection but these are nonetheless shapes by former events, influence our present behaviour, and are an essential part of who we are. Finally, based on these new insights for fostering transformative learning is discussed, revealing the need to include practices inclusive of ‘other ways of knowing,’ and more specifically, from the study of emotional literacy and multiple intelligences.

Bringle, R., & Hatcher, J. (2000). Meaningful measurement of theory-based service-learning outcomes. Making the case with quantitative research. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning [Special Issue], 68-75.

Research is most beneficial when the design of research is guided by a theory and when the information that is gained through data collection is relevant to supporting, developing, refining, and revising a theory. The practice of service-learning will be improved when we understand the conditions that increase the likelihood of service-learning classes reaching intended educational outcomes. This article provides recommendations for generating meaningful information about service-learning that include evaluating hypotheses derived from theory, using multiple-item measures of theoretical constructs, using designs that allow causal inferences to be made, and making appropriate theoretical and practical generalizations from research.

Eyler, J. (2000). What do we most need to know about the impact of service-learning on student learning? In J. Howard, S. Gelmon, & D. Giles (Eds.), From yesterday to tomorrow: Strategic directions for service-learning research (pp. 11-17). Michigan Journal of Community Service-learning

Survey research over the past decade gives us ample evidence of the impact of service-learning on the personal and social development of college students: the evidence for its cognitive impact is less well developed. In order to improve the quality of academic service-learning, we need to move beyond surveys and identify the intellectual outcomes best facilitated through service-learning, create measures of those learning outcomes that can be imbedded into the instructional process, and conduct experimental studies of alternative pedagogical techniques to identify those which produce optimal learning and cognitive development.

Ferrari, J. & Worrall, L. (2000). Assessments by community agencies: How “the other side” sees service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall, pp. 35-40.

Collecting information from community-based organizations (CBOs) about their perspectives about service-learning (SL) students is a valuable and important form of feedback to schools with such programs. In the present study, supervisors from 30 CBOs located in a large urban setting at the end of an academic term completed items about their perception of each SL student located at their site (total n = 109). Factor analyses (varimax rotation) of the CBO supervisor ratings of 9-rating items about students yield two reliable factors explaining over 74% of the common variance, namely: students demonstrated service skills (constructive relationship with others, respectful of clients, sensitivity to needs of clients, appropriate dress, positive attitude), and work skills (good attendance, punctuality, dependable, and strong work qualities). These results suggest that the CBO supervisors perceive SL students as providing useful service and work-related skills, and that the University partnership is beneficial to their agency.

 

 

Rockquemore, K.A. & Schaffer, R.H. (2000). Toward a theory of engagement: A cognitive mapping of service-learning experiences. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7(1), 14-25.

Service-learning in higher education is intended to increase students’civic responsibility and enhance learning. While quantitative assessment of these two outcomes has dominated the existing literature, this article explores the oft-ignored cognitive processes that students undergo during the community service learning experience. Data from 50 daily reflection journals is used to draw a descriptive map of the social- psychological stages that occur during service-learning. In addition, textual analysis reveals that students progress through three identifiable stages of development: shock, normalization and engagement. To increase the effectiveness of service-learning outcomes, faculty members must understand these specific cognitive processes that accompany community-based learning.

 

Skilton-Sylvester, E, & Erwin, E. (2000). Creating reciprocal learning relationships across socially constructed borders. Michigan Journal of Community Service-learning, 65-75.

This paper describes how a service-learning course that matches college students and older adult literacy learners addresses two difficult educational issues: 1) widespread attrition in adult education programs and 2) the need for the training of teachers to include ways for them to become effective at working with people who are different from themselves. This paper also shows how the theoretical construct of border crossing is a useful metaphor for understanding the ways that this program fostered important “learning relationships” for both older adults and their college student tutors. Based on interviews, a year of participant observation and an analysis of student writing, two essential elements of successful and reciprocal learning relationships emerged—the importance of connecting across differences through caring relationships and the ability to reflect in ways that transformed previous assumptions. More generally, this paper addresses a gap in the service-learning literature by looking at the impact of this program not only from the point of view of the college student tutors (those “doing service”), but also from the point of view of the older adult learners (those “being served”).

Eisner, E. W. (1997). The promise and perils of alternative forms of data representation. Educational Researcher, 26(6), 4-10.

This article addresses the potential strengths and weaknesses of alternative forms of data representation. As educational researchers become increasingly interested in the relationship between form of representation and form of understanding, new representational forms are being used to cońvey to “readers” what has been learned. These explorations are rooted in an expanding conception of the nature of knowledge and the relationship between what one knows and how it is represented. While new forms of representation have their potential virtues, they also have their limitations. The uses and limitations of these new methods are addressed in what follows.

Gmelch, G. (1997). Crossing cultures: Student travel and personal development. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 21(4), 475-490.

This paper is concerned with what students do and learn when they travel abroad. First, the behavior and daily routines of American college students travelling in Europe, while on a term abroad, are examined through their journals and travel logs and the researcher’s observations. What the students learn about other cultures is often superficial, yet the experience is found to be educational in ways that were unexpected. Much of the personal benefit of travel comes not from what students learn about the places or cultures they visit, but from the need to continuously make decisions and deal with the demands of daily life in new and unfamiliar settings. It is suggested that these experiences foster personal development in several ways.

 

Ivory, B. T. (1997). The re-entry crisis of students returning to campus following a volunteer alternative break experience: A developmental opportunity. College Student Affairs Journal, 16(2), 104-112.

Interviewed students (N=17) following a week-long Alternative Spring Break. Results show that nearly all of the participants experienced social and psychological difficulties while attempting to readjust to campus life. Findings should encourage educators and student affairs professionals to provide extensive reentry programming to support these students.

Taylor, E. (l997). Building upon the theoretical debate: A critical review of the empirical studies of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Adult Education Quarterly, 48, 34-59.

This critical literature review is an attempt to build upon the theoretical debate of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory by investigating what the empirical studies have to say about a perspective transformation. The review finds much support for Mezirow’s theory, but at the same time suggests a need to reconceptualize the process of a perspective transformation. The review discloses a learning process that needs to recognize to a greater degree the significant influence of context, the varying nature of the catalyst of the process, the minimization of the role of critical reflection and increased role of other ways of knowing and relationships, and an overall broadening of the definitional outcome of a perspective transformation. Research needs to continue, particularly in the areas of cultural diversity, the fostering of transformative learning in the classroom, and the nature of and relationship between critical reflection and other ways of knowing. Designs of research including other methods beyond interviews, such as observations and content analysis in an ongoing educational context, would also be valuable.

Gibboney, R. (1996). Service learning and commitment to community: exploring the implications of honors students’ perceptions of the process two years later. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 25 (4), 506-524.

This article discusses an investigation involving 13 students who enrolled in a senior honors seminar designed as a service-learning course. The purpose was to explore how the participants perceived the course and their role in the community 2 years later. In keeping with the grounded theory techniques used to analyze the data, the study focused on discovering a grounded substantive theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) that described the processes involved in service learning for this particular group rather than on measuring outcomes. Using this approach led to the realization that there is a discrepancy between how many educators and researchers have conceptualized service and how participants in this study perceive their commitment to community 2 years after completing a service-learning course. Elements related to this new orientation that merit further exploration include the types and extent of commitment to community, participants’ perceptions of the social context for their commitment to community, and variables other than the service-learning experience, such as background, fit, and current life circumstances that may influence the way service learning affects participants’ commitment to community. These elements may have consequences for service-learning design, evaluation, and further research.

 

Jacobson, W. (1996). Learning, culture and learning culture. Adult Education Quarterly, 47 (1), 15-28.

Though adults have long faced the experience of learning to function in new cultural contexts, very little is understood about the processes of this sort of learning. This paper approaches learning culture from the position that cultural knowledge is best understood in terms of situated cognition. Contexts do not simply provide useful information in support of thinking and learning, but are inseparable from cognitive processes. Viewing culture in this way carries specific implications for understanding how a new culture is learned and how it might be taught. In particular, processes of learning culture can be seen to parallel processes of gaining practitioner knowledge, while processes of teaching culture can be modeled on the notion of cognitive apprenticeship.

 

Tenant, M. (1993). Perspective transformation and adult development. Adult Education Quarterly, 44 (1), 34-42.

The way Mezirow (1991a) links the concept of perspective transformation to the process of adult development illustrates a pervasive tension in his work. On the one hand, Mezirow has been credited with highlighting the social dimension of adult learning and education; on the other hand, his theory has been criticised for lacking a social critique: he theorises the individual side of the individual-social dialectic at the expense of the social side. These criticisms, however flawed, do have some sub-stance when applied to Mezirow’s views of how adult development relates to perspective transformation. Specifically, Mezirow does not sufficiently explore the social origins of the life course, which leads him to consider examples of normative psychological development as instances of perspective transformation. Perspective transformation is best conceived as a developmental shift (a new world view) rather than simply developmental progress in a taken-for-granted world.

Book Summaries:

Bringle, R. G., Hatcher, J.A., & Jones, S. G. (2011). International service learning: Conceptual frameworks and research. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

International Service Learning (ISL) borrows from the domains of service learning, study abroad, and international education to create a new pedagogy that adds new and unique value from this combination. It is a high-impact pedagogy with the potential to improve students’ academic attainment, contribute to their personal growth, and develop global civic outcomes.

The international service experience provides opportunities for additional learning goals, activities, and relationships that are not available in a domestic service learning course or in a traditional study abroad course. The service experience develops reflection while shedding light on and providing an added dimension to the curricular component of the study abroad course. The international education component further broadens students’ perspectives by providing opportunities to compare and contrast North American and international perspectives on course content.

This book focuses on conducting research on ISL, which includes developing and evaluating hypotheses about ISL outcomes and measuring its impact on students, faculty, and communities. The book argues that rigorous research is essential to improving the quality of ISL’s implementation and delivery, and providing the evidence that will lead to wider support and adoption by the academy, funders, and partners. It is intended for both practitioners and scholars, providing guidance and commentary on good practice. The volume provides a pioneering analysis of and understanding of why and under what conditions ISL is an effective pedagogy.

Individual chapters discuss conceptual frameworks, research design issues, and measurement strategies related to student learning outcomes; the importance of ISL course and program design; the need for faculty development activities to familiarize faculty with the component pedagogical strategies; the need for resources and collaboration across campus units to develop institutional capacity for ISL; and the role that community constituencies should assume as co-creators of the curriculum, co-educators in the delivery of the curriculum, and co-investigators in the evaluation of and study of ISL. The contributors demonstrate sensitivity to ethical implications of ISL, to issues of power and privilege, to the integrity of partnerships, to reflection, reciprocity, and community benefits.

 

Glesne, C. (2011). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Providing students in applied social and behavioral science disciplines with invaluable guidance on developing and successfully defending qualitative research proposals, the Fifth Edition of this bestselling text offers expanded coverage of ethics, data analysis, and research design techniques. Authors Catherine Marshall and Gretchen B. Rossman cover distance-based research (such as email interviews); the implications of postmodern turns; integrating archival material; and creative ways of presenting the research. The authors include updates to popular features, such as vignettes that illustrate the methodological challenges today’s qualitative researcher face.

New to this Edition

  • An entire chapter devoted to ethical issues (as well as continuous coverage throughout the book)
  • Expanded discussions of internet ethnography, cultural studies, critical race theory, and queer theory
  • A greatly enhanced chapter on data analysis

This book is appropriate for all graduate-level Introduction to Qualitative Methods courses in education, nursing, sociology, human services, and other related fields.

 

Strait, J. Lima, M. (Eds.), The future of service-learning: New solutions for sustaining and improving practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

 

As a new generation of practitioners engages with service learning, at a time when higher education faces questions about learning outcomes and costs, and in the context of such issues as globalization and the environment, this book poses important questions about practice, institutional sustainability, and future directions. Among these are:

What counts as service learning? What value does it bring to institutions? Is it appropriate for all students? How is globalization impacting service learning?

Divided into three thematic parts, this book successively covers institutional and administrative issues; service learning as a springboard for research; and presents new practices that address emerging challenges and changing student populations.

The contributors review how different institutional types have structured their service learning activities; address the issue of centralization or decentralization; propose better ways to form community partnerships; consider promotion and tenure implications; postulate framing service-learning and community engagement as scholarship; and examine service-learning as a springboard for research.

Further chapters offer a new blueprint for funding to achieve sustainability; examples of international service learning from a European perspective; a case study and framework for using on-line formats to extend the reach of a program; raise the urgent issue of the experiences and contributions of underrepresented students; and present the rationale and processes for developing effective student-led evaluation of programs.

 

Chisholm, L. A., & Berry, H. A. (2002). Understanding the education – and through it the culture – in education abroad. New York: International Partnership for Service-Learning.

Based on the premise that an educational system both reflects and shapes a culture, this short book is a guide for students going abroad to study. It leads them step-by-step through an in-depth investigation of the university they attend overseas and higher education in their host country. The study will help them both to be a successful student and to come to a deeper knowledge of their host culture. Topics include the systems, purposes, history, curricula, pedagogy, faculty, evaluation, students and graduates of higher education. Each topic is enlivened with examples from nations and educational systems around the world. The book proposes that study abroad advisors make this study a credit-bearing course for all of their students in their semester or year abroad. Funded by the NAFSA Cooperative Grants Program.
Flick, U. (2002). An Introduction to qualitative research. (2nd ed). London: Sage.

The new edition of Uwe Flick’s bestselling textbook has been fully revised, expanded and updated. An Introduction to Qualitative Research guides students step-by-step through the qualitative research process.This classic text covers all of the main theoretical approaches to qualitative research, and provides unmatched coverage of the full range of different qualitative methods and approaches now available to researchers.

A range of new features have been added to the new edition including:

  • New structure to better meet the needs of teaching qualitative research
  • A new chapter on Grounded Theory plus updated coverage on the full range of other qualitative methods
  • A summary section discussing the state-of-the-art in qualitative research
  • A glossary
  • Updated cases studies, exercises and guided questions

This new edition will continue to ensure that An Introduction to Qualitative Research remains an essential introductory text for all students of qualitative research.

Kenny, M. E. (2002). Learning to serve: Promoting civil society through service learning. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Service learning, as defined by the editors, is the generation of knowledge that is of benefit to the community as a whole. This seventh volume in the Outreach Scholarship book series contributes a unique discussion of how service learning functions as a critical cornerstone of outreach scholarship. The sections and chapters of this book marshal evidence in support of the idea that undergraduate service learning, infused throughout the curriculum and coupled with outreach scholarship, is an integral means through which higher education can engage people and institutions of the communities of this nation in a manner that perpetuate civil society. The editors, through this series of models of service learning, make a powerful argument for the necessity of “engaged institutions.”

 

Merriam, S., & Associates (2002). Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Qualitative research (QR) is the method of inquiry that seeks to understand social phenomena within the context of the participants’ perspectives and experiences. The research methods of QR are more flexible, responsive, and open to contextual interpretation than in quantitative research, which uses inventory, questionnaire, or numerical data to draw conclusions. In Qualitative Research in Practice, Sharan Merriam combines discussions of the types of QR with examples of research studies and reflections by the researchers themselves. An important resource for students and practitioners of QR, the book may be used as a companion to any general text on QR.

Patton, M. Q., (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The book that has been a resource and training tool for countless applied researchers, evaluators, and graduate students has been completely revised with hundreds of new examples and stories illuminating all aspects of qualitative inquiry. Patton has created the most comprehensive, systematic and up-to-date review of qualitative methods available.

Patton has retained and expanded upon the Exhibits that highlight and summarize major issues and guidelines, the summative sections, tables, and figures as well as the sage advice of the Sufi Master, Halcolm. This revision will help readers integrate and make sense of the great volume of qualitative works published in the past decade.

Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. Cambridge, U; Cambridge University Press.
Making Social Science Matter presents an exciting new approach to social science, including theoretical argument, methodological guidelines, and examples of practical application. Why has social science failed in attempts to emulate natural science and produce normal theory? Bent Flyvbjerg argues that the strength of social science is in its rich, reflexive analysis of values and power, essential to the social and economic development of any society. Richly informed, powerfully argued, and clearly written, this book provides essential reading for all those in the social and behavioral sciences.
Finger, M., & Asun, J. (2001). Adult education at a crossroads: Learning our way out. London: Zed Books.
This assessment the state of adult education-its traditions, current problems, and possible futures-is written from a social action perspective. The authors demonstrate how adult education’s commitment to deliver social change ran into difficulties in the 1980s and 1990s. The book identifies four possible scenarios for the future and on this basis defines the challenges confronting an adult education still committed to social change. The authors outline the key features of an adult education that can contribute to “learning our way out of” the dead end of relentless industrial development, mounting inequality, mass immiseration, and alienation.
Schwandt, T. (2001) (2nd Ed). Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Intended as a guide to the terms and phrases that partially shape the nature, purpose, logic, meaning, and methods of the practices called qualitative inquiry, this new edition has 110 additional new terms as well as new key references for every entry. These key references help acquaint readers with the complexity of the issues behind the concepts examined in the book. In addition, most of the entries have been expanded and clarified to enhance readers’ comprehension of the concepts. Taken in their entirety, the entries are less a technical guide to qualitative methods and more of a guide to concepts and theoretical orientations in qualitative studies. Students and researchers will find this book a marvelous vessel for navigating the various streams of qualitative studies and as a starting point for launching their own investigations into methodological issues.

Mezirow, & Associates, Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress (pp. 71-102). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This volume continues the landmark work begun by Jack Mezirow over twenty years ago-revealing the impact of transformative learning on the theory and practice of adult education. Top scholars and practitioners review the core principles of transformation theory, analyze the process of transformative learning, describe different types of learning and learners, suggest key conditions for socially responsible learning, explore group and organizational learning, and present revelations from the latest research. They also share real-world examples drawn from their own experiences and assess the evolution of transformative learning in practice and philosophy. Learning as Transformation presents an intimate portrait of a powerful learning concept and invites educators, researchers, and scholars to consider the implications of transformative learning in their own professional work.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Once again, editors Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln have put together a volume that represents the state of the art for the theory and practice of qualitative inquiry. Built on the foundation of the landmark first edition, published in 1994, the second edition is both the bridge and the roadmap to the territory that lies ahead for researchers across the disciplines.

The Second Edition is a significant revision; in fact, it is virtually a new work. It features six new chapter topics, including, among others, auto-ethnography, critical race theory, applied ethnography, queer theory, and testimonies. Another fifteen chapters are written by new contributors. And every chapter in the book has been thoroughly revised and updated.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is necessary to re-engage the promise of qualitative research as a generative form of inquiry. The Second Edition of the Handbook reveals how the discourses of qualitative research can be used to imagine and create a free and democratic society. Ground-breaking, thought-provoking, comprehensive and featuring the contributions of a virtual “Who’s Who” in the human sciences, Handbook of Qualitative Research, Second Edition is absolutely an essential text for the library of any scholar interested in the art and science of research.

 

Claus, J. & Ogden, C. (1999). Service Learning for Youth Empowerment and Social Change. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.

This book presents informed current thinking on the topic of community service learning programs for youth, offering both veteran and new voices in the field. Combining theory and research with descriptions of innovative programs and specific recommendations for program design, the authors argue for an approach to service learning that engages youth not only in helping others but in critical reflection and the democratic pursuit of social reform. Topics covered range from the theory and practice of service learning to research and ideas about teacher preparation and educational reform. Contributors include the editors, Joan Schine, Joseph Kahne, Joel Westheimer, Jim Youniss, Miranda Yates, Carol Kinsely, Richard Lakes, Tricia Bowers-Young, Cynthia Parsons, Alice Halsted, Robert Maloy, and others.

Eyler, J., & Giles, D. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

This timely volume is the first to explore service-learning as a valid learning activity. The authors present extensive data from two groundbreaking national research projects. Their studies include a large national survey focused on attitudes and perceptions of learning, intensive student interviews before and after the service semester, and additional comprehensive interviews to explore student views of the service-learning process.

 

Wiggins, G.P., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today’s high-stakes, standards-based environment?

Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum.

Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design, 2nd edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

 

Rhoads, Robert, A. (1997). Community service and higher learning: Explorations of the caring self. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

In Community Service and Higher Learning, Robert A. Rhoads examines the experiences of students as they commit themselves to community service during their college years. The author explores how a student’s sense of self may be challenged through involvement in the lives of others within the context of community service relationships. Central to his “explorations of the self” is the role “caring” plays as a source of self understanding and identity development.

Drawing upon classic symbolic interactionists such as George Herbert Mead as well as contemporary feminists such as Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings, Rhoads suggests ways in which the self might be reconsidered with an ethic-of-care philosophy at its core. He argues that higher education ought to play a key role in fostering more relational and caring individuals and that community service offers a pedagogical opportunity for encouraging the development of more caring selves. He maintains that as society becomes increasingly complex, diverse, and potentially fragmented, caring becomes a more important facet of one’s sense of self than perhaps ever before. It is only through an increasing concern for the other (the essence of caring) that one is able to bridge the relational barriers posed by the postmodern condition.

 

Schwandt, T. (1997). Qualitative inquiry: A dictionary of terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Focusing primarily on philosophical and methodological concepts rather than technical aspects of methods and procedures, this dictionary fills a crucial gap in the literature. In this indispensable volume, Thomas A Schwandt provides a guide to the terms and phrases which help shape the nature, purpose, logic, meaning and methods of qualitative inquiry. Intended as a reference book for this vocabulary, the volume examines the key concepts and issues which help shape the field. The definitions acknowledge the multiple and often-contested points of view that characterize qualitative inquiry.

Kvale, S. (1996). InterViewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Interviewing is an essential tool in qualitative research and this introduction to interviewing outlines both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical aspects of the process. After examining the role of the interview in the research process, Steinar Kvale considers some of the key philosophical issues relating to interviewing: the interview as conversation, hermeneutics, phenomenology, concerns about ethics as well as validity, and postmodernism. Having established this framework, the author then analyzes the seven stages of the interview process - from designing a study to writing it up.

 

Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This book presents a disciplined, qualitative exploration of case study methods by drawing from naturalistic, holistic, ethnographic, phenomenological and biographic research methods.

Robert E. Stake uses and annotates an actual case study to answer such questions as: How is the case selected? How do you select the case which will maximize what can be learned? How can what is learned from one case be applied to another? How can what is learned from a case be interpreted? In addition, the book covers: the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches; data-gathering including document review; coding, sorting and pattern analysis; the roles of the researcher; triangulation; and reporting.

 

Welton, M. (Ed.). (1995). In defense of the lifeworld: Critical Perspectives on Adult Learning. Albany, NY: SUNY Albany Press.

In Defense of the Lifeworld brings together five important critical commentaries on the state of the discipline and practice of adult education in North America. Jack Mezirow, Michael Collins, Mechthild Hart, Michael Welton, and Donovan Plumb draw on critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism. They examine the historical emergence of critical learning theory, the psycho-cultural dimensions of transformative learning theory, the vocation of the adult educator in our immoral times, the need to radically rethink the meaning of work and learning, the contribution of Habermas to the development of a new social learning paradigm, and the provocative challenge from postmodernist discourses to the critical adult education project. This innovative text contends that the human lifeworld (where we learn what life means, what binds us together, and what constitutes an autonomous personality) is deeply threatened in our late twentieth century world. Consequently, the task of the critical adult educator is to preserve and extend forms of communicative action through reflection, dialogue, and critique.

 

Hess, J. D. (1994). Studying abroad/learning abroad. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Most people who go abroad experience a bit of culture shock, but to reap the rewards of studying and learning abroad, one must identify and face squarely the difficulties in experiential learning in a different culture.Studying Abroad/Learning Abroad is a student-friendly abridgement of J. Daniel Hess’ The Whole World Guide to Culture Learning that will guide you through sorting out the dynamics of studying abroad. This books helps you dig beneath the surface of superficial actions to experience cultural learning at its deepest, most meaningful level by teaching to make note of cultural differences, body language, and interaction styles; overcome cucarachas, or elements of a host culture that are irritating or even repugnant; observe differences in time use; documents the experiences of studying abroad with a journal; and how to adapt on the return home. Hess outlines attitudes and character traits that foster effective learning, including how to deal with the dilemma of cultural relativism, and defines an action-reflection-response method for dealing with intercultural experiences.With its carefully selected excerpts from The Whole World Guide to Culture Learning, Studying Abroad/Learning Abroad provides a thorough review of culture learning and will greatly enrich any study abroad program. Contents Preface Introduction 1 Culture Learning 2 Attitudes and Character Traits that Promote Culture Learning 3 Methods in Culture Learning: The Action-Reflection-Response Strategy 4 Methods in Culture Learning: Reflection as Cultural Analysis 5 Culture Learning, Values, and Ethical Choices 6 Guides to the Culture Learning Process Bibliography and References

Laubsher, M. R. (1994). Encounters with difference: Student perceptions of the role of out-of-class experiences in education abroad. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Laubscher explores how students use their out-of-class time to enhance their learning about cultural differences while enrolled in a formal academic program abroad. Taxonomic analysis of the interview data using the means/end semantic relationship postulated by James Spradley supports the hypothesis that, when left to their own devices, students abroad naturally employ ethnographic methods to learn about the host culture. This suggests that students abroad will gain more from the out-of-class domain if that domain includes programmed opportunities for participant observation and personal interaction and if the students have the skills and guidance to capitalize upon those opportunities fully. The students’ detailed discussions of their activities and experiences provide insights upon which educators can base their development of a programmatic approach to making the noncurricular dimension of education abroad a more integral part of the overall learning process. By combining ethnographic method with the principles of experiential learning, students abroad can reconceptualize the world around them and gain a greater appreciation of the existence of cultural differences in a multicultural world.

 

Miles, M. & Huberman, M. (1994). An expanded sourcebook: Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

The latest edition of this best-selling textbook by Miles and Huberman not only is considerably expanded in content, but is now available in paperback. Bringing the art of qualitative analysis up-to-date, this edition adds hundreds of new techniques, ideas and references developed in the past decade. The increase in the use of computers in qualitative analysis is also reflected in this volume. There is an extensive appendix on criteria to choose from among the currently available analysis packages. Through examples from a host of social science and professional disciplines, Qualitative Data Analysis remains the most comprehensive and complete treatment of this topic currently available to scholars and applied researchers.

Wolcott, H. (1994) Transforming qualitative data.: Description, analysis and interpretation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

The process of analyzing qualitative data and producing a complete study is discussed in this book. Breaking down the transformation process into description, analysis and interpretation, Harry Wolcott discusses these three related activities. To illustrate them, he critically analyzes his own work, using nine of his previous studies as examples. He concludes by examining how to learn and teach qualitative research using these principles.

Hammersly, M. (1992). What’s wrong with ethnography. London: Routledge.

This stimulating and refreshing study, written by one of the leading commentators in the field, provides novel answers to these crucial questions.
”What’s Wrong With Ethnography provides a fresh look at the rationale for and distinctiveness of ethnographic research in sociology, education and related fields, and succeeds in slaying a number of currently fashionable sacred cows. Relativism, critical theory, the uniqueness of the case study and the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research are all examined and found wanting as a basis for informed ethnography. The policy and political implications of ethnography are a particular focus of attention. The author compels the reader to reexamine some basic methodological assumptions in an exciting way”, Martin Bulmer, London School of Economics.

Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco. CA: Jossey-Bass.

Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning describes the dynamics of how adults learn-and how their perceptions are transformed by learning-as a framework for formulating educational theory and practice. It presents an in-depth analysis of the ways in which adults learn, how they make meaning of the learning experience, and how their lives can be transformed by it.

Hart, M. (1990). Critical theory and beyond: Further perspectives on emancipatory education. Adult Education Quarterly, 40, 125-138.

Although emancipatory education and a critical theory of education are only rarely addressed in adult education, they provide rich opportunities for discussing primary issues of adult education. The purpose of this analysis is to contribute to the debate on the issue of emancipatory education, especially as begun by Jack Mezirow with his critical concept of adult education. Although Mezirow borrows important distinctions from Juergen Habermas’ critical theory, his use of these distinctions neglects the radical impetus behind Habermas’ writings. In addition, both Mezirow’s and Habermas’ conceptual frameworks emerge as being too rationalist for a broader, more encompassing concept of emancipatory education.

 

Guba, E. G. (Ed.). (1990). The paradigm dialog. London: Sage.

Is scientific positivism, long the reigning paradigm for research in the social sciences, the `best way’ to conduct social research? This is the central question examined in The Paradigm Dialog. Recently three key challenges have appeared - positivism, critical theory and constructivism. All three offer researchers new methodological approaches and all three present fundamental questions that must be addressed. Can research be conducted between paradigms? Are they equally useful in answering questions of applied research? What constitutes good or ethical research in each? These and other significant questions are examined by a multidisciplinary group of leading figures in qualitative research.

Guba, E. G. & Lincoln. Y. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Fourth generation evaluation represents a monumental shift in evaluation practice. The authors highlight the inherent problems faced by previous generations of evaluators - politics, ethical dilemmas, imperfections and gaps, inconclusive deductions - and blame reliance on the scientific/positivist paradigm for failure. They show how fourth generation evaluation solves persistent problems in program evaluation, comprehensively describe the differences between the positivist and constructivist paradigms of research, and provide a practical plan of the steps and processes in conducting a fourth generation evaluation.

 

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice hall.

Drawing from the intellectual origins of experiential learning in the works of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget, this comprehensive and systematic book describes the process of experiential learning. The author proposes a model of the underlying structures of the learning process based on research in psychology, philosophy, and physiology, and bases its typology of individual learning styles and corresponding structures of knowledge in different academic disciplines and careers on this structural model. He also applies experiential learning to higher education and lifelong learning, particularly with regard to adult education.

Miles, M. B. & A. M. Huberman (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. Newbury Park, CA, Sage.

Qualitative data is unsurpassable for richness of detail, explanatory power, and intuitive ‘undeniability’ — but can the data be described as scientific? Qualitative researchers are badly in need of systematic methods for drawing conclusions; for testing them; and for communicating them. Miles and Huberman have designed a practical sourcebook in which strong emphasis is placed on innovative types of data display, including charts, graphs, matrices and networks. Forty nine specific methods of data display and analysis are described, explained, and illustrated, with helpful suggestions for the user.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

The great Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky has long been recognized as a pioneer in developmental psychology. But somewhat ironically, his theory of development has never been well understood in the West. Mind in Society should correct much of this misunderstanding. Carefully edited by a group of outstanding Vygotsky scholars, the book presents a unique selection of Vygotsky’s important essays, most of which have previously been unavailable in English.

The Vygotsky who emerges from these pages can no longer be glibly included among the neobehaviorists. In these essays he outlines a dialectical-materialist theory of cognitive development that anticipates much recent work in American social science. The mind, Vygotsky argues, cannot be understood in isolation from the surrounding society. Man is the only animal who uses tools to alter his own inner world as well as the world around him. From the handkerchief knotted as a simple mnemonic device to the complexities of symbolic language, society provides the individual with technology that can be used to shape the private processes of mind. In Mind in Society Vygotsky applies this theoretical framework to the development of perception, attention, memory, language, and play, and he examines its implications for education. The result is a remarkably interesting book that is bound to renew Vygotsky’s relevance to modem psychological thought.

 

Patton, M. Q., (1970). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Since its original publication in 1970, this landmark book by William Perry has remained the cornerstone of much of the student development research that followed. Using research conducted with Harvard undergraduates over a fifteen-year period, Perry derived an Anduring framework for characterizing student development-a scheme so accurate that it still informs and advances investigations into student development across gAnders and cultures.Drawing from firsthand accounts, Perry traces a path from students’ adolescence into adulthood. His nine-stage model describes the steps that move students from a simplistic, categorical view of knowledge to a more complex, contextual view of the world and of themselves. Throughout this journey of cognitive development, Perry reveals that the most significant changes occur in forms in which people perceive their world rather than in the particulars of their attitudes and concerns. He shows ultimately that the nature of intellectual development is such that we should pay as much attention to the processes we use as to the content.

In a new introduction to this classic work, Lee Knefelkamp-a close colleague of Perry’s and a leading expert on college student development-evaluates the book’s place in the literature of higher education. Knefelkamp explains how the Perry scheme has shaped current thinking about student development and discusses the most significant research that has since evolved from Perry’s groundbreaking effort.

Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years is a work that every current and future student services professional must have in their library.

Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Most writing on sociological method has been concerned with how .accurate facts can be obtained and how theory can thereby be more rigorously tested. In The Discovery of Grounded Theory, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss address the equally Important enterprise of how the discovery of theory from data—systematically obtained and analyzed In social research—can be furthered. The discovery of theory from data—grounded theory—Is a major task confronting sociology, for such a theory fits empirical situations, and Is understandable to sociologists and laymen alike. Most Important, it provides relevant predictions, explanations, interpretations, and applications.

In Part I of the book, “Generation Theory by Comparative Analysis,” the authors present a strategy whereby sociologists can facilitate the discovery of grounded theory, both substantive and formal. This strategy involves the systematic choice and study of several comparison groups. In Part II, The Flexible Use of Data,” the generation of theory from qualitative, especially documentary, and quantitative data Is considered. In Part HI, “Implications of Grounded Theory,” Glaser and Strauss examine the credibility of grounded theory.

The Discovery of Grounded Theory is directed toward improving social scientists’ capacity for generating theory that will be relevant to their research. While aimed primarily at sociologists, it will be useful to anyone Interested In studying social phenomena—political, educational, economic, industrial— especially If their studies are based on qualitative data.

 

Giles, D. E., & Eyler, J. (1994). The theoretical roots of service-learning in John Dewey: Toward a theory of service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 1(1), 77–85.

An interest in service-learning research multiples, there is a concomitant for a theoretical base for service-learning. In this article the authors review aspects of John Dewey’s educational and social philosophy that they identify as relevant to the development of a theory of service-learning, including learning from experience, reflective activity, citizenship, community, and democracy. The article concludes with a set of key questions for research and theory development.