Case Studies in “Researching the Student Experience” by Malcolm TightPresenter: Roy Chan

Date: October 8, 2010E-mail: rychan@hku.hk

Malcolm Tight– Professor of Higher Education at

Lancaster University• Field: Nature of Academic Experience;

Development of HE Experience; Changing Patters of Academic Work

– Editor of the Journal of Studies of Higher Education

Case Studies• 1) Stephen Ball, Jackie Davies, Miriam David and Diane Raey

(2002). “Classification and Judgment: Social Class and the Cognitive Structures of Choice in Higher Education.” British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23, I, 51-72.

• 2) Lin Norton, Alice Tilley, Stephen Newstead and Arlene Franklyn-Stokes (2001). “The Pressures of Assessment in Undergraduate Courses and their Effect on Student Behaviors.” Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 26, 3, 269-284.

• 3) Ulrich Teichler (2000b). “Graduate Employment and Work in Selected European Counties.” European Journal of Education, 35, 2, 141-156.

CASE STUDY 1 – “CLASSIFICATION AND JUDGMENT: SOCIAL CLASS AND THE COGNITIVE STRUCTURES OF CHOICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION.”

Case Study 1 – Classification and Judgment• Themes and Issues

– Choice of Higher Education – Issues of Selection– Student Experience and Perception in UK

higher education institutions

Stephen J. Ball– Professor of Education at the Institute

of Education, University of London• Field: Sociology of Education

– Director of Education Policy Research Unit at the University of London

Jacqueline Davies– Lecturer at the City University London

• Field: Teaching Health in Higher Education; Training Professionals; Organizational Change and Innovation

Miriam David– Professor of Education at the Institute

of Education, University of London– Associate Director (Higher Education)

of the ESRC's Teaching & Learning Research Programme at IOE• Field: Gender and education; widening

participation in HE; diversity and equity

Diane Reay– Professor of Education at the University

of Cambridge• Field: Sociology of Education; Social

Class Theory; Race and Ethnicity; Social Justice Issues in Education

– Editorial Boards of Gender and Education, the Journal of Education Policy and Sociology.

Case Study 1 – Classification and Judgment• Key Arguments

– Parents, friends and teaches influence how prospective students choose

– Social class plays a critical role to the choice student’s make

– The relations between social class, school attended, school examination and participation, and the course availability

Case Study 1 – Classification and Judgment• Methods and Methodologies

– Interview-based • Conducted in and around London

• 120 prospective students interviewed• 15 teachers• 40 parents

– Questionnaires • 502 prospective students

Case Study 1 –Classification and Judgment

• Analytical & Theoretical Framework• Pierre Bourdieu

– 1) Classification - Social Construction and Social Order. Without classification, there is no identification.

– 2) Judgment – Leads to Social Class, and how ‘distinctions’ are based by Social Class which get reinforced in daily life.

Case Study 1 – Classification and Judgment• Pierre Bourdieu – French sociologist,

anthropologist, and philosopher

Case Study 1 –Classification and Judgment• Conclusion

– Families with experience in Higher Education see university as a normal route

– Families with little or no experience in Higher Education will leave school and do something else

“Many students, especially working-class students, never get to the position where they can contemplate HE. Others who do apply avoid certain institutions (p.70).”

CASE STUDY 2 – THE “PRESSURES OF ASSESSMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE COURSES AND THEIR EFFECT ON STUDENT BEHAVIORS.”

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment• Themes and Issues

– Pressures of Assessment– Approaches to Studying– Student Behaviors in School– Assessment Practices and its Influence on

Students– ‘Rules of the Game’– Cheating Behaviors

Lin S. Norton• Professor of Pedagogical Research at

Liverpool Hope University– Field: Assessment in higher education

University teachers’ perceptions; Beliefs about teaching and assessment.

• Reader in Learning and Teaching

Stephen Newstead• Emeritus Professor of Psychology at

the University of Plymouth • Fields: Cognitive Psychology, Educational

Psychology and Research Methods• Former President of the British

Psychological Society

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment• Key Arguments

– Students believe it is okay to cheat in classes that are useless to future career goals

– Assessment affect students’ studying behaviors

– Cheating is common among UK undergraduate students

– Student choices to cheat are caused by social class

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment

Quotes from Reading:• “Cheating may be some sort of adaptation to

academic demands as students perceive them (p. 272).”

• “Students felt it was justifiable to cheat on courses that they perceived to be of little use either intellectually or in terms of preparing them for a career (p. 272).”

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment

• Methods and Methodologies– 267 third-year undergraduate psychology

students in four UK higher education institution• Three Types of Questionnaires:

– 1) ‘Rules of the Game’ – tactics that students used when producing coursework essays

– 2) Cheating – to determine who had ever cheated

– 3) Approaches to Studying – to learn how people study

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment• Purpose of Research:

– (1) Find out how widespread was the reported use of ‘rules of the game’ and cheating behaviors among psychology students in four different institutions of higher education in the UK.

– (2) See whether there were any age or sex differences in these behaviors.

– (3) Investigate whether there was any relationship between using ‘rules of the game,’ cheating behaviors and approaches to studying.

Case Study 2 –Pressures of Assessment• Conclusions:

– Finding suggest that psychology students do feel pressured by assessment which encourage them to cheat and use ‘rules of the game’

– Authors found evidence that UK students surveyed had used essay writing tactics and cheating behaviors on assessment

– Using a number of ‘rules of the game’ was not a very effective strategy for maximizing marks.

– Academic staff needs to be more explicit in conveying to students what is viewed as cheating in higher education

CASE STUDY 3 – THE “GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT AND WORK IN SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTIES.”

Case Study 3 –Graduate Employment and Work

– Themes and Issues:• Higher Education to Employment• Work situations of higher education

graduates• The usefulness of surveys and how can

we improve surveys• Higher Education and Income• Relevance of Graduation Rate• Equality of Opportunity• Employment problems of recent

graduates

Ulrich Teichler• Professor at the International Centre

for Higher Education Research at the University of Kassel, Germany

• Director of International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel

• Coordinator of the International graduate survey CHEERS

Case Study 3 –Graduate Employment and Work

– Analytical/Theoretical Framework• Two sets of data:

– 1) Compiled by the European Commission Agency

– 2) Compiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

• Both sets examined: – A) Enrollment rates in higher education– B) The proportion of graduates in their age

group– C) The percentage of adults who have

completed higher education– D) Labor force participation rates and the

earnings of those who completed HE

Case Study 3 –Graduate Employment and Work

– Arguments• Problems with available data and their

interpretation– Different definitions of what it means to be a

student; difference in age group; and what is/not included in higher education in different countries

It is very difficult to compare the employment and work situation of higher education graduates and the relationships between higher education and the world of work in the various European countries (p. 141).

• Relevance of the graduate rate in HE• Recent graduate employment problems

Case Study 3 –Graduate Employment and Work

Conclusion:• Transition from higher education to

employment varies substantially according to country.

• Students with higher education degree have higher income than secondary education

• Students with higher education degree are more like t o be employed than no degree holders.

• More women than men in HE

Questions?• E-mail(s): rychan@hku.hk / rychan@uci.edu

– Power Point slides can be downloaded via online at: http://www.rychan.com

“Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.”

~ Aldous Huxley, English writer