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

STEP特别项目考察了主要研究人员和评估人员在努力评估单个STEP 1类项目的影响以及定义、构建和实施适当的比较组研究时所面临的挑战。该项目通过经验测试收集、分析和共享一组公共数据的可行性和有效性，以评估单个项目级别活动的影响，并评估跨一组定义良好的机构的一组经过验证的实践的有效性和影响，以进行比较。该项目将中断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和未参与项目活动的学生的经历之间的相关区别。该研究将机构管理数据与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。该项目制定并提供了一套战略和数据资源，具有类似特点的院校可以从中评估STEP项目对获得学士学位的影响。与STEP Type 1项目紧密合作，这项工作有潜力为跨多个项目的评估工作的设计和执行制定战略；为项目改进和成功记录提供项目级数据；提供有关项目挑战和机遇的信息；为项目影响提供强有力的证据；并为其他对科学、技术、工程和数学领域的学生保留率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.