A two-year study addressed the problem of developing a typology of experiential education programs theoretically based and empirically tested that could guide systematic research on questions fundamental to workplace-based experiential education programs. The research question focused on was, "Can experiential education programs be classified according to the relationship existing between workplace role expectations and learner needs and dispositions?" The first year was a qualitative phase for collecting data. Interviews were conducted with students, program coordinators, and employers associated with eighteen programs in four different states. Data analysis consisted of four steps. First, nine program characteristics were identified as indicators of the normative (referring to work organizations, their roles, their expectations) and personalistic (referring to experiential learners, their personalities, their needs and dispositions) dimensions. Next, interview data were categorized for all programs. Then data were converted to quantitative values to show the proportional relationship. Finally, results were displayed graphically to reveal the clustering of program types. In phase 2--the quantitative phase--students, program staff, and employers involved in thirty-one programs in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Arizona, California, and Oregon were selected as the sample for completing the instrument which gathered information on the nine program characteristics. Results were the determination of the normative-personalistic proportions for each of the programs and the resultant classification schema. Five recommendations were made. (The revised instrument is appended.) (YLB)