Using Surveys To Measure 'Value Added' in Skills in Four Faculties. Working Paper.

This study tested the amount of value added to critical and communication skills by the university experience using a strategy that compared the skills of entering and graduating students at York University (Ontario). The study involved, first, identifying skills that might be improved over the course of a university education; second, developing survey questions that measured skills for entering and graduating students at four faculties; and third, performing covariance analysis of survey results for entering and graduating students. Data were generated by three questionnaires, with response rates ranging from 55 to 58 percent for two surveys in the fall of 1995 to 58 percent one conducted in the summer of 1996. Eight tables detail skill categories and topics; list characteristics of survey respondents; correlate skills and grades for entering students, for graduating students, by gender, by ethnic origin, and by home language; and provide Z-scores to assess value added for entering and graduating students. Overall, graduating students were found to have better-developed skills than entering students. The paper also focuses on the rationale for the relatively cost-effective research design. (Contains 30 references.) (CH)