Applying variable- and person-centered approaches in the study of higher education learning outcomes

ABSTRACT

Many believe that higher education contributes to students’ joint cognitive and non-cognitive development. However, relevant empirical evidence of that is scarce. Employing a sample of 348 college students, the present study explored the relationships among a range of outcomes using both a variable- and a person-centered approach. We found that a sense of purpose, strength of principles, and moral agency were positively associated. However, cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes were only weakly correlated. We also found that most students had either high or low scores in all of the measured outcomes, but some had non-uniform profiles. These results suggest that colleges should not assume that cognitive and non-cognitive developments are strongly related. College students likely need differentiated instruction and support, depending on their individual backgrounds, interests, and levels of the target constructs.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• moral judgment development
• cognitive development
• latent profile analysis

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Andres Castro Samayoa, Chris Constas, Kerry Cronin, Gabrielle Thome, and the instructors of the Perspectives program at Boston College for their assistance with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be made readily available upon request for research purposes.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. One group of students from which data were collected was not asked to provide age, see below.

2. The EHD students’ CT scores were also reported elsewhere (Anghel et al., 2021).

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by an Ignite grant through Boston College.

Notes on contributors

Ella Anghel

Ella Anghel recently earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College. Her current research focuses on technology-enhanced assessment and learning.

Henry I. Braun

Henry I. Braun is the Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy at Boston College. He specializes in testing and education policy; assessment design and analysis; and higher education outcomes. He has won awards from the AERA, NCME, is a fellow of both the ASA and AERA, and an elected member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Audrey A. Friedman

Audrey A. Friedman is a retired Associate Professor of Teaching, Curriculum, and Society at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Currently she is a researcher, instructor, and supervisor for the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps at Boston College. Her research addresses moral-cognitive decision-making and critical reasoning and formative experiences that nurture the development of critical reasoning, meaning, and purpose in young adults.