Quantitative meta-analysis is a very useful, yet underutilized, technique for synthesizing research findings in higher education. Meta-analytic inquiry can be more challenging in higher education than in other fields of study as a result of (a) concerns about the use of regression coefficients as a metric for comparing the magnitude of effects…

This study addresses methodological problems surrounding existing research on exposure to contingent instructors and student outcomes. By applying non-aggregated and aggregated measures of exposure to contingent instructors to the same data, this analysis demonstrates that effects of commonly used measures of exposure to contingent instructors…

This study applies a data envelopment analysis model developed for national universities to 93 national liberal arts colleges. Such models can be used by individual institutions for benchmarking purposes or by researchers seeking to compare the practices of highly efficient liberal arts colleges with the practices of relatively inefficient…

An econometric model is used to explain differences in the percentage of Blacks enrolled at the leading public university in each state. Actual Black enrollment percentages are compared with expected enrollment percentages. (Author/MLW)

The validity of the Biglan clusters, guides in classifying or categorizing academic departments among a wide range of colleges and universities, is discussed. Evidence supports the validity by showing how faculty salaries and instructional staffing patterns differ among departments along the dimensions described by Biglan. (Author/MLW)

The development of a "change index" and its application in evaluating the relative performance of individual doctorate-granting universities in hiring and promoting women faculty is reported. A wide range of institutional performance in hiring and promoting women faculty was revealed. (Author/MLW)

Evaluated the usefulness of three approaches for predicting college grades: traditional regression models, high-school-effects models, and hierarchical linear models. Found that both the high-school-effects and the hierarchical linear models were more accurate predictors of freshman GPA than the traditional model, particularly for lower-ability…

The concept of paradigm development, it is suggested, can explain differences in organizational contexts of university departments. Departments from high-paradigm fields are embedded in a context with clearly identifiable and distinguishable dimensions. (Author/MLW)

This empirical research examines the predictors of intended departure for tenured vs. nontenured full-time faculty at research and doctoral institutions across an array of disciplines. What are the characteristics of those who intend to leave their institutions? Do tenured and nontenured faculty show different patterns of intended departure? And…

A methodology developed as an alternative to conventional institutional classification structures, intended to reduce the limitations of those models, is described. Ways in which the methodology can be used for planning, administrative, and research purposes are discussed, as are the dangers in using "peer groups" for institutional…

Over the last decade, policymakers, educators, and researchers have increasingly sought to understand community college policies and practices that promote students' success. This effort has been partly driven by an increased emphasis on outcome accountability, but it has also promoted a productive discussion about improving institutional…

The structural relation of the seven noncognitive dimensions proposed by Sedlacek and Brooks in 1976 and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade-point average and persistence after three and five semesters was examined. (Author/MLW)

The increasing concern with equity issues in higher education, along with litigation, has prompted institutions to undertake salary prediction studies. Four models were compared: (1) entering all variables, (2) excluding rank and tenure, (3) using predicted rank and tenure, and (4) using only "objective" variables. (Author/MLW)

Two competing models of the relationship between college graduates' perceived learning and satisfaction with the college experience are examined, one representing a true effect and one treating the relationship as an artifact of the halo effect. It is recommended that researchers be cautious in interpreting self-reports of learning and…

Married mothers and their husbands were interviewed at the beginning and end of the women's first year of enrollment in a university to study changes in marital happiness when women return to school. Marital happiness declined over the year among couples in which wives were enrolled as full-time students. (Author/MLW)