Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility
Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI): An Institutional Climate Measure
What is the PSRI?
Findings from Fall 2007
Background
Timeline for PSRI Inventory Development
What is the PSRI?
The PSRI is a campus climate survey
designed to gauge participants’ perceptions about the opportunities for learning and engagement with
issues of personal and social responsibility across an institution. The Inventory consists of three types of questions about the five dimensions, tailored for each of the four constituent groups: students, faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs staff.
- Attitudinal items: participants choose the degree to which they agree with a statement about the institution
- Behavioral items: participants choose the degree to which they experience a particular phenomenon at the institution
- Open-ended items: participants provide text related to experiences, programs, and practices at the institution that help students to develop personal and social responsibility.
Findings from Fall 2007
Over 20,000 students and over 8,800 faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs staff participated in the PSRI in the fall of 2007. Initial findings are published in the report titled "Should College Focus More on Personal and Social Responsibility?"
Background
The original research for the PSRI occurred in the first half of 2006 under the direction of Lee Knefelkamp, Core Commitments director of dialogue and assessment, and Richard Hersh with funding from the John Templeton Foundation. The original draft of the PSRI was developed by Lee Knefelkamp in collaboration with Lauren Ruff, research assistant. Designed to measure campus climate related to the dimensions of personal and social responsibility, the development of the PSRI began with a thorough review of the psychology and developmental literatures to create definitions, identify character traits, and point to relevant behavioral manifestations.
Using a matrix (pdf) defined by the five dimensions and ten markers of campus culture, a pool of sample items was generated to develop an initial draft of an instrument. To provide more comprehensive data on how well institutions are embedding education for personal and social responsibility, the PSRI surveys four different constituents: students, faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs staff. The initial instrument went through multiple internal revisions before being sent to several external reviewers, survey research firms, and experts in the fields of development and climate measurement.
The initial version of the PSRI was piloted at three institutions in the spring and summer of 2007. Data from the pilot institutions were processed and analyzed through basic factor analytic techniques and reliability testing to screen for items needing revision. Using this information, the literature on survey research methods, as well as feedback and suggestions provided by Core Commitments team members, a final revision was prepared for a fall 2007 administration at the 23 Core Commitments Leadership Consortium institutions.
Timeline for PSRI Development
Draft survey developed by AAC&U
(Winter/Spring 2006)
Draft survey reviewed by external experts and survey research firms
(Summer 2006)
Pilot survey developed by AAC&U and University of Michigan research team
(Fall 2006)
Pilot survey data collection
(Spring/Summer 2007)
Pilot survey data analysis
(Spring/ Summer 2007)
PSRI revisions
(Summer 2007)
PSRI ready for data collection
(Fall 2007)
Data collection from Leadership Consortium institutions
(Fall 2007)
Data analysis
(Spring 2008)
Report on Initial Findings and Press Release
(April 2008)
- Should College Focus More on Personal and Social Responsibility?
- PSRI Press Release, April 17
Final PSRI revisions
(Summer 2008)
Official report on findings
(Summer 2009)
PSRI made available to AAC&U members
(TBD)
For more information, please contact Michèle Leaman at leaman@aacu.org.
Other AAC&U Publications on Assessment
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