Does Early Intervention Make a Difference in Career Planning? How an Institutional Research Office Provided Answers without Implementing a New Survey. AIR 1999 Annual Forum Paper.

This paper describes an institutional research office's use of extensive senior survey data to examine indirectly the effectiveness of a career services early intervention program over a period of four years. The study compared responses on the senior survey by participants (N=200) in the sophomore career exploration seminar with responses of non-participants (N=4234). Analysis indicated that seminar participants were more likely than other students to be female, Asian, and liberal arts majors. All career service items listed on the senior questionnaire were utilized more heavily by the career seminar participants than by non-participants. This difference was most notable for participation in the individual career counseling services, walk-in hours, job search workshops, and use of internship listings. Additionally, seminar participants showed a higher level of satisfaction with these services than did the non-participant group. Participants were far more likely to give the services of the career center an "essential" rating compared to non-participants on an importance scale. Participants were more likely to have completed an internship than non-participants and also expressed higher ratings for their overall satisfaction with their undergraduate experience. (DB) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Does Early Intervention Make a Difference in Career Planning? How an Institutional Research Office Provided Answers Without Implementing a New Survey PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY D. Vura TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) by Dawn Geronimo Terkla Executive Director Institutional Research Tufts University 28 Sawyer Ave. Medford, MA 02155 (617) 627-3274 Kelli J. Armstrong Director of Institutional Research University of Massachusetts, President's Office 1 Beacon Street, 26th floor Boston, MA 02108 (617) 287-7125 Mark E. Seifert Research Analyst Tufts University 28 Sawyer Ave. Medford, MA 02155 (617) 627-3274 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDU ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BESTCOPYAVA1LAE3LE for Management Research, Policy Analysis, and Planning This paper was presented at the Thirty-Ninth Annual Forum of the. Association for Institutional Research held in Seattle, Washington, May 30-June 3, 1999. This paper was reviewed by the AIR Forum Publications Committee and was judged to be of high quality and of interest to others concerned with the research of higher education. It has therefore been selected to be included in the ERIC Collection of AIR Forum Papers. Dolores Vura Editor Air Forum Publications Abstract Does Early Intervention Make a Difference in Career Planning? How an Institutional Research Office Provided Answers Without Implementing a New SurveyDoes Early Intervention Make a Difference in Career Planning? How an Institutional Research Office Provided Answers Without Implementing a New Survey An abundance of research exists studying the process and effects of career choices for college students. Most focus on student experiences in the academic major and the relative impact on career decisions. Few research studies examine the effects of career advising and planning administered through a college career services center, and virtually no research examines the impact of early intervention by a career center on students' decision-making. This paper will describe an institutional research office's use of extensive senior survey data to examine the effectiveness of a career services early intervention program over a period of four years.