Graduate Program

College Student Affairs

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2008

Thesis Director

James Wallace

Thesis Committee Member

Charles Eberly

Thesis Committee Member

Dan Nadler

Thesis Committee Member

Steven Conn

Abstract

This thesis addressed the issue of assessment in Career Services Departments (CSDs) and specifically how prepared, confident, and knowledgeable users of the CSD perceived themselves to be in comparison to students who had not utilized services provided by the CSD. Ultimately, the intent of this project was to generate research about assessment methods and provide an assessment tool specifically for use in the assessment of CSDs.

A total of three surveys were constructed by the primary researcher. The initial surveys, similar in construct, were composed of 28 questions and distributed on the basis of the students' use of services provided by the CSD. The initial surveys were assembled by the principal researcher after consulting existing research and modifying similar survey questions from the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS), The Community College of Philadelphia Survey of 1999 Graduates, and the works of authors Baumgartner (1994), Bakos Jr. (1996), and McChesney (1995). In addition, a third global questionnaire survey, defining confidence, preparedness, and knowledge was distributed and completed by both users and non users of the CSD. The results of the surveys indicated (1) non users did believe that services provided by the CSD positively affected students who utilized services provided by the CSD; (2) the CSD has the potential to improve the confidence, preparedness and knowledge levels of non-users; (3) despite non-users believing that the CSD is beneficial for students who utilize their services, they do not perceive themselves to be dramatically less confident, prepared or knowledgeable than users of the CSD. Definitive reasons for why non users of the CSD do not take advantage of available services, despite their perceptions of its benefits, was beyond the scope of this study. Recommendations for modification of the surveys and survey population are provided.

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