Open AccessON THE INTERPRETATION OF STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT
Author(s) -
Centra John A.,
Linn Robert L.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1968.tb00558.x
Subject(s) - scholarship , psychology , attendance , scale (ratio) , variance (accounting) , set (abstract data type) , perception , interpretation (philosophy) , pace , social psychology , class (philosophy) , geography , political science , computer science , cartography , accounting , geodesy , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , law , business , programming language
The purpose of this study was to explore further the relationships between student perceived college environment as measured by Pace's College and University Environment Scales (CUES) and objective institutional characteristics. CUES scores for 75 colleges (administered in 1965) were related to college mean scores of 1964 entering freshmen on SAT‐V and SAT‐M, sex composition of students in attendance, religious affiliation, and size of entering class. Although multiple correlations were all relatively high (particularly the .80 for the Propriety scale), there remained substantial variance on the five CUES scales that was not predictable from the set of five institutional characteristics. Comparing colleges with CUES scores that were much larger than predicted to colleges with CUES scores that were much smaller than predicted in stepwise regression analyses revealed systematic differences on two CUES scales: Scholarship and Practicality. For the Scholarship scale the systematic differences were geographical, with Northeastern colleges scoring lower than predicted. A “frame of reference” hypothesis is advanced as one possible explanation for systematic differences found.