Pascarella, Ernest T., Gregory C. Wolniak, Ty M. Cruce and Charles F. Blaich. 2004. Do Liberal Arts Colleges Really Foster Good Practices in Undergraduate Education? Journal of College Student Development. 45: 57-74.
Researchers estimated the net effects of liberal arts colleges on 19 measures of good practices in undergraduate education grouped into seven categories. Analyses of 3-year longitudinal data from five liberal arts colleges, four research universities, and seven regional universities were conducted. Net of a battery of student precollege characteristics, whether or not a student was enrolled full-time and lived on campus, and the academic selectivity of the institution attended, liberal arts colleges evidenced stronger positive impacts on a broad range of empirically vetted good practices in undergraduate education than did either research universities or regional institutions. The impact was most pronounced in the initial year of postsecondary education.