Applying variable- and person-centered approaches in the study of higher education learning outcomes

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21511348
AutoresElla Anghel (0000-0001-6332-7826, Boston College, autor de correspondencia), H Braun (0000-0003-2993-8134, Boston College), Audrey A Friedman (0000-0001-6719-8451, Boston College)
Año2025
Volumen54
Número2
Páginas167-184
Fecha de publicación2025-04-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Moral Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0305-7240 • E-ISSN: 1465-3877
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057240.2023.2252615
OpenAlexW4386860847
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas54

Many believe that higher education contributes to students’ joint cognitive and non-cognitive development. However, relevant empirical evidence of that is scarce. Employing a sample of 348 college students, the present study explored the relationships among a range of outcomes using both a variable- and a person-centered approach. We found that a sense of purpose, strength of principles, and moral agency were positively associated. However, cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes were only weakly correlated. We also found that most students had either high or low scores in all of the measured outcomes, but some had non-uniform profiles. These results suggest that colleges should not assume that cognitive and non-cognitive developments are strongly related. College students likely need differentiated instruction and support, depending on their individual backgrounds, interests, and levels of the target constructs

Cognition · Higher education · Mathematics education · Medical education · Social science · Sociology · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Leadership, Behavior, and Decision-Making Studies · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology