Collaborative Research: Feasibility Study of Dissemination of Knowledge from STEP Type 1 Projects

STEP特别项目审查了主要调查人员和评估人员在努力评估单个STEP类型1项目的影响以及确定、构建和进行适当的比较小组研究方面所面临的挑战。该项目从经验上测试了收集、分析和共享一组通用数据的可行性和有用性，以评估单个项目一级的活动的影响，并评估一组定义明确的机构中一组经过验证的做法的有效性和影响，以便进行比较。该项目将中断的时间序列设计与病例对照设计配对，以确定参与项目活动的学生的经历与非参与者的学生的经历之间的相关区别。这项研究将院校管理数据与来自学生参与者的调查数据相结合，以检验第一年经历对学生成功的有效性和影响。该项目开发并提供了一套战略和数据资源，具有相似特征的机构可以从中吸取教训，评估STEP计划对获得学士学位的影响。与STEP Type 1项目密切合作，这项工作有可能为设计和执行跨多个项目的评估工作制定战略；为项目改进提供项目级数据并记录成功；提供关于项目挑战和机会的信息；为项目影响提供强有力的证据；并为其他对留住学生在科学、技术、工程和数学领域感兴趣的研究人员提供高质量的数据资源。

The STEP special project examines the challenges facing principal investigators and evaluators in efforts to assess the impact of individual STEP Type 1 projects and to define, construct, and conduct appropriate comparison group studies. The project empirically tests the feasibility and usefulness of collecting, analyzing, and sharing a common set of data to evaluate the impact of activities at the individual project level and to assess the effectiveness and impact of a set of proven practices across a well defined set of institutions for comparison purposes. The project pairs an interrupted time series design with a case control design to identify relevant distinctions between the experiences of students who are participating in project activities and the experiences of students who are not participants. The research integrates institutional administrative data with survey data from student participants to examine the effectiveness and impact of first-year experiences on student success. The project develops and provides a set of strategies and data resources from which institutions with similar characteristics can draw to assess the impact of the STEP program on baccalaureate degree attainment. Working closely with STEP Type 1 projects, this effort has the potential to develop strategies for the design and execution of evaluation efforts across multiple projects; provide project level data for project improvement and documentation of successes; provide information on project challenges and opportunities; provide strong evidence for project impact; and provide high quality data resources for other researchers interested in student retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.