3 brief - american sociological association...fendrich, close (2007) describes assessment activities...

R E S E A R C H B R I E F / / June 2009

3What’s Happening in Your Department withAssessmentB Y R O B E R TA S PA LT E R - R O T H A N D J A N E N E S C E L Z AA S A R E S E A R C H A N D D E V E L O P M E N T D E PA R T M E N T

The institutionalization of student outcomesassessment remains a contentious issue withinthe academy. For example, Fendrich (2007),quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, assertedthat “Outcomes-assessment practices in highereducation are grotesque, unintentional parodies ofboth social science and accountability.” In response toFendrich, Close (2007) describes assessment activitiesas “student-centered, contributing objective,transparent, justifiable grading standards.” In spite ofdisagreement among faculty members, departmentchairs, and higher education administrators as to itsvalue for student learning, most faculty members agreethat the demand for assessment is not going todisappear from the academic landscape at least in theforeseeable future.

This third research brief, based on the AmericanSociological Association’s (ASA) Department Survey,outlines the context for the assessment of studentlearning in sociology from the perspectives ofgovernment officials, higher education administrators,the ASA, and sociology department chairs. It goes onto report on the types of assessment that are conductedby sociology departments and the use of assessment forcurricular change. This information will be sorted bythe institutional type of the department. This brief,unlike previous ASA publications on assessment ofstudent learning outcomes, is a research documentrather than a “how to do it” report. It does not take apro or anti-assessment position.

An awareness of the contexts in which assessment occurscan help faculty decide who the audience(s) are forassessment results, where the results will be sent, andhow they will be used (Hood, Potts, and Johnson2001). Five stakeholders that have differential power inshaping the context for assessment are described below.

1. Government Demands for Accountability. Anincreasing demand by federal agencies, regionalaccrediting agencies, and state legislators forassessment of student learning outcomes grew outof a demand for greater accountability of facultyand a concern about the perceived lack of globalcompetitiveness of U.S. college graduates. In theearly 1980s, individual state governments wereearly proponents of mandated assessment alongwith regional accreditation organizations. By 1989half of all states mandated the use of assessmentoutcomes in higher education, although anincreasing number seemed willing to leave theimplementation to regional accreditationorganizations (Ewell 2001). In this same year, theU.S. Department of Education required regionalaccreditation organizations to assess studentlearning outcomes as a condition of recognition.Since then federal requirements have become morestringent (Ewell 2001). State legislators and highereducation officials often demand quantitative

1A M E R I C A N S O C I O LO G I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N

What’s Happening in Your Department with Assessment

C O N T E X T S

by Roberta Spalter-Roth and Janene Scelza, Research and Development Department1

American Sociological Association

1 We are especially indebted to James Sherohman, St. Cloud University and Margaret Weigers Vitullo, ASA, for their careful reading and thoughtfulcomments. We have tried to incorporate their comments in this brief.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR DEPARTMENT WITH ASSESSMENT

2AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

assessment tests in specific disciplines that can benationally standardized such as the EducationalTesting Service’s Major Field Survey (Hart 2008).

2. The Perspective of Higher EducationAdministrators. As of 2008, only four percent of208 chief academic officers surveyed by theAmerican Academy of Colleges and Universitiesreported that their institutions did not assessstudent learning outcomes and had no plans to doso (Hart, 2008). Two-thirds of their institutionsassess at the department level, although nearly halfalso assess at the institution level. Almost two-thirds have defined outcomes for all departments.The skills most commonly addressed byinstitution-wide assessments are writing, criticalthinking, quantitative reasoning, informationliteracy, civic engagement, ethical reasoning,intercultural skills, and oral communications aswell as disciplinary knowledge. These are the skillsthat employers most desire, according to asubsequent AACU survey (Hart 2009).

3. The Perspective of the American SociologicalAssociation (ASA). The ASA has been aproponent of the assessment of student learningthrough its Teaching Resource Center (TRC) andits appointed task forces. The ASA has issued twomajor reports on the activity, the first is a series ofessays in an edited volume (Holm and Johnson2001) and the second is the report of a task force(Lowry et al. 2005). In a groundbreaking articletitled “It’s the Right Thing to Do,” Carla Howery(2001), founder and former director of the TRC,argued that within the context of the growingdemand for assessment, sociology faculty needed totake the lead in making assessment, “a constructiveand positive experience for educationalimprovement.” She warned department membersto get over their views that they were “selling out”by complying with administration demands forassessment or that assessment was a limitation on

academic freedom. Instead, she encouraged facultymembers to view assessment as a worthy process inwhich, working together collegially, they shouldtake the lead in defining their department’s goalsand the tools to measure them. According toHowery, departments should view assessmentwithin the context of curricular development.Other scholars of teaching and learning say thatfaculty should control the assessment process ratherthan letting it control them, and give advice as tohow to accomplish this feat (Jennings, Rienzi, andLyda 2006; Senter 2001). These scholars agree thatinstitutional support must be in place and thatadministrators cannot expect assessment to beadded on to teaching, research, and service with noadditional resources or support (Senter 2001).

The chair of the Task force on Assessing theUndergraduate Sociology Major (Lowry et al.2005, p. vi) introduced the volume with her hopethat sociology is helping to set the model formeaningful assessment. The Task Force conducteda survey of a group of departments and found thatabout one-third of those who responded said thatthey needed help in conducting assessments ofstudent learning.

More recently, the ASA conducted a nationalsurvey of seniors majoring in sociology thatprovides base line measures of skills and conceptsthat senior majors report learning (Spalter-Rothand Erskine 2006, see http://www.asanet.org/galleries/Research/ASAChartBook_0117w1.pdf ).Among these are the following skills and concepts:

• Use statistical software, use computer resourcesto develop a reference list, evaluate differentresearch methods, interpret the results of datagathering, identify ethical issues in research, andwrite a report understandable by non-sociologists;



• Basic sociological theories/paradigms; currentsociological explanations about a variety ofsocial issues; people’s experiences as they vary byrace, class, gender, age and other ascribedstatuses; and social institutions and their impacton individuals.

Participating departments received data on theirown students that could be compared to nationalnorms for sociology majors in different types ofinstitutions of higher education. This informationhas been used for departmental assessments.

4. The Perspective of Sociology DepartmentChairs. For sociology chairs, most assessmentappears to be top-down required by accreditingbodies, government agencies, or universityadministrators. The time it takes to conduct theseassessments are seen as conflicting with the time ittakes to perform scholarship and teaching.Jennings, Rienzi, and Lyda (2006) present acommon description of a department’s reaction toinstituting assessment measures with facultymembers showing reluctance to participate in thecontext of what they perceived as a “time crunch".This crunch is viewed as a product of structuralchanges in the academy due to pressures to findexternal resources and greater pressures for bothquality teaching and published research.

As part of the 2008 ASA Department Survey,many chairs who responded to the open-endedquestion about the most pressing issues they werefacing reported similar conditions. Assessment wasviewed as an activity for which there are noadditional resources and, when done, results in noadditional resources to restructure curriculum,create internships, or hire additional faculty. In thewords of one department chair:

We are inundated by initiatives from the administration,faculty bodies, accrediting agencies, the Commission onHigher Education, and state government. We spend an

ever-increasing portion of our time and energy responding,accommodating, and resisting. This does not lead to anymeasurable improvement in anything we do. It does harmmorale.

Still another chair spoke of “the obsession withquantifiable outcomes.”

Further, some chairs expressed concern that thedata collected through assessments would be “usedagainst them” by the university and by the state, inspite of assurances by supporters of assessment thatthe activity should not be used for this purpose.For some of these chairs these assessments areparticularly frightening for maintaining a crediblesociology department because they come at a timeof decreasing budgets and faculty retirements.

While not going so far as Fendrich (2007), in sayingthat outcomes assessment are unintentional parodiesof quantitative research, some sociology chairs do seeassessment as “job intensification for the purposes ofbureaucratic reporting. It is a loss of professionaltrust.” Perhaps this is part of a general sense of lossof power by faculty members discussed in anunpublished study by Cumming and Finkelstein(Schmidt, 2009).

Comments from a few chairs reveal a more positiveview of assessment and its relation to curricularchange. According to one:

We need to go through a department assessment next year todetermine future directions of our department with theimminent retirement of two key members.

5. Student Perspectives. Proponents of assessmentagree that academic departments might bemandated to do assessments, but that facultyshould not object to these mandates becausestudent learning is the object of this activity (Lowry et al 2005). Although students are theobject of assessment practices, few studies examine



their perspectives about the value of assessments.One of the studies of student perspectives (O’Brienet al. 2001) finds that the majority of students at abranch campus of the California State system agreethat their programs should be assessed. But for thesestudents, assessment means assessment of individualfaculty. They do not think that institutions ofhigher education should assess what they learn. To overcome this misunderstanding of assessmentpractices, some faculty members suggest thatstudents should be included in the assessmentprocess because their support is critical for success(O’Brian et al. 2001).

According to ASA’s Department Survey, thepreponderance of sociology departments performsome sort of assessment, regardless of whetherdepartments think that assessment is a waste oftime or, alternatively, think that it has positiveeffects for faculty accountability, improvedcurriculum, and student learning.

In March 2008, the universe of chairs in stand-aloneand joint sociology departments or divisions thatawarded at least one sociology undergraduate degreereceived an online version of the ASA DepartmentSurvey. It requested Academic Year (AY) 2006/2007information about department size and structure,numbers of undergraduate majors and graduates,graduate enrollments, faculty hires, student evaluations,and other relevant information. The ASA departmentsurvey is important to the discipline because it is theonly survey in which the sociology department is theunit of analysis. The survey focused on questions thatspecifically address chairs’ need for information ontopics of concern to them for departmental research,policy-making, and planning. Many questions in the2008 survey were similar to those asked in the 2002survey (that asked about AY 2000/2001) in order toprovide trend data.

In spite of the questionnaire length, 60 percent ofchairs and their staff members took the time toanswer, higher than the 55 percent response rate forthe previous ASA department survey for 2001.Although the response rate was higher, fewerdepartments filled out the complete survey, resultingin some lack of consistency in the results.

To control for uneven response rates by type of school,responses are weighted to reflect their proportion inthe total universe. Appendix Tables 1 and 2 providethe distribution of responses by type of departmentboth weighted and unweighted. Appendix II containsadditional information on the survey methods.Appendix III contains a list of all the departments thatparticipated in the survey.

In a previous research brief based on the earlierDepartment Survey we compared the percentage ofdepartments in different types of institutions of highereducation using assessment techniques to evaluatestudent learning in AY 2000/20001 and in AY2006/2007 (see What’s Happening in Your Departmentat http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/07ASADeptSurveyBrief1.pdf ).

TH E D E PA RTMENT S U RV E Y

F I ND I NG S

...institutional support must be in place and

that administrator cannot expect

assessment to be added on to teaching,

research, and service with no additional

resources or support (Senter 2001).

Increasing Use of AssessmentWe found about a 10 percent increase in the share ofdepartments reporting that they did some types ofassessment of student learning, with the exception ofbaccalaureate departments which stayed stable. In AY 2006/2007 the percentages ranged from 77percent at Research universities to 92 percent atmasters comprehensive universities. Table 1 suggeststhat those departments at institutions with the highestteaching loads and the most majors are also most likelyto be engaged in the assessment process. It suggeststhat master’s institutions may be the greediest,demanding a total time commitment from faculty, (to use Coser’s term cited in Wright et al. 2004),perhaps because most are public institutions mandatedto do so by state legislatures.

Forms of Assessment UsedCapstone courses build learning communities amongstudents in a final class experience synthesizing whatthey learn, sometimes through group projects

(Berheide 2001). Senior theses or projects ask studentsto synthesize the skills and concepts that they learnedthroughout their major in an independent researchproject. Student surveys usually compare entry-levelstudents with graduating students in terms of theirperceptions of what they have learned and skills andtheir views of the effect of majoring in the discipline

on their post-graduation careers (Lowry et al. 2005).All of these activities can be the basis for quantitativeor qualitative assessment.

Between AY 2000/2001 and AY 2006/2007 the formsof assessment methods used by departments indifferent types of institutions of higher educationremained relatively stable, with a few notableexceptions (see Table 2). There was a 12 percentincrease in departments using “other” assessmenttechniques than the array suggested in the surveys.This other category may include capstone courses thatwere not included in the 2002 survey, but wereincluded in 2008. There was a large decrease in theproportion reporting using exams created within thedepartment, with a corresponding increase in theproportion use of externally created exams.

These findings suggest the growth of standardizeduniversity-wide exams such as the ETS Major FieldTest. According to ETS, “The sociology test consists of

140 multiple-choice questions, some of which aregrouped in sets and based on such materials asdiagrams, graphs and statistical data. Most of thequestions require knowledge of specific sociological information, but the test also draws on the student'sability to interpret data, to apply concepts and ideas,and to analyze sociological data, theories and



Research and Doctoral

Master’s Comprehensive

Baccalaureate

Mean Course Median Ratio of Percent Doing Load Majors to Faculty Assessment (N=816)

4.4 13/1 76.9

7.7 14/1 91.5

6.5 15/1 84.0

Table 1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHING ACTIVITIES AND ASSESSMENT IN AY 2006–2007

Type of Institution

Source: ASA Department Survey 2008



relationships, deductively and inductively.” (From Major Field Test in Sociology at http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/?vgnextoid=f549af5e44df4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=eddc144e50bd2110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD). A department’sscores on this test can be normed against a nationalgroup of test takers.

It appears that departments do not use a singleassessment measure, and may use both direct andindirect measures, since the percentage of measuresused totals to more than 100 percent at each type ofinstitution of higher education (see Table 3). Of all the measures of assessment techniques available,departments at all types of institutions seemed to focuson three (although not in the same order): a capstonecourse, a senior thesis or project, and a student survey.Departments at PhD granting schools were most likely to use student surveys, while departments atbaccalaureate and master’s schools were most likely touse capstone courses.

Student Survey

Senior Thesis or Project

Exit Interview

Department Exam

Portfolio

External Exam

Employer Survey

Other

Weighted N

2001 2007

53.6 58.3

49.1 47.7

39.1 39.4

26.3 17.5

19.8 22.4

18.4 28.9

8.4 6.4

5.9 17.9

816 816

Table 2: COMPARISON OF TYPES OF ASSESSMENT, AY 2000/01 AND AY 2006/07

(in percents)

Source: ASA Department Surveys 2002 and 2008

Assessment

Student Survey

Capstone Course

Senior Thesis or Project

Exit Interview

Standardized Exam

Department Exam

Portfolio

Employer Survey

Research/Doctoral Masters Baccalaureate

62.0 61.2 52.4

47.3 67.9 77.7

32.9 44.1 61.3

33.2 40.6 41.6

19.3 31.8 30.8

14.9 19.1 17.0

13.5 29.6 18.3

5.8 7.4 5.3

Table 3. USE OF ASSESSMENT MEASURES BY TYPE OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION, AY 2006-2007 (in percents)

Type of Assessment




Assessment techniques are not limited to evaluatingindividual student’s mastery of learning goals, but canalso be used at the classroom or the program level,according to proponents of these techniques (Berheide2001). Program portfolios pull together examples ofoutstanding, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory work thatis aggregated over time (Dorn 2001). These aggregatedexamples are used to evaluate whether students aremeeting departmental learning goals and how shouldthe curriculum and pedagogy be improved to createmore outstanding work.

Curriculum RevisionsBased on the fit between departmental goals forstudent learning and the results of assessmentmeasures, departments may modifytheir curriculum or perhaps theirmission (Hood, Potts, and Johnson2001). Table 4 shows that nearlythree-quarters of respondingdepartments either underwentmajor curriculum revisions in thelast five years or intend to do so inthe near future. Departments ininstitutions granting PhDs are theleast likely to do so, while mastersand baccalaureate schools are morelikely to do so.

Based on chairs’ responses to the 2008 DepartmentSurvey, perceptions of top-down assessment do notappear to have changed, since Howery’s call for “aconstructive and positive process” in 2001. Since thattime almost all sociology departments at all types ofinstitutions have come to engage in at least somemeasures of student learning outcomes and manyappear to modify their curriculum as a result.Complaints about the amount of time it takes,especially as time appears to have become a scarcerresource, the lack of new resources that result from thiseffort, and the possibility of negative consequences todepartments have not disappeared. This negative viewmay increase in the in the context of recessionarybudget cuts, hiring freezes, and elimination of programs(Hart 2008). Within the context of budgetary shortfalls,the demand for assessment may increase and thecomplaint that there is no institutional support forassessment or for implementing the results of thisactivity may also increase.

But, maybe not. A few chairs did describe a collegialprocess that may have positive outcomes for theirdepartments. For example, after complaining aboutthe added work loads of capstones and assessments(not to mention a leaky roof, a lack of class room and

Research/Doctoral

Masters

Baccalaureate

Total

N Responding % Yes

164 62.8

326 76.9

215 75.7

705 73.2

Type of Institution


CONC LU S I ON S…almost all sociology departments at all

types of institutions have come to engage

in at least some measure of student

learning outcomes and many appear to

modify their curriculum as a result.

Table 4. DEPARTMENTS THAT UNDERWENT MAJOR CURRICULUMREVISIONS IN THE LAST 5 YEARS OR INTENDED TO DO SO WITHIN

THE NEXT 2 YEARS, AY 2006/07 (in percents)



office space, and increased demands for teaching andresearch), a long-time chair noted:

Having said all of that I would like to add thatwe have just changed our curriculum, the newmajor will begin in the fall. One of the majorchanges is a new focus on public sociology…. We are also changing our social work minortoward a human services minor. The issue ofchanging to move into a new century has been apositive process for us. We have also beenupgrading our web sites, thinking about a blog.Under the leadership of one faculty member weare learning to use technology to "market"ourselves and to understand what will attractthis new generation of students. That has alsobeen a very positive process.

There is no pat ending to this research brief. The issueappears to remain contentious among sociology chairs.But, it might be helpful if chairs continued thediscussion on ASA’s Research Department blog athttp://asaresearch.wordpress.com/. Let your fellowchairs know some of your best practices as well assome of your worst failures.

Within the context of budgetary shortfalls,

the demand for assessment may increase

and the complaint that there is no

institutional support for assessment or for

implementing the results of this activity

may also increase.



REFERENCES

Berheide, Catherine White. 2001. “Using the Capstone Course for Assessment of Learning in the SociologyMajor.” Pp.164-176 in Assessing Student Learning in Sociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson.Washington, DC: The American Sociological Association.

Close, Steve M. 2007. “Assessments of Students’ Learning, for Better or Worse.” Letters to the Editor, The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 29). Retrieved June 8, 2009 from http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i43/43b01301.htm

Dorn, Dean S. 2001. “An Electronic Assessment Portfolio at California State University-Sacremento.” Pp. 94-121 in Assessing Student Learning in Sociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson. Washington, DC:The American Sociological Association.

Ewell, Peter T. 2001. Accreditation and Student Learning Outcomes: A Point of Departure. Council for HigherEducation Accreditation. Occasional Paper (September).

Fendrich, Laurie. 2007. “A Pedagogical Straitjacket.” Letters to the Editor. The Chronicle of Higher Education.(June 8). Retrieved June 8, 2009 from http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i40/40b00601.htm

Hart Research Associates. 2009. Learning and Assessment: Trends in Undergraduate Education A Survey among Members of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Washington, DC: Hart ResearchAssociates (April).

Hart Research Associates. 2008. How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? A Survey of EmployersConducted on Behalf of: The Association of American Colleges and Universities (January).

Hood, Denice Ward, Shelly Keimig Potts, and William S. Johnson. 2001. “General Guidelines for Designingand Implementing a Departmental Learning Outcomes Assessment. Pp. 73-93 in Assessing Student Learningin Sociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson. Washington, DC: The American SociologicalAssociation.

Howery, Carla B. 2001. “Assessment: It’s the Right Thing to Do.” Pp.4-9 in Assessing Student Learning in Sociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson. Washington, DC: The American SociologicalAssociation.

Jennings, Patricia K., Beth Rienzi, and Laramee Lyda. 2006. “Assessing Student Learning: A Case Study.”Teaching Sociology, 34 (3) 286-295.

Lowry, Janet Huber, Carla B. Howery, John P. Myers, Harry Perlstadt, Caroline Hedges Persell, Diane Pike,Charles H. Powers, Shirley A. Scritchfield, Cynthia M. Siemsen, Barbara Trepagnier, Judith Ann Warner, andGregory L. Weiss. 2005. Creating an Effective Assessment Plan for the Undergraduate Sociology Major.


1 0AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

O’Brien, Paul W., Agnes C. Riedmann, Walter E. Doraz, and James T. Payne. 2001. “Assessing StudentPerceptions: Neglected Voices in Departmental Assessment. Pp.59-71 in Assessing Student Learning inSociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson. Washington, DC: The American SociologicalAssociation.

Schmidt, Peter. 2009. “U.S. Faculty Members Feel A Lack of Clout, International Survey Finds.” The Chronicleof Higher Education. (June 12). Retrieved June 12, 2009 from http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/06/19931n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium+en.

Senter, Mary Sheuer. 2001. “Academic Outcomes Assessment: Fads, Fallacies, and Footsteps.” Pp. 14-25 inAssessing Student Learning in Sociology, edited by C. F. Holm and W. S. Johnson. Washington, DC: TheAmerican Sociological Association.

Spalter-Roth, Roberta 2008. What is Happening in Your Department? A Comparison of Findings from the 2001and 2007 Department Surveys. Research Brief, Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.Retrieved June 8, 2009 from http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/07ASADeptSurveyBrief1.pdf

Spalter-Roth, Roberta and William Erskine. 2006. A National Survey of Senior Majors in Sociology.Washington,DC: The American Sociological Association. Retrieved June 8, 2009 fromhttp://www.asanet.org/galleries/Research/ASAChartBook_0117w1.pdf

Wright, Mary C., Nandini Assar, Edward L. Kain, Laura Kramer, Carla B. Howery, Kathleen McKinny, BeckyGlass, Maxine Atkinson. 2004. “Greedy Institutions: The Importance of Institutional Context for Teachingin Higher Education.” Teaching Sociology 23: 144-159.



A P P E N D I X I

Research I

Research II

Doctoral I

Doctoral II

Masters I

Masters II

Baccalaureate I

Baccalaureate II

All Programs

Number of % Number of %Programs Programs

70 11.3% 62 12.6%

31 5.0% 23 4.7%

26 4.2% 27 5.5%

41 6.6% 23 4.7%

213 34.5% 183 37.0%

42 6.8% 31 6.3%

88 14.3% 71 14.4%

106 17.2% 74 15.0%

617 100.0% 494 100.0%

APPENDIX TABLE 1.Unweighted Response Rate, 2002 and 2008

2002 2008

Institution Type

Source: ASA Department Survey, 2002 and 2008

Research I

Research II

Doctoral I

Doctoral II

Masters I

Masters II

Baccalaureate I

Baccalaureate II

All Programs

Number of % Number of %Programs Programs

70 8.6% 79 9.7%

31 3.8% 29 3.6%

31 3.8% 39 4.8%

41 5.0% 37 4.5%

288 35.3% 307 37.6%

51 6.3% 57 7.0%

103 12.6% 121 14.8%

201 24.6% 147 18.0%

816 100.0% 816 100.0%

APPENDIX TABLE 2.Weighted Response Rate, 2002 and 2008

2002 2008

Institution Type

Source: ASA Department Survey, 2002 and 2008

THE SURVEY UNIVERSETo implement a survey that responded to chairs’ andother users’ data needs, we used a continuouslyupdated list of the universe of sociology programs anddepartments that award a Baccalaureate degree insociology. This list was originally created from theNational Center for Educational Statistics 1997–98Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System(IPEDS) Completions Survey. The universe selectedfrom IPEDS consisted of all institutions that hadgranted at least one BA degree in sociology during AY1997–1998. This data file was merged with the ASAdepartment file and then all the mismatches wereverified and either included or excluded. This methodproduced a universe of 1,010 programs that granted aminimum of a Bachelors-level degree in sociology.This compared to the 1,093 programs in AY 2000-2001. Of these 1010 programs we could not find anycontact information for 95 departments, despite aseries of efforts. As a result, the survey universecontained 915 departments or programs that offered aBaccalaureate degree in sociology.

THE SURVEYThe Survey was designed by the ASA Research andDevelopment Department to be comparable to theearlier department survey and to reflect chairs’ andcommittees’ concerns. Indiana University’s Center forSurvey Research (CSR) designed the on-line surveyand conducted much of the fieldwork. The finalsurvey was mailed in March 2008 to departmentchairs. The data requested were for the previouscompleted academic year (AY 2006–2007), and for fall semester 2008, when a full year’s data was notappropriate.

RESPONSE RATESAs with most on-line surveys, initial respondents

answered quickly, and we received the bulk ofresponses during the first week. After that, responsescame slowly, and between April 2008 and June 2008,Arne Kalleberg, the 2007–2008 President of the ASA,and Sally T. Hillsman, Executive Officer of the ASA,sent three reminder letters. The final response rate ofnearly 60 percent (549 departments or programs),overall, was higher than department surveys sent byother disciplinary societies and was higher than theresponse rate for the AY 2000–2001 survey (with aresponse rate of 56 percent). The response rate variedby type of institution, with the lowest rate amongBaccalaureate II and Master’s II schools. As a result,responses were weighted.

REPORTED DATADespite weighting, the results do not represent thefull universe of sociology departments and programs.Therefore, the total counts of students and faculty areundercounts and cannot be used to answer questions,such as the total number of sociology faculty or thetotal number of sociology majors. Rather we presentthe median number per department by type ofdepartment (peer departments).

PEER DEPARTMENTSThe 1994 version of the Carnegie Classification ofInstitutions of Higher Education was used to groupdepartments into peer groups, while ensuring thepromised confidentiality to individual departments.This classification method was selected over others,such as department size, because a conveniencesample of chairs preferred this approach. Thus, in thisreport, all departments in a particular type ofinstitution are considered “peer departments.” Thesedepartment types were then grouped into a broaderset of categories, Research and Doctoral, Master’s, andBaccalaureate, to avoid small cell sizes.



A P P E N D I X I IM E T H O D O L O G I C A L A P P E N D I X



RESEARCH IArizona State UniversityBrown UniversityColumbia UniversityCornell UniversityEmory UniversityFlorida State UniversityGeorgetown UniversityHarvard UniversityHoward UniversityIndiana University-BloomingtonIowa State UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityLouisiana State UniversityNew York UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityNorthwestern UniversityOhio State UniversityOregon State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityPrinceton UniversityPurdue UniversityStanford UniversityTemple UniversityTufts UniversityUniversity at Buffalo - SUNYUniversity of Alabama-BirminghamUniversity of ArizonaUniversity of California-BerkeleyUniversity of California-IrvineUniversity of California-Los AngelesUniversity of California-San DiegoUniversity of California-Santa BarbaraUniversity of CincinnatiUniversity of Colorado at BoulderUniversity of Connecticut

University of Florida-GainesvilleUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Hawaii-ManoaUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoUniversity of Iowa-Iowa CityUniversity of KansasUniversity of KentuckyUniversity of Maryland-College ParkUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstUniversity of MiamiUniversity of MichiganUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnUniversity of New Mexico-AlbuquerqueUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of TennesseeUniversity of Texas at AustinUniversity of Utah-Salt LakeUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonUtah State UniversityVanderbilt UniversityVirginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Polytechnic Institute & State UniversityWest Virginia UniversityYale UniversityYeshiva University-Yeshiva College

RESEARCH IIBrigham Young UniversityClemson UniversityKansas State University-ManhattanKent State University-KentMississippi State UniversityNortheastern University

A P P E N D I X I I IPA R T I C I P AT I N G D E P A R T M E N T S



Ohio UniversityOklahoma State UniversityRice UniversitySouthern Illinois University-CarbondaleSyracuse UniversityUniversity at Albany-SUNYUniversity of ArkansasUniversity of California-RiversideUniversity of California-Santa CruzUniversity of Notre DameUniversity of OklahomaUniversity of OregonUniversity of Rhode IslandUniversity of South FloridaUniversity of VermontUniversity of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeUniversity of Wyoming

DOCTORAL IBoston CollegeBowling Green State UniversityCatholic University of AmericaCity University of New York-Graduate SchoolClark Atlanta UniversityCollege of William and MaryGeorgia State UniversityIndiana University of PennsylvaniaLoyola University of ChicagoMarquette UniversityMiami UniversityNorthern Illinois UniversityOld Dominion UniversitySaint John's UniversitySouthern Methodist UniversityTexas Woman's UniversityUniversity of AkronUniversity of DenverUniversity of LouisvilleUniversity of MemphisUniversity of Missouri-Kansas CityUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro

University of North TexasUniversity of Northern ColoradoUniversity of Texas at DallasUniversity of ToledoWestern Michigan University

DOCTORAL IIBaylor UniversityCleveland State UniversityDartmouth CollegeDePaul UniversityFlorida International UniversityIdaho State University-PocatelloMontana State UniversitySan Diego State UniversitySeton Hall UniversityTexas Christian UniversityTexas Southern UniversityUniversity of Alabama-HuntsvilleUniversity of Central FloridaUniversity of Colorado-DenverUniversity of MaineUniversity of Maryland-Baltimore CountyUniversity of Massachusetts LowellUniversity of Missouri-St LouisUniversity of MontanaUniversity of Nevada-RenoUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of North Dakota-Grand ForksWichita State University

MASTERS IAdams State CollegeAppalachian State UniversityArcadia UniversityArkansas Tech UniversityAuburn University at MontgomeryAugusta State UniversityAustin Peay State UniversityAzusa Pacific University



Baldwin-Wallace CollegeBarry UniversityBellarmine UniversityBloomsburg UniversityBoise State UniversityBridgewater State CollegeCalifornia Lutheran UniversityCalifornia State University-BakerfieldCalifornia State University-ChicoCalifornia State University-Dominguez HillsCalifornia State University-FresnoCalifornia State University-FullertonCalifornia State University-HaywardCalifornia State University-Los AngelesCalifornia State University-NorthridgeCalifornia State University-SacramentoCalifornia State University-San BernardinCalifornia State University-StanislausCalifornia University of PennsylvaniaCanisius CollegeCentral Connecticut State UniversityCentral Michigan UniversityCheyney University of PennsylvaniaChicago State UniversityCity University of New York-Baruch CollegeCity University of New York-Hunter CollegeCollege of Mount St JosephCollege of New RochelleColumbus State UniversityConcordia UniversityCreighton UniversityDominican UniversityDowling CollegeDrake UniversityEast Tennessee State UniversityEastern Connecticut State UniversityEastern Illinois UniversityEastern Kentucky UniversityEmporia State UniversityFayetteville State UniversityFitchburg State CollegeFontbonne University

Fort Hays State UniversityFramingham State CollegeFrancis Marion UniversityFrostburg State UniversityGallaudet UniversityGardner-Webb CollegeGeorgia College & State UniversityGeorgia Southern UniversityGeorgia Southwestern State UniversityGonzaga UniversityHampton UniversityHardin-Simmons UniversityHawaii Pacific UniversityHood CollegeHouston Baptist UniversityHumboldt State UniversityIndiana University-South BendIndiana University-SoutheastIthaca CollegeJacksonville UniversityJames Madison UniversityJohn Carroll UniversityKean University of New JerseyKutztown University of PennsylvaniaLa Roche CollegeLamar UniversityLindenwood UniversityLoyola CollegeLoyola Marymount UniversityLoyola University of New OrleansMansfield University of PennsylvaniaMarshall UniversityMaryville University St LouisMcNeese State UniversityMidwestern State UniversityMinnesota State University-MankatoMissouri State UniversityMurray State UniversityNiagara UniversityNorth Carolina A&T State UniversityNorth Carolina Central UniversityNorth Georgia College & State University



Northeastern Illinois UniversityNortheastern State UniversityNorthern Michigan UniversityNorthwestern Oklahoma State UniversityNorthwestern State University of LouisianaOklahoma City UniversityPacific Lutheran UniversityPennsylvania State University-HarrisburgPittsburgh State UniversityRadford UniversityRhode Island CollegeRoosevelt UniversityRowan UniversityRussell Sage CollegeSaginaw Valley State UniversitySaint Cloud State UniversitySaint Mary's UniversitySaint Peter's CollegeSaint Xavier UniversitySalem State CollegeSalisbury State UniversitySam Houston State UniversitySamford UniversitySan Francisco State UniversitySeattle Pacific UniversitySimmons CollegeSonoma State UniversitySouth Dakota State UniversitySoutheastern Louisiana UniversitySouthern Illinois University-EdwardsvilleSouthern Nazarene UniversitySouthern Oregon UniversityStephen F Austin State UniversitySuffolk UniversitySUNY at PotsdamSUNY BrockportSUNY College at GeneseoSUNY College at OneontaTarleton State UniversityTennessee Technological UniversityTexas A&M University-Corpus ChristiTexas A&M University-Kingsville

Texas State University-San MarcosTexas Wesleyan CollegeTrinity CollegeTrinity UniversityTruman State UniversityUniversity of Alaska-AnchorageUniversity of Arkansas-Little RockUniversity of Central ArkansasUniversity of Central OklahomaUniversity of Colorado at Colorado SpringsUniversity of DaytonUniversity of IndianapolisUniversity of Louisiana at MonroeUniversity of Massachusetts BostonUniversity of Michigan-DearbornUniversity of MontevalloUniversity of Nebraska at OmahaUniversity of Nevada-Las VegasUniversity of North AlabamaUniversity of North Carolina at WilmingtonUniversity of North FloridaUniversity of PortlandUniversity of RedlandsUniversity of ScrantonUniversity of South AlabamaUniversity of Tennessee-ChattanoogaUniversity of Tennessee at MartinUniversity of the Incarnate WordUniversity of Wisconsin-Eau ClaireUniversity of Wisconsin-La CrosseUniversity of Wisconsin-SuperiorUniversity of Wisconsin-WhitewaterVillanova UniversityWagner CollegeWebster UniversityWest Chester UniversityWest Texas A&M UniversityWestern Connecticut State UniversityWestern Illinois UniversityWestern Kentucky UniversityWestern Oregon UniversityWestern Washington University



Whitworth CollegeWidener UniversityWilkes UniversityWinthrop UniversityWorcester State CollegeXavier University of LouisianaYoungstown State University

MASTERS IIBaker UniversityBellevue UniversityBelmont UniversityCalvin CollegeCapital UniversityCarthage CollegeChestnut Hill CollegeCollege of Saint CatherineCurry CollegeEastern UniversityLander UniversityLincoln UniversityLinfield CollegeMid America Nazarene UniversityMount Saint Mary's UniversityNorth Central CollegePark CollegePfeiffer UniversityPoint Loma Nazarene UniversitySaint Ambrose UniversitySaint Edward's UniversitySaint John Fisher CollegeSouthwest Baptist UniversitySUNY Institute of TechnologyUnion CollegeUniversity of Mary WashingtonUniversity of Maryland Eastern ShoreUniversity of Southern IndianaWalla Walla CollegeWalsh UniversityWest Virginia Wesleyan College

BACCALAUREATE IAgnes Scott CollegeAlbion CollegeAlma CollegeAugustana CollegeBard CollegeBarnard College-Columbia UniversityBates CollegeBryn Mawr CollegeBucknell UniversityCarleton CollegeCoe CollegeColby CollegeColgate UniversityCollege of Saint Benedict-St John's UniversityCollege of the Holy CrossCollege of WoosterColorado CollegeCornell CollegeDavidson CollegeDePauw UniversityDickinson CollegeDrew UniversityEckerd CollegeFurman UniversityGettysburg CollegeGordon CollegeGoshen CollegeGoucher CollegeGrinnell CollegeHamilton CollegeHamline UniversityHanover CollegeHartwick CollegeHastings CollegeHiram CollegeHobart & William Smith CollegesHope CollegeHoughton CollegeJuniata CollegeKenyon CollegeKnox College



Macalester CollegeMcDaniel CollegeMills CollegeMonmouth CollegeMorehouse CollegeMount Holyoke CollegeMuhlenberg CollegeOberlin CollegeOccidental CollegePomona CollegeReed CollegeRipon CollegeSaint Mary's College of MarylandShepherd CollegeSiena CollegeSkidmore CollegeSmith CollegeSouthwestern UniversitySwarthmore CollegeUniversity of North Carolina at AshevilleVassar CollegeVirginia Wesleyan CollegeWashington & Jefferson CollegeWashington & Lee UniversityWashington CollegeWesleyan UniversityWestminster CollegeWestmont CollegeWheaton College

BACCALAUREATE IIAnderson UniversityAugsburg CollegeBerry CollegeBethel CollegeBethel UniversityBlack Hills State UniversityBrewton-Parker CollegeCaldwell CollegeCampbellsville CollegeCentral Methodist College

Christopher Newport UniversityCity University of New York-York CollegeCovenant CollegeDillard UniversityEastern Mennonite UniversityEastern Oregon UniversityElizabethtown CollegeElmhurst CollegeEmory & Henry CollegeFlorida Southern CollegeGraceland CollegeGrand Canyon UniversityGrove City CollegeHigh Point UniversityHuntington CollegeKansas Wesleyan UniversityKentucky Wesleyan CollegeLe Moyne CollegeLebanon Valley CollegeLee UniversityLeMoyne-Owen CollegeManchester CollegeMarian CollegeMarymount Manhattan CollegeMaryville CollegeMcKendree CollegeMcMurry UniversityMercy CollegeMesa State CollegeMessiah CollegeMethodist CollegeMetropolitan State College of DenverMississippi Valley State UniversityMissouri Southern State UniversityMissouri Valley CollegeMolloy CollegeMount Mercy CollegeMount Union CollegeNewberry CollegeOhio Dominican UniversityOklahoma Baptist UniversityOtterbein College



Philander Smith CollegeSaint Anselm CollegeSaint Augustine's CollegeSaint Joseph's CollegeSaint Mary's CollegeSaint Norbert CollegeSeton Hill UniversityShaw UniversitySUNY Purchase CollegeThiel CollegeThomas More CollegeTrinity Christian CollegeUniversity of Montana-WesternUniversity of Sioux FallsUniversity of South Carolina AikenUniversity of South Carolina UpstateWest Virginia State UniversityWiley CollegeWilliam Penn UniversityWilson CollegeWingate UniversityYork College of Pennsylvania

Source: ASA Department Survey, 2002 to 2001

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Sociology Faculty Salaries AY 2008/09: Better Than Other Social Sciences,But Not Above Inflation 2009 PDFIdealists v. Careerists: Graduate School Choices of Sociology Majors 2009 PDFWhat's Happening in Your Department: Who's Teaching and How Much? 2009 PDFDecreasing the Leak from the Sociology Pipeline: Social and Cultural Capital to Enhance the Post-Baccalaureate Sociology Career 2009 PDF

What's Happening in Your Department? A Comparison of Findings From the 2001 and 2007 Department Surveys 2008 PDF

PhD's at Mid-Career: Satisfaction with Work and Family 2008 PDF Too Many or Too Few PhDs? Employment Opportunities in Academic Sociology 2008 PDFPathways to Job Satisfaction: What happened to the Class of 2005 2008 PDF Sociology Faculty Salaries, AY 2007-08 2008 PDF How Does Our Membership Grow? Indicators of Change by Gender, Race and Ethnicity by Degree Type, 2001-2007 2008 PDF

What are they Doing With a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology? 2008 PDFThe Health of Sociology: Statistical Fact Sheets, 2007 2007 PDFSociology and Other Social Science Salary Increases: Past, Present, and Future 2007 PDFRace and Ethnicity in the Sociology Pipeline 2007 PDFBeyond the Ivory Tower: Professionalism, Skills Match, and Job Satisfaction in Sociology [Power Point slide show] 2007 PPT

What Sociologists Know About the Acceptance and Diffusion of Innovation: The Case of Engineering Education 2007 PDF

Resources or Rewards? The Distribution of Work-Family Policies 2006 PDFProfile of 2005 ASA Membership 2006 PDF“What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology?” A National Survey of Seniors Majoring in Sociology—First Glances: What Do They Know and Where Are They Going? 2006 PDF

Race, Ethnicity & American Labor Market 2005 PDFRace, Ethnicity & Health of Americans 2005 PDFThe Best Time to Have a Baby: Institutional Resources and Family Strategies Among Early Career Sociologists 2004 PDFAcademic Relations: The Use of Supplementary Faculty 2004 PDFHave Faculty Salaries Peaked? Sociology Wage Growth Flat in Constant Dollars 2004 PDFAre Sociology Departments Downsizing? 2004 PDFSociology Salary Trends 2002 PDFHow Does Your Department Compare? A Peer Analysis from the AY 2000-2001 Survey of Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Sociology 2003 PDFGraduate Department Vitality: Changes Continue in the Right Direction 2001 PDF

Minorities at Three Stages in the Sociology Pipeline 2001 PDFThe Pipeline for Faculty of Color in Sociology 2001 PDFProfile of the 2001 ASA Membership 2001 PDFUse of Adjunct and Part-time Faculty in Sociology 2001 PDFGender in the Early Stages of the Sociological Career 2000 PDFNew Doctorates in Sociology: Professions Inside and Outside the Academy 2000 PDFAfter the Fall: The Growth Rate of Sociology BAs Outstrips Other Disciplines Indicating an Improved Market for Sociologists 1998 PDFUpdate 1: After the Fall: Growth Trends Continue PDFUpdate 2: BA Growth Trend: Sociology Overtakes Economics PDF

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