Career Development Courses and Educational Outcomes.
Hansen, J. M., Jackson, A. P., & Pedersen, T. R. (2017). Journal of Career Development (Sage Publications Inc. ), 44(3), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845316644984.
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examining7,023Students, gradePS
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: July 2021
- Practice Guide (findings for Career development course)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total cumulative GPA at graduation |
Career development course vs. Business as usual |
3 Years |
Full sample;
|
2.39 |
2.36 |
Yes |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 49%
Male: 51% -
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Utah
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Race Asian 3% Black 1% Native American 1% Other or unknown 3% Pacific Islander 2% White 90% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 4% Not Hispanic or Latino 96%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place at Brigham Young University, a large private university in Utah, during the years 2000-2007.
Study sample
The sample is approximately 90% White, non-Hispanic. Slightly more than half of the sample is male (51%). Most are college freshmen (50%) or sophomores (35%). No information on the socio-economic status of the sample is provided.
Intervention Group
The intervention is a credit-bearing career development course. The course's learning outcomes include increasing students' knowledge of college majors and career options, helping students develop greater awareness of their interests and skills as these relate to career decisions, and increasing students' awareness of career information resources. Over the 8-year period covered by this study, the course was taught by many individuals who used a common curriculum but could adapt the lessons to their interests and students' needs.
Comparison Group
The comparison condition is students from the same university over the same period who never took a career development course at the university. The comparison group was matched to the intervention group based on year in school.
Support for implementation
The career course examined in this study is typical of career development courses in postsecondary settings. The course uses a common curriculum and "learning outcomes", but teachers have autonomy to adapt the lessons to their interests and the needs of the class.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).