Sociology
Results of Assessment
2001-2002
(submitted
10/07/02)
WHAT WE HAVE DONE in 2001-2002:
1. Mission of our program was reworked in 1999-2000 and has remained
the same since then (see current mission
statement). Faculty made an effort to
construct better survey questions to measure the accomplishment of this mission.
(See discussion on exit interview and alumni survey below).
2. Program outcomes remained the same as those identified in 1999-2000:
Upon graduation, students should be able to:
a. Possess analytic skills.
b. Possess problem solving skills.
c. Possess competent writing skills.
d. Know terms and research of the discipline of sociology.
e. Know concepts and theories of the discipline of sociology.
f. Possess an informed appreciation of other cultures.
g. Possess skills to be competitive in today’s labor market or to pursue
professional degrees.
3. Articulated the outcomes and the curriculum - See outcome grid for 2001-2002.
4. Selected appropriate measures of student learning for our program:
a. Exit Interview.
We decided to focus on re-working the exit
interview again this year to better measure some of the student outcomes above
as well as particular aspects of the mission statement. One of the major changes
to the survey this year was the inclusion of more open-ended questions to gather
more qualitative data. Other changes to the survey included additional measures
of the following outcome g. listed above which is derived from the second statement in our
program’s mission statement. Many of these questions assess the impact of
sociological knowledge in students’ work, family, and civic lives (questions 9
- 14). The other new questions constructed for this year’s exit interview were
designed to help us assess the third statement of our mission statement
regarding facilitation of a stimulating learning environment through close
interaction between faculty and students (questions 19 - 26).
b. Alumni Survey.
The alumni survey is only in draft form at this
point. The faculty decided that it would be interesting and perhaps most
useful to gather data from alumni to help us better assess our program’s
outcomes and overall mission. This survey is designed to help us assess the
impact of sociological knowledge in their work, family, and civic lives as
well as some of the specific learning outcomes listed above. We are hopeful
that this survey will be available online by the Spring 2003 semester.
5. Collected the data and analyzed it:
The exit interview was distributed to graduating seniors (majors and minors)
in sociology. Of the 11 majors and 23 minors in Sociology who graduated in
Spring 2002, 22 returned exit questionnaires by summer 2002, for a 65% response
rate. The following is a summary of the results. Generally, the results suggest
that the program is upholding its mission and accomplishing the student outcomes
satisfactorily.
General Program Information
- Most students chose sociology as a major or minor primarily in either their
sophomore or junior year (71.4%).
- 47.6% of respondents chose the generalist track, rather than an emphasis.
28.6% of respondents chose the criminology and deviance emphasis, while 19%
chose the family, gender, and work emphasis.
- Of the students who chose an emphasis area, 61.5% indicated they chose it
because of personal interest. The remaining 28.5% chose their emphasis area
because they thought it would help them with their future job or prepare them
for graduate school.
- Future career goals reported included:
- Business in Commercial Real estate
- Counselor
- Dental School
- Human Resources
- Law enforcement
- Lawyer
- Neuro-feedback Clinician
- Professor
- Sociological Researcher
- Teacher
- Working with families and children /victims of domestic violence
Specific Learning Outcomes
- Outcomes a, b, c, and f (listed above): Students were asked their
skill level in writing, analytical thinking, problem solving, statistical
skills, computer skills, and an appreciation of other cultures, before and
after taking upper division sociology course work. Eighteen out of 20
students responded that their skills in these areas had improved. Two
students responded that their skill had improved in all areas except for
three areas in which their skills remained the same, (these areas: computer
skills, appreciation of non-U.S. cultures, and appreciation of ethnic-racial
diversity). These two students rated themselves high in these areas before
taking upper division sociology courses and high after taking such courses.
One student responded that his/her skill level in all of these areas
remained the same after taking upper division course work.
- Outcomes d and e (listed above): The majority of students rated
sociology core courses as high (a rating of 4 or 5 on a 5 point scale) in
having them understand sociological research (86.4%), concepts (86.4%), and
theories (81.8%).
- Outcome g (listed above): The majority of students (81%) rated the
applicability of skills they learned in the Sociology Program to their work
lives as high (a rating of 4 or 5 on a 5 point scale). Open-ended question
regarding applicability of sociology to work life produced the following
response:
"Knowing the organizational structure/leadership will enable me
to work more effectively at any career."
Overall Mission of Program
- Statement a: Broad view of the world: Open-ended questions produced
the following responses suggesting that this part of our program mission is
being realized for at least some of our students.
"I will always use the knowledge I have gained to use fairness
and objectivity and curiosity."
"I have more of an abstract way of thinking. It [sociological
knowledge] will help me see that people are different."
"Sociology allows me to see a lot of things in society that I was
not aware of before, such as power differentials, group behavior, etc."
"I think sociology has broadened my perspective of the
world."
"I’ve decided to get more involved because of sociology. I’ve
definitely become more aware of social issues and how I can help make
necessary changes."
"Most of what I learned simply benefited my life in general –
i.e. it made me more aware of the state of society."
- Statement b: Skills to be competitive in labor market or pursue
professional degree:
* 50% plan to earn a graduate degree; 22.7% are unsure if they will earn a
graduate degree but are considering it; and the remaining 27.3% do not plan to
earn a graduate degree.
* Those planning to earn graduate degrees plan to pursue degrees in
Sociology, Law, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Dentistry, and Counseling.
- Statement c: Stimulating learning environment through close interaction
between faculty and students:
* Students were overwhelmingly satisfied with faculty concern about them
(100%), and with faculty (90.9%) and staff (90.5%) assistance and advisement.
* The majority of students (90.9%) had gotten to know sociology professors
well enough to talk with them regularly after class or during office hours and
77.3% of students were very satisfied with the availability of faculty outside
of class.
* When asked to list the strengths of the sociology program, many students
listed the availability and personable nature of the faculty.
"The professors are very diverse...and they are very willing to
help the students."
Strength: "How personal the department is."
"The professors really care about if you learn or not."
Strength: "The professors and their knowledge of sociological
issues along with most of the professors’ personal skills with the
students."
Strength: "Good professors who are knowledgeable, care, and
challenge their students."
* Satisfaction with the quality of instruction in sociology courses was
overwhelmingly high (86.4%) as was satisfaction with the intellectual
development attained at WSU in general (77.3%).
* Camaraderie among students continues to be high, with 86.4% having a
feeling of camaraderie.
- Statement d: Appreciation of multi-cultural and comparative
perspectives and applicability of knowledge in everyday lives:
* When asked to rate the applicability of skills they learned in the
sociology program, the majority of students responded with a high (rating of 4
or 5 on a 5 point scale) applicability to work (81%); in personal life
(90.9%); and to civic involvements (72.7%).
* Open-ended questions produced the following responses suggesting that a
multi-cultural or comparative perspective is being realized and is applicable
in at least some of our students’ everyday lives.
"I better understand why people around me do what they do. This
will help me be more accepting."
"I learned so much about stratification, feminism, racism, and
sexism...I like the stress on critical thinking and the openness of the
professors to exploring diversity."
"[I expect] to be more open minded and knowledgeable in various
encounters in my life....[and] more open to others’ thoughts, feelings,
etc."
" I have become more understanding of what motivates people to do
what they do. This aids me in my everyday life as well as work because I can
see through the surface and get to the ‘why?’."
* In providing examples of how sociological knowledge applies to their
civic involvements, one student wrote the following:
[It will] "...help [me] support the governmental leaders and help
organize groups of people to get their ideas known."
Plan for 2002-2003:
Faculty discussed these results September 2002 and developed the plan listed
below. There are no real substantive changes to the program as a whole
considering our findings of this past year’s assessment efforts suggest that
we are sufficiently accomplishing the program mission and student outcomes.
However, faculty are suggesting one change to the student outcomes list and
changes to the assessment plan in terms of instruments used to measure outcomes
and mission statement. These are discussed in more detail below.
1 - Do not create new learning outcomes - strike "competent writing
skills" from the list.
The learning outcomes to be measured in the 2002-2003 academic year will
include all but the "possess competent writing skills" outcome
listed as letter c. above. This outcome, although important for students in
our program, is an outcome that the students glean from their liberal arts and
general educations and only hone those skills in our program. Therefore,
faculty have decided to delete the competent writing outcome from our list of
outcomes and focus our efforts in areas that seem more pertinent to our
program and its overall success. This decision also provides faculty the
opportunity to concentrate on developing better measures for the remaining
outcomes (see #2 below), which has been, and will continue to be, an ongoing
process. The remaining outcomes include:
a. Possess analytic skills.
b. Possess problem solving skills.
c. Know terms and research of the discipline of sociology.
d. Know concepts and theories of the discipline of sociology.
e. Possess an informal appreciation of other cultures.
f. Possess skills to be competitive in today’s labor market or to
pursue professional degrees.
2 - Improve measurement of remaining learning outcomes (listed above in
#1).
Efforts to improve measurement of learning outcomes will concentrate on the
following areas: a) revising the exit interview; b) gathering and analyzing
data from alumni regarding preparedness for the labor market or professional
degree programs post-Weber State; and c) constructing a test for sociology
students to take as a pre- and post-test of learning outcomes.
a) Revising the exit interview. Although there have been
improvements in the exit interview in recent years, the faculty feel it is
important to revise the instrument again this year to better measure some of
the learning outcomes.
b) Gathering and analyzing data from alumni. One of the learning
outcomes for our Sociology concerns their skills to be competitive in today’s
labor market or to pursue professional degrees. In 2001-2002, the only measure
of this outcome was based on data collected from graduating seniors and their
report of whether or not they were planning on pursuing a professional degree.
This year the faculty would like to concentrate on data collected from alumni
to help us create a better measure of this outcome. This effort was begun in
the 2001-2002 academic year but plan to see it through this academic year. The
plan is to use two data sources. One source of data will come from the
development office regarding employment of our sociology alumni (we have
already accessed these data now we need to analyze them). The second source
will come from an alumni survey that the faculty will finish constructing and
administer (hopefully, Spring 2003).
c) Constructing a test for sociology students to take as a pre- and
post-test of learning outcomes. Finally, faculty will begin to work on
constructing a "test" to measure the student learning outcomes.
Students will take this "test" first when they declare sociology as
their major and again at the end of the Senior Capstone course. This is a time
intensive effort and we are not sure how far we will get on the construction
of this instrument this academic year considering our involvement with the
alumni survey. However, the faculty will try to produce a draft of this
instrument by the end of this academic year.
Mission Statement
/ Student Learning Outcomes
/ Curriculum Grid / Assessment Plan / Contact Person
| 
