Applied and Service-Learning Quantitative Outcomes

• In Event: 70.065 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 70.065-1 - Issues in College and Career Readiness

Abstract

The literature indicates that engagement in service-learning is associated with participants’ academic and social development (e.g., Eyler & Giles, 1999). However, it is unknown what role students’ self-selection to participate in such activities biases findings. Through analysis of 18 years of longitudinal data comprised of nearly 300,000 observations, representing more than 55,000 students, and comprised of numerous covariates, this research makes use of quasi-experimental design to limit the potential bias due to non-random selection into the treatment group. Fixed effects modeling allows for the isolation of dependent variables as time-invariant, meaning that time effects are eliminated through the incorporation of baseline differences in the models which thereby allows for alternative hypotheses testing of the non-probability sampling distributions.

Author

• Thomas Penniston, University of Maryland - Baltimore County