Abstract
The Freshman Survey commonly known as CIRP is a comprehensive institutional assessment tool that measures entering freshman characteristics and provides useful student profile data. Through forty question statements, the CIRP collects population characteristics (e.g., age, race, gender, income); student expectations of the college experience; high school experiences; student degree goals and plans; perceptions of family finances; and student attitudes, values, lifestyles, and reasons for attending college. The CIRP data may be used for tracking changes of student groups over time when combined with other data collected throughout the student college career. This review discusses data collection strategies, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the instrument, and suggests key constituencies who might find it useful. Overall, this review concludes that developing a profile of students at entry enhances an institution’s ability to provide resources in areas of perceived student need, hence helping to better shape students’ college experiences in all points of contact with the college or university.
Key Characteristics of the Instrument
As part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), the Freshman Survey collects data on approximately 11 million entering college students at 1,800 institutions in the United States. [1, para. 1] Established in 1966 by the American Council on Education, The Freshman Survey is now administered at the Higher Educational Research Institute.
The data collected by CIRP can be used to compare current entering freshmen to previous first-year classes. On its own, the Freshman Survey simply describes entering students. The results measure population characteristics (e.g., age, race, income, religion), students’ expectations of their college experiences, secondary school experiences, degree goals and future plans, as well as perceptions of college finances, attitudes, values, lifestyles, and reasons for attending college. [3, para. 1] However, when combined with another instrument, it provides a baseline of information for comparison purposes.
Who Might Find It Worthwhile?
The Freshman Survey is useful to a number of constituencies. The instrument provides valuable student profiles that are beneficial on a number of levels. Academic affairs personnel might use profile data for program review, assessment, accreditation, and the development of early intervention programs. Faculty could use data about academic abilities, self-confidence, and intellectual background for course and curricula development. The instrument could aid department chairs in working with faculty on designing courses that fit student characteristics and expectations. Faculty might find it useful to know why students chose their college, using responses such as "my parents wanted me to go," "I could not find a job," and "to make me a more cultured person." The survey results could inform enrollment services in their admission and recruitment efforts (e.g., characteristics relative to marketing a college or university such as: distance of the campus from home, grade point average in high school, and college entrance exam scores).
Institutional researchers would likely find the data helpful for retention, assessment, and longitudinal studies of class profiles, and to evaluate their students against others at peer institutions (e.g., is there a relationship between retention rates and why students choose to attend college?).
How might the data be used to measure the impact of a liberal arts education?
The CIRP looks at incoming characteristics of first-year college students, including their demographics (e.g., age, race, family income), expectations of college, high school experiences, future professional and social goals, attitudes, values, lifestyles, and motivation for attending college. In general, the CIRP "describes" a particular incoming college class and provides a snapshot of first-year students at an institution.
In this way, the CIRP can identify the extent to which entering students have participated or plan to participate in some of the practices that contribute to a liberal arts education. For example, the CIRP can identify whether students will go to college full time (question #5), have a history of and expectations for interaction with faculty (questions #34, 39), set high goals for themselves (questions #18, #31, #38), and plan to enroll in classes emphasizing the study of liberal arts as opposed to vocational or technical ideas (question #37). [Questions from the 2005 CIRP are accessible here (pdf).] These practices play a role in positive learning outcomes of a liberal arts education (such as reading comprehension, writing skills, and learning for self-understanding, among others). Therefore, by examining a subset of the "liberal arts qualities" (like those listed above) of an entering class, institutions can better understand the experiences and expectations of their first-year students, and consider whether or not these characteristics are consistent with liberal arts educational practices.
Along with examining practices associated with liberal arts education, the CIRP also looks at student history, attitudes, and experiences that might reflect larger and more overarching liberal arts outcomes. For instance, question #34 asks about how often a student engaged in a host of activities and behaviors over the past year, including visiting an art gallery, feeling depressed, performing volunteer work, etc. That a student visited art galleries regularly might suggest a strong inclination to inquire; a history of depression speaks to a student’s well-being; and the amount a student volunteered could indicate something about his or her leadership and moral character. In fact, to one degree or another, the CIRP asks about histories, thinking and behavioral trends, and expectations that could allude to all seven liberal arts outcomes identified by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. However, as a stand-alone instrument, the CIRP can merely suggest the inclinations of an entering class.
Alternatively, the CIRP can be given alongside other instruments to look at relationships between learning outcomes and student characteristics. For instance, students could also take the CCTDI, which looks at the disposition toward critical thinking. Examining relationships between a student’s critical thinking disposition and the number of hours per week he or she read for pleasure in high school could suggest compelling results (and perhaps warrant further investigation).
Likewise, the CIRP data could be combined with data from another survey that explores student characteristics. Typically, the second instrument would be given after an educational experience is complete. Comparing the data between the CIRP and the second survey could provide a sense of how students have changed over time. One instrument commonly used in conjunction with the CIRP is the College Student Survey (CSS), which can be administered at the end of a student’s senior year of college. Looking at how students’ political views have changed from the beginning to the end of the college experience, for instance, could provide interesting information about how the institution’s curricular and co-curricular practices affect students’ political opinions. Furthermore, a change in a student’s views could also suggest growth in liberal arts outcomes like effective problem solving, intercultural maturity, or moral character.
Data Collection Methods
Data are collected as freshmen full-time students enter college. The survey is typically administered by professionals in a supervised setting, during orientation. Respondents are allotted one hour to complete the survey, although many complete it in thirty to forty minutes. Completed surveys are sent back to the Higher Education Research Institute in Los Angeles, CA for processing and initial analysis. The instrument is four pages with forty questions and numerous subquestions. Institutions are able to add up to twenty-one questions, which can be designed to fit their needs. The cost is $400 plus a $1.50 fee per returned survey for the first 1,000 surveys, and $1.00 thereafter. [2] Institutions purchase their own data file, which is available electronically or on paper. However, there is an option to receive the summarized results only, which may appeal to smaller institutions with fewer institutional research resources.
How Widely Is It Distributed?
The instrument is used at 1,800 higher education institutions, and is administered to approximately 11 million students. [1] The Freshman Survey is made available in mid-March each year, although revisions are made annually. Most questions are maintained to allow for comparison across entering classes.
What Can the Freshman Survey Offer?
Since 1966, questions repeated from year to year are used to assess trends and to better understand how student profiles change over time. The survey data provides a current profile of the entering student population’s self-reported academic preparation, socio-economic status, population characteristics, opinions, beliefs, behaviors, and expectations. These data may be tracked over time and used to examine trends and changes in entering student characteristics. If students consent, individual data may be used with other data, such as grade point average or other survey instruments that contain similar constructs for a longitudinal perspective. The data are commonly used in combination with the College Student Survey (CSS), which is given to seniors, for long-term analysis. Moreover, the data set may be used to test conceptual frameworks, such as those which examine college choice, retention, and the like. Understanding students and their self-concepts at entry is critical to assessing the effect college has on students. Since the CIRP only examines inputs of the educational process, and because measurement is taken at the students’ entry-point to college, it cannot assess liberal arts outcomes as a stand-alone instrument.
Shortcomings
Questions are closed-ended, which means that respondents are unable to comment or provide additional information that is not part of the original question. Because the instrument covers many topics, it is difficult to ask about any one area in-depth. For example, one question about promoting racial understanding may not be sufficient; diversity is such a complex concept that several questions about this topic would be more effective and thorough.
The way students interpret the survey’s wording may have changed since the original administering of the survey in 1966. Therefore, without revision, some questions may no longer be as relevant as they were initially. In addition, questions developed through qualitative research examining deeper explanations of racial and gender issues related to higher learning constructs would strengthen the instrument.
Some schools have trouble getting students to participate or take the survey seriously, a problem that is common to many assessments. The one-hour length may fatigue respondents. Since data are collected once, it cannot measure change over time. One solution is to administer the CSS in conjunction with the CIRP in order to measure changes in students over the course of their college experience.
Sample Using CIRP
The Freshman Survey has been used by many types of institutions across the United States. For example, the CIRP and CSS were administered at Montclaire State University (MSU). [4, para. 1] MSU compared their data to similar institutional types (4-year, medium-selective, public institutions) and found differences among MSU students and like groups in the national sample. For example, 25% of MSU’s entering freshmen reported coming in with a grade point average in the A-range, while the national average was 35%. [4, para. 2]
From the Freshman Survey, MSU also learned that its students closely resembled the national average in terms of amount of time spent studying, socializing, working for pay, volunteering, watching TV, and playing computer games. [4, Table 2] The majority of students spent less than five hours per week studying and doing homework, which suggests student disengagement in academics. [4, para. 3] MSU also learned that students at its campus are above the national average in participation in student groups. [4, para. 5] Other findings included how often students studied together or socialized with another ethnic/racial group. This body of information was helpful for the institution to better understand its own student body and how it compared to national averages, as well as where improvement might be needed.
Conclusion
In summary, the CIRP is a valuable instrument for collecting information about incoming student characteristics and demographics. Alone, the Freshman Survey simply provides a snapshot of incoming students; however, when combined with other instruments, like the CSS, it allows an institution to look at how its student body has changed during the college experience. Researchers can also use the CIRP along with other outcomes instruments to study relationships between student demographics or characteristics and each particular outcome. In this way, the CIRP can provide useful data for assessing outcomes associated with a liberal arts education.
References
Astin, A. W. (1993). An empirical typology of college students. Journal of College Student Development, 34, 36-46. The article suggests that using CIRP data to create student typologies for placement and individualization for treatment would allow colleges and universities to create useful devices for record keeping and resource allocation. Administrators, faculty chairs, and university financial aid offices may find this article particularly helpful.
Glynn, J. G., Sauer, P. L., & Miller, T. E. (2003). Signaling student retention with prematriculation data. NASPA Journal, 41(1), 41-63. This article used a survey that included portions of the CIRP instrument to provide information to enhance early identification of freshmen at risk of attrition. This article would be helpful to college and university advisors and early intervention personnel.
Kezar, A., & Moriarty, D. (2000). Expanding our understanding of leadership development: A case study exploring gender and ethnic identity. NASPA Journal, 41(1), 55-69. This article uses the CIRP 1987 Freshman Survey and 1991 follow-up to suggest that different strategies are necessary for the development of leadership among a diverse group of students. Student life and development personnel may find this article interesting.