Social Science Assessment Results 2006-2007

Social Science Core Course Assessment Results, Spring 2007

In general, a large majority of students are meeting or exceeding all three standards.  The variation across the standards is interesting however.  While, 81.2% of the students are meeting or exceeding the issues standard and 79.8% are meeting or exceeding the knowledge standard, 77.0% are meeting or exceeding the methods standard.  This variation seems to be due to the fact that some courses did not emphasize the methods of social science.  The methods standard was criticized more frequently than the other standards. 

Many courses in the social science core do not explicitly address social science methods and fewer still address multiple methods.  Since students are required to take two social science core courses in two different departments, presumably the standard will be met.  Rarely will assessment of a single course meet the methods requirement fully.  Individual courses refer to methods such as hypothesis development, document analysis, observation, experiment, measurement, statistical analysis, or interpretative analysis.  The common thread is that courses in the social science core rely on evidence, historical or contemporary, that must be evaluated as more or less reliable and valid.  Students should understand something about the norms for evaluating evidence within a discipline.

The social science core committee will begin a discussion of this standard in the fall semester of 2007.  We need better agreement about what the standard is and we need to write a set of expectations for meeting it.  More fundamentally, we need to discuss the meaning of the learning outcome.  What exactly do we want students to know about social science method?

Approximately 20% of the students were either approachiing or not meeting these standards.  What does this mean?  The core committee will consider this issue as well.

Results for 41 courses offered in the spring semester 2007.

The histograms below show the distribution of the percentage of students in each class meeting or exceeding each standard.  They provide information about the variability from class to class.  This variation derives from two main sources.  The wide variety of courses in the social science core necessarily presents substantial variation in approach.  There is also unknown variation in the reliability and validity of individual course assessments.  The social science core committee will initiate a review of these issues and instigate a discussion among social science faculty in general.

 Figure 1. Percent Meeting or Exceeding the Methods of Social Science Standard

Four of the courses reported less than half the students meeting or exceeding the methods of social science standard.  The median percentage is 76%. 

 Figure 2. Percent Meeting or Exceeding the Knowledge of Social Science Standard
 

All of the courses reported more than half the students meeting or exceeding the knowledge of social science standard.  The median percentage is 84%.

Figure 3. Percent Meeting or Exceeding the Knowledge of Public Issues Standard

Two of the courses reported less than half the students meeting or exceeding the knowledge of public issues standard.  The median percentage is 86%.