Do liberal arts colleges make students more liberal? Some initial evidence

Abstract

The effect of attending college on students' political ideology has been a controversial topic for many decades. In this study, we explored the relationship between attending a liberal arts college and students' political views. Compared to their counterparts at other 4-year institutions, liberal arts college students began postsecondary education with more liberal political views, but also made great changes toward liberal political views over 4 years of college. These greater gains persisted even in the presence of important confounding influences such as pre-college political views. In addition, our analyses suggested a global effect of attendance at a liberal arts college on the development of liberal political views. Attempts to explain the causal mechanisms underlying this apparent institutional influence were only partially successful.

Measurements Matter: Taking the DIT-2 Multiple Times and College Students’ Moral Reasoning Development

“…First, a convincing body of evidence indicates that propensity score matching and regression yield essentially the same effect estimates, particularly-as in the present study-when a pretest measure of the outcome is specified in the analytic model (e.g., Foster et al 2009;Hanson et al 2012;Padgett et al 2010;Pascarella et al 2013;Salisbury et al 2013;Shadish et al 2008;Shah et al 2005). Second, our models also attempted to estimate the unique impact of taking the DIT-2 three times versus twice that could not be attributed to other salient college academic and non-academic experiences.…”

The link between high-impact practices and student learning: some longitudinal evidence

“…First, a convincing body of evidence indicates that propensity score matching and regression yield essentially the same effect estimates, particularly-as in the present study-when a pretest measure of the outcome is specified in the analytic model (e.g., Foster et al 2009;Hanson et al 2012;Padgett et al 2010;Salisbury et al 2013;Shadish et al 2008;Shah et al 2005). Second, concerns arose with estimating the unique cognitive impacts of individual highimpact practices that could not be attributed to other college academic and non-academic experiences.…”

An examination of college student wellness: A research and liberal arts perspective

“…Historically, small liberal arts colleges have proclaimed a distinctive mission by providing students with an educational experience which fosters intellectual openness, learning for their own sake, high-quality teaching, smaller class sizes, and frequent student–student and student–faculty interactions both in and out of the classroom ( Bovillian and Murphy, 2013 ; Hanson et al, 2012 ; Pascarella et al, 2004 ; Seifert et al, 2008 ). A growing body of research in higher education suggests that students attending a small, private, liberal arts college are more likely to experience good practices in undergraduate education (e.g.…”