Assessment, Evaluation
& Research

There are five subcategories in the Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER) competency: Terms and Concepts; Values/Ethics/Politics; AER Design; Methodology, Data Collection, and Data Analysis; and Interpreting, Reporting, and Using Results. My coursework and work experience has allowed me to familiarize myself with this competency enough to attain intermediate skills in AER. As I advance in my career as a Student Affairs professional, I will become more experienced in aspects like terminology and AER design to eventually reach an advanced understanding of this competency.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Most of my competence in this area comes from my Research in Higher Education, Student Affairs, and Athletic Administration (EDLF 7610) class I completed in the Fall 2022 semester. In this course, my exposure to concepts like qualitative and quantitative sampling strategies, statistical significance, and validity and reliability allowed me to gain a better insight into the research area of this competency. Many of the projects I completed in the class required me to pair the aforementioned terms with concrete problems. As a result, I gained a simulated form of real-world experience through the combination of the two. In EDLF 7610, I was tasked with surveying current student-athletes on their perception of the hazing climate on their campus. To accurately do so, I had to assess the situation of the current perceived hazing climate on college campuses within the United States, then evaluate the information I acquired to create a survey that captures the validity of my study, and lastly, analyze and reflect on the responses collected from the survey.

In outcomes of the AER competency, the ACPA and NASPA claim to have intermediate competency, an individual must, “[u]se culturally relevant and culturally appropriate terminology and methods to conduct and report AER findings.” Although my experience in this competency is surface level, I am familiar enough with AER terminology to consistently use it when participating with colleagues in assessment, program review, evaluation, planning, and research. My performance in this class, coupled with my ability to remember and associate the terms, provided me the confidence to thoroughly address AER policies and procedures.

VALUES, ETHICS, AND POLITICS 

The coursework in EDLF 7610 spent a significant amount of time on ethics. In research, it is vital to maintain ethical standards. Although the ethical foundation of this competency is not solely based on research, i.e., interactions with the Institutional Review Board, similar practices I learned from EDLF 7610 can be adopted to maintain an intermediate level of understanding in this competency. When working in higher education as a student affairs professional, you have access to student’s data. To maintain a professional work environment that makes students feel safe, the information you attain through viewing their records must stay confidential. 

AER DESIGN 

In the Higher Education program at UVA, I was required to create multiple surveys intended to be distributed among students, and my competency in AER design is linked to my survey work in EDLF 7610. As previously mentioned, I designed a qualitative survey that analyzed NCAA student-athletes’ perception of their campuses’ hazing climate. The purpose of this project was to eventually collaborate with institutions and the NCAA to take the necessary steps to educate student-athletes on the signs of hazing, how to report hazing, and eventually eliminate the act from all NCAA-affiliated institutions. (See copy of survey and reflection/findings below.) This was not an actual survey distributed to NCAA athletes across the country; however, I learned a lot from the assignment. From the findings, I was able to alter the questionnaire to answer my research question better. In hindsight, I wish I interviewed more students. Although the assignment only required interviewing one student, the topic of hazing and how institutions prevent it genuinely intrigues me.

METHODOLOGY, DATA COLLECTION, AND DATA ANALYSIS / INTERPRETING REPORTING gggggggggggggggggggggggggggg AND USING RESULTS 

Integrating these two categories is imperative in creating clear and concise AER reports. Fortunately, I have real-world and classroom experience in this domain, which I will attribute to my intermediate competency in Assessment, Evaluation, and Research. Most of my background is in marketing and communications, but I can translate some of my experiences to higher education. For instance, when trying to target a specific audience, it is vital to understand what appeals to them and create a plan that will entice them to engage with your organization and subsequently become a returning customer. To figure this out, during my time as a social media and marketing intern with the Pensacola Ice Flyers in 2020 and 2021, I analyzed the performance data from previous Instagram and Facebook posts and observed how formatting, time of post, and content garnered the most attention. From the data, I created new postings templates that combined various aspects of our highest-performing posts to attract better engagement and target our audience more effectively. This process directly follows steps in Methodology, Data Collection, and Data Analysis as well as Interpreting, Reporting, and Using Results. Projects like these allowed me to interact with various departments and individuals within the organization to see how we can utilize our social media platforms to increase fan engagement. Additionally, the organizational structure of my previous job simulated a simplified version of an institution. 

To express my competence within the classroom, in the Introduction to Higher Education course (EDLF 5810), I viewed data from IPEDS, NESE, and GuideStar to compare and contrast institutions and perform various tasks based on my findings. For instance, my group and I were asked to select peer institutions for Mount St. Mary’s University and compare and contrast the data. Once we located similar schools, we looked at key metrics in the institutions’ IPEDS data and compared them with certain characteristics of Mount St. Mary’s. After this comparison, we looked at programs, activities, and courses offered at Mount St. Mary’s peer institutions as a guide to creating similar programs that cultivate a better student experience. 

Resources: 

ACPA & NASPA (2015). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators. Washington, DC: Authors