Running head: ENDURING SERVICE PARTICIPATION

Enduring Service Participation:

Exploring the Role of Service Learning in a Students Choice to Continue Service Participation
Russell C Aivazian
Loyola University Chicago

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Chapter 1: Introduction
A recent survey of over 175,000 college seniors reported that 40% of graduating seniors
did not participate in community service during the time at their institution (Cruce & Moore,
2012). Service participation during a students undergraduate experience has been linked to
academic development, civic responsibility and life skill development. There also has been
recent research that suggests that the current generation of students is more likely to get involved
on the grassroots level in order to create change in their communities (Levine & Dean, 2012).
Over the past 20 years, institutions of higher education have found ways to link the benefits of
service participation with the academic rigor of the classroom. Service learning has become
more prominent in the curriculum of various academic disciplines as a way to connect the
abstract thinking done in the classroom to real-world experiences that provide benefit for the
surrounding community. Even though there has been much research done about the types of
students that engage in service, very little has been done to understand the outcomes of service
learning participation.
The purpose of this research study is to explore how service-learning courses influence a
students decision to engage in service participation throughout their undergraduate experience.
This study is concerned with explaining the link between service learning and service
participation and is intended to help inform future research practices and find more effective
ways to leverage the benefits of service participation in service-learning courses. This study will
be guided by the following research questions:

How can a students involvement in a service-learning course influence their decision to

become involved in service activities in college?
o Can previous service experiences influence a students decision to become
involved in service after their service-learning experience?

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o What are students perceptions of how the university supports a students desire to
become involved in community service?
o What experiences in service learning do students identify as critical to their
continuation on community service outside of the service-learning course?
These research questions will be studied through a phenomenological qualitative study
that will gather data through semi-structured interviews with first-year college students enrolled
in a service-learning course during their first semester. Students from two different universities
will be interviewed to discuss their experiences in their service-learning course and how those
experiences effected their participation in service activities throughout their undergraduate
experience. The interviews will be reflective and will examine the research questions through
the protocol questions listed in Appendix A.
Since this study will not be as large as previous research around service learning (Astin,
Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000), the studys results will not be completely applicable to all
service-learning programs. Additionally, another limitation of this study is that it will
specifically focus on two schools in the same geographic area. This has the potential to skew the
results of the study given that students may be attracted to various institutions and areas of the
country where service learning is more present. I hope to control for this limitation by asking
directed questions to the students throughout the process about their college choice process and
why they decided to attend their university. From this, I hope to also ask about what kind of
previous experience they have in service work and follow up with a question about how they see
that experience playing out in service learning and their undergraduate experiences. Even
though the study is small, my hope is to extract major themes from the data that can be used in
further qualitative and quantitative studies.

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My intent for this research is to begin to understand the factors that influence a students
decision to pursue service activities after service learning. Using these results, I hope to conduct
further qualitative and quantitative studies that explore the findings of this pilot study further.
This study will help student affairs administrators and service-learning programs tailor their
structures and assessment practices in order to in crease service participation among their
students.

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Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

Since the founding of the first colonial colleges in the United States, undergraduate
service participation has helped maintain the balance between the institution and surrounding
community (Hutchison, 2001; Thelin, 2011). Early institutions of higher education served as a
vehicle to educate and develop responsible leaders that could serve the needs of the church and
the young nation. As higher education became more popular with the establishment of landgrant colleges and the introduction of the GI Bill, the role of the institution and the unique needs
of the community have become intertwined, creating a delicate and often tumultuous relationship
(Thelin, 2011). Upon examination of many institutional missions, the call for faculty and
students to engage in service that connects the academic environment and the needs of the larger
community has become more evident (Varlotta, 1997). In the current educational system,
educational entities (from primary to postsecondary) are finding unique and innovative ways to
serve the wider community while supplementing the learning that occurs in the classroom.
Levine and Dean (2012) explain that the current generation of college students is more interested
in creating change in their local communities rather than on a nationwide scale. As a response,
many higher education institutions are finding ways to incorporate service participation into the
academic curriculum through service learning.
Definitions and Framework
For the purposes of this proposal, it is important to establish the difference between a
students individual level of service participation and their engagement in service learning
through their institution. Even though service to a community can come in many different forms,
Jones and Hill (2003) explain that community service is any form of service (curricular or cocurricular) performed in an off-campus community context for which payment was not received

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(p. 520). What is important to note when using this definition is that the service performed must
take place outside of the physical constraints of the academic environment. Since the focus of
this research will be to engage in a discussion and reflection around the role of the institution in
the development of the wider community, a students individual experiences with service must be
limited to the off-campus environment. Even though much research has been done to better
understand the role service participation plays in the development of college students, it has been
mostly focused on the individual demographics. Through their own original research and
examination of past findings, Astin and Sax (1998) and Cruce and Moore (2012) both conclude
that students are more likely to volunteer during college if they are female, come from a higher
socioeconomic background, more religious, have higher academic achievement, live on campus,
and are involved in extracurricular activities, to name a few. When engaging in research around
service participation in college, it is important to understand the characteristics of the students
who engage in service. This information is important to frame a discussion about how to
leverage individual identities to increase service participation among college student, both in the
classroom environment and on their own.
Much debate exists among researchers about the definition of service learning as it relates
to institutions of higher education. Since it is a relatively new practice among colleges and
universities nationwide, service learning tends to be defined based on the structures present at an
institution that support service participation among students (Eyler, 2000; Moser & Rogers,
2005). At its core, service learning is a pedagogical approach in which students learn and
develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet
community needs (Okpala, Sturdivant, & Hopson, 2009, p. 65). Even though this definition
may not fit the encompass all structures of service learning present in the educational system, it

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provides a base for researchers to examine the outcomes and lasting impacts of service learning
on college students. Additionally, framing service learning practice in this way reflects the shift
from broadly-defined definitions that encompass all service activities on a college campus to a
more intentional form of engaged learning that identifies community needs in order to shape
service learning experiences and curricular structures (Butin, 2003).
This chapter focuses specifically on the previous research that has attempted to
understand the role service participation and service learning plays in a students personal
development through college. Each concept will be explained individually (beginning with
service participation) in order to gain a deeper understanding of the research, structures, and
outcomes associated with both service participation and service learning.
Service Participation and College Student Development
Student development theorists have found that the level of a students involvement in
college has a large impact on their ability to grow and develop throughout their experience. As
one of the most cited theories in student development literature, Astins (1984) theory of student
involvement explains that for student learning and growth to occur, students need to actively
engage in their environment, and educators need to create opportunities for in- and out-ofclassroom involvement (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010, p. 31). In other words, a
student is more likely to progress through their development if they are actively involved in the
academic environment. Defined broadly, involvement is the amount of physical and
psychological energy that the student devotes to their academic experience (Astin, 1984, p.
297). Astin is careful to exclude appropriate or suggested involvement activities in his
explanation of student involvement, because it looks differently for each student based on their
various identities.

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Service participation offers a level of involvement that allows students to engage with the
wider community outside of the college environment. Students may choose to participate in
service activities that are organized by the institution (service days, structured tutoring, etc.), or
they can seek them out on their own based on their preferences or previous relationships with
various community organizations. Astin and Sax (1998) found that a majority of students engage
in service through the structures provided in student activities or student affairs functions. The
type of service locations included elementary or secondary schools, churches, social or welfare
organizations, or municipal locations (parks, hospitals, community centers, etc.).
Benefits of service participation. Various studies have been conducted to understand
the benefits associated with undergraduate service participation. Using his theory of student
involvement as a framework (Astin, 1984), Astin has engaged in extensive research exploring the
effects of service participation on college students. Recognizing that most of the research on the
effects of service participation on college students focused on smaller environments (school or
student population), Astins research approach uses large samples to examine both the immediate
and long-term effects of service participation (Astin, & Sax, 1998; Astin, Sax, & Avalos, 1999;
Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000). Specifically, this research uses data collected from the
Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) and represents a strictly quantitative
approach to understanding the effects of service participation. CIRP collects a broad array of
student demographic and experiential information using the Student Information Form (SIF) and
CIRP Freshman Survey, which are used as a pretest for further research on longitudinal impacts
on college students. The results gathered from the CIRP data is widely used by professionals in
higher education in order to inform practice and better understand the changing demographics of
undergraduate students.

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In their original study, Astin and Sax (1998) used the CIRP and SIF data to understand
the outcomes of service participation in a students undergraduate experience. Astin and Sax sent
follow-up surveys that included questions that focused on various outcomes of service
participation to students from 42 institutions that participated in the CIRP Freshman Survey.
Even after controlling for previous service experience in their regression analysis, found that
participating in service during a students undergraduate experience enhances academic
development, civic responsibility, and life skills. Each of these categories was measured through
a set of 35 student outcomes addressed by certain questions in the follow-up survey (each
outcome was found to be favorably influenced by service participation). Even though their
research article shows statistical significance among the student outcomes, little indication was
given to understand how the survey questions were asked and answered. This proves as a
limitation to their study, because it does not give any indication as to how each outcome was
measured and how the authors reached their conclusions. This limitation of their study was also
evident in their study relating to the long-term effects of service participation on undergraduate
students (Astin et al., 1999).
In addition to confirming the findings of their earlier study (Astin & Sax, 1998), Astin et
al. (1999) explain that the amount of service participation a student takes on during college has a
large effect on the amount they volunteer after college. Specifically, Astin et al. (1999) found
that spending six or more hours per week volunteering during college doubles the students
chance of being engaged in service work after college. Additionally, service participation during
college was also found to enhance a students likelihood of pursuing a service-related career
field. Their results were predicated off of a nine-year follow-up survey based on the data
collected from their earlier research and the CIRP data. The researchers were able to survey

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12,376 students from 209 institutions (this sample group was different from their earlier
research) who completed the SIF and the 1989 follow-up survey. Results were compared across
the three surveys (including the nine-year follow-up survey) and were examined using a
regression analysis. Using regression analysis, the researchers were able to hold certain
variables constant (i.e. pre-college service participation) in order to fully understand the
quantitative effects of service participation on college students. The longitudinal data collection
used in the study represents one of the first efforts to understand how service participation affects
students as they transition out of the college environment. However, little indication is given
about the survey instrument used (questions asked, types of measures, etc.), which may call the
validity of the study into question.
Even though the first two studies lack specific information about the type of
instrumentation used in the collection of the data, Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, and Lees (2000)
large-scale study (n=22,236 students) presents a comprehensive (quantitative and qualitative)
understanding of how service participation can affect a students learning and undergraduate
development. Astin et al. (2000) confirmed the findings from earlier studies using a much larger
sample of students (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin et al., 1999) and explored the importance of
connecting service participation to curricular experiences. The Astin et al. (2000) study was also
conducted using new instrumentation that used data triangulation (raw data, individual
interviews, and focus groups) at various institutions around the nation and included specific
forms and interview protocols that are explained in depth in their research report. Using the
findings from Astins research, researchers have been able to better understand the benefits of
service participation, specifically around academic development, civic responsibility, and life
skill development.

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Academic development. As Astin (1984) explains, students tend to persist and succeed
in college at higher levels as a result of their involvement in the academic environment.
Involvement for Astin has both quantitative (amount of time spent volunteering) and qualitative
(the attention given to a specific activity and the seriousness associated with it) elements that
make involvement a dynamic and fluid concept for each individual student (Evans et al., 2010).
Service participation is cited by Astin (Astin et al., 2000) as a form of involvement that qualifies
as a significant investment of time and energy and interaction with peers, both of which are
identified as the most potent forms of student involvement (Astin et al., 1999, p. 189). Even
though the research and literature dedicated to service participation has argued the impacts on
quantitative measures of academic achievement (Vogelgesang & Astin, 1998; Parker-Gwin
& Mabry, 1998), service participation has been successfully linked in a students persistence and
success through college (Astin & Sax, 1998). At the most basic level, a students participation in
service allows them the space to develop the time management and interpersonal skills necessary
for successful academic achievement.
Civic responsibility. Service participation encourages students to identify the needs of
their community and find ways to meet those needs using their unique skills, interests, and
talents. Additionally, students are often able to interact with various community members and
become engaged in activities that they may not have previously imagined (Butin, 2003). Astin et
al. (1999) found that service participation positively affects students commitment to their
communities, to helping others in difficulty, to promoting racial understanding, and influencing
social values (p. 188). Using a critical framework, Butin (2003) explains this phenomenon as
border crossing. Essentially, as students engage in service activities, they step outside their
comfort zone and cross physical, social, cultural, or intellectual borders that help them think

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critically about their identities and the role they wish to have in their community. Using the
metaphor of border crossing students can gain a more critical perspective on the various forms
of power and privilege that are evident in our society and in their participation in service
activities or projects (Hayes & Cuban, 1996). Service participation allows students to gain
alternate sources of knowledge and apply that to their academic or personal experience and
become more engaged and informed members of their community.
Life-skill development. Cruce and Moore (2012) explain that one of the most important
life skills learned through service participation is the development of self-efficacy. Bandura
(1977) explains self-efficacy as the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior
required to produce [desired] outcomes (p. 193). Specifically in the context of service
participation, self-efficacy is the belief that an individual can make meaningful contributions to
their community through the use of their talent, skills, and knowledge (Reeb, Fogler, Langsner,
Ryan, & Crouse, 2010). When understanding the outcomes of service participation, service selfefficacy is an important construct to keep in mind because it will influence a students propensity
to continue service after a structured service project or experience (i.e. service learning). If a
student does not see the importance of their work or the impact their work may have on a
community, they are less likely to seek out additional opportunities to give back to their
community. In the context of developing life skills, self-efficacy is important to build at the
collegiate level in order to develop students that understand the importance of their skills and
talents, regardless of their future career choice (Reeb, 2006). Using community service
participation to develop life skills, such as self-efficacy, will create informed community
members that can identify the needs of their community and meet those needs with their unique
skills and talents.

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Service Learning and College Student Development

Cruce and Moore (2007) assert that learning occurs when students have the opportunity
to put into practice the ideas they are learning in the classroom (p. 655). As service learning has
made its way into the academic environment of colleges and universities across the nation, it has
been regarded as one of the ways to engage students in the process of experiential learning.
Experiential learning is a hands-on approach to learning that engages students with community
action and personal reflection (Eyler & Giles, 1999; Huisman & Edwards, 2011). This bottomup approach allows professors to transform the abstract ideas presented in a wide array of
academic disciplines into real-world experiences for students. Professors are able to use these
personal examples to transform learning and provide a bridge between academic content and
reality (Markus, Howard, & King, 1993). Experiential education may be considered as a slower
process in terms of knowledge transference, but it has been shown to be an effective tool to help
students gain and retain important course material.
Reflection. As Kendall (1991) eloquently put it: Service, combined with learning, adds
value to each and transforms both (p. 1). As a form of experiential education, service learning
is specifically concerned with connecting academic content with the realities of the community
surrounding the university. Additionally, effective service learning programs require students to
consistently reflect on and relate their experiences to their specific course content (Butin, 2003;
Eyler, 2002; Moser & Rogers, 2005). In support of reflection as an important element of service
learning, Moely, Furco, and Reeds (2008) quantitative study (n=2,233) found that using
reflection as a tool to bridge previous service experience and service learning enhances the
overall outcome of student learning. When the service activities are well planned and
intentioned, students are able to reflect and relate their experiences back to the classroom.

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The findings of Moely et al.s (2008) study have been confirmed through the qualitative
research of Huisman and Edwards (2011). Pulling data from in-class assignments and in-depth
semi-structured interviews, Huisman and Edwards found that student learning is significantly
hindered in service learning courses when continuous and critical reflection was not present.
Even though the students completed journals that asked them to reflect on their experience, they
did not share their reflections in the classroom setting or with other students. The results of this
study indicate that reflection is a critical component of effective service learning experiences.
Even though this study focuses on a specific population (White and female) of students in one
service-learning class (n=11), it serves as a call to researchers to create space for reflection when
evaluating service-learning programs. Experiential learning engages students in a process of
action and reflection. When reflection is not present, experiential learning cannot occur.
Institutional support. As Butin (2003) explains, institutions of higher education have a
unique opportunity to create a culture of service in their communities. With the amount of
human, social, and monetary capital, colleges and universities are important to consider with
analyzing the effectiveness of service learning programs. Using data collected by the National
Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Cruce and Moore (2007, 2012) concluded that
institutional culture and support are important factors that determine the success of service
learning programs. In their earlier study, Cruce and Moore (2007) explained that institutions
must first understand the interests and needs of their students in order to create programs that
effectively target those students. Additionally, first-year students are more likely to engage in
service activities if they receive consistent messages about the importance of service and
perceive a strong institutional commitment to promoting service activities.

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Using data collected using the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement
(BCSSE) compared to the data collected by the NSSE, Cruce and Moore (2012) confirmed the
results of their earlier study. In contrast to the NSSE, which measures the level of student
engagement during college, the BCSSE is administered to first-year college students to assess a
students high school academic and extracurricular involvement, the importance placed on
various activities that take place in the college environment (i.e. service learning), and a selfassessment of the students level of development prior to entering college (Cruce & Moore,
2012). The BCSSE is usually administered prior to a students first classroom experience in
college (during welcome week or summer orientation). In addition to confirming the findings
from their previous study, Cruce and Moore (2012) further conclude that universities can create
effective service learning programs if they engage students in activities that allow them to see the
results of their volunteering. This suggests that universities need to work with professors to
identify possible service learning projects and tailor course content to reflect the context
provided by the project, rather than the other way around. Students need to feel as if their
service work relates to classroom content, which starts with consistent challenge and support
from the institution on classroom instruction that includes service-learning components.
Outcomes of service-learning participation. Various researchers have found many
student outcomes of participation in a service-learning program. Astin et al. (2000) combines
these findings into three distinct outcomes: student development, enhancement of the course
material, and development of citizenship through connection to the wider community.
Student development. Developmental theories see human beings as constantly evolving
and learning from their experiences in order to progress through various stages of development.
For the development to occur between stages, individuals experience crisis or internal conflict

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that force them to think about the various areas of their identity and their experience (Evans et
al., 2010). Using a constructivist approach, Jones and Abes (2004) explored the process of
identity development through the lens of a service-learning class focused on leadership
development. Through their in-depth semistructured interviews, Jones and Abes found that
wrestled with various aspects of their identity as a result of the guilt the students experienced
through their service-learning course (specifically economic privilege). If not for the
disequilibrium caused by the experiences in their service-learning course, the students surveyed
most likely would not have engaged in a reflection about their own privileges and how they are
manifested throughout the community.
Building upon the findings of Jones and Abes, Sider, Rabinowicz, and Gilmor (2011)
explored the shift in student attitudes towards people in poverty as a result of participation in a
service-learning course. Specifically examining the Pulse Program at Boston College, Sider et
al. found that students tended to move away from individuals to structures and systems as a
leading cause of poverty in their community. As a result, students were able to reflect on how to
use their own privileges to help dismantle systems of poverty within their community. Even
though the research conducted by Jones and Abes (2004) and Seider et al. were conducted using
a small sample size, they can be compared to other literature that suggests that students progress
through the levels of development as they are met with internal or external conflict (Evans et al.,
2010).
In addition to creating space for a critical examination of personal identities and
privileges, service learning also provides a foundation for students to make meaning out of their
classroom experiences. As Baxter Magolda (2008) describes, students are able to make meaning
out of their undergraduate experiences as they journey towards self-authorship. Self-authorship

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is described as the internal capacity to define ones own beliefs, identity, and social relations
(Baxter Magolda, 2008, p. 269). In a students journey to self-authorship, they move from the
rigid plans and formulas set out for them by their pre-college environmental contexts to an
internal understanding of ones sense of self (Evans et al., 2010). In the final phase of selfauthorship, internal foundation, an individuals responsibilities to othersare clearly a part of
their internal foundations (Evans et al., 2010, p. 186). Baxter Magolda (2000) describes that the
environment created by service learning have the potential to create opportunities and
experiences that develop self-authorship.
Jones and Abes (2004) observe that students who enter service-learning programs
(specifically, the program they examined) believe that they will learn about the other, or those
whose life situations were not at all similar to theirs (p. 150). However, when they were
interviewed after the experience, the students reported that their greatest learning and
development was about themselves. As a student journeys to self-authorship, they transition
from external to internal definitions of their individual identities. Service learning programs
create cogitative dissonance for students to explore their own identities and explore their
relationship with the community (Jones & Hill, 2003). Even after completing their servicelearning courses, Jones and Abes found that students continue to reflect on their experiences and
redefine their relationship with the community.
Enhancement of course material. Service learning has been used in a wide array of
academic disciplines. From the liberal arts to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Math), service learning has been used as a way to enhance the material taught in the classroom.
As a form of experiential education, service learning seeks to transform the complex concepts
learned in the classroom to real-world, practical experiences. Eyler & Giles (1999) explain that

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students feel that, as a result of service learning, students believe that their learning and the
quality of their understanding (p. 2) is enhanced. Using quantitative data collected from over
1,500 students at 20 colleges, Eyler, Giles, and Braxton (1997) found that as a result of their
experience in service learning, students were able to identify the importance of opening up to
new experiences within the community. This led the researchers to suggest that institutions of
higher education rethink their core curriculum to incorporate service-learning experiences rather
than sequestering them into co-curricular options. Professors that use service-learning
experiences in their courses effectively can enhance the learning that occurs in the classroom and
long into the future.
Development of citizenship through connection to the wider community. The role
service learning plays in developing the connection between classroom concepts and real-world
contexts has been well researched (Eyler, 2000; Huisman & Edwards, 2011; Seider et al., 2011).
Much like an individuals service participation, service learning provides students with the
opportunity to develop citizenship and civic responsibility through their service to a community.
On the institutional level, service learning also provides a unique opportunity to integrate the
campus and surrounding community. In Thelins (2011) examination of the tumultuous
relationship between the institution and the surrounding community throughout the history of
higher education, it is evident that higher education institutions have had a difficult time
managing their relationship between the town and gown. Service learning may be a way to not
only help repair these relationships and create community partnerships that benefit both the
student and the surrounding community. In order for institutions to create environments that
promote citizenship through service participation, they must act as good citizens of the

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community. It is through service learning that students understand the process of social problem
solving (Eyler & Giles, 1999) and learn to act as good community members.
Chapter 3: Methods
Research Design
This phenomenological qualitative study will be conducted using a constructivist
paradigm. Constructivism is the belief that reality is based on specific individual and group
experiences and can change over time (Evans et al., 2010, p. 19). Similar to the research design
in Jones and Abess (2004) and Baxter Magolda (2000), using a constructivist paradigm is
appropriate for this study since it will be examining the students changing attitudes as a result of
their service learning experience. As a qualitative research approach, phenomenology attempts
to describe an individuals lived experiences and how they make meaning of those experiences
(Johnson & Christensen, 2012). Since the study will be using semi-structured interviews to
gather data and understand the students experiences, this research design is appropriate in order
to understand the role service learning plays in a students decision to continue their service
participation.
Population and Sampling
Since this study will be a pilot study that will lead to future research around service
learning and enduring service participation, the sample size and scope of the study will be
relatively small. Participants for this study will be first-year, undergraduate students who will be
enrolled in a service-learning course (the study will most likely take place in the fall semester).
This population is the most appropriate for this study as the study focuses on service learnings
ability to empower students to continue service participation in college. Since first-year students
have not yet engaged in many activities in their undergraduate community, using this population

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will help mitigate some of the external factors that may be present. Students for this pilot study
will be selected from two different institutions (based on Carnegie classifications) located in
close geographical proximity. Ideally, one public and one private institution will be selected in
order to examine similarities and differences between a students service experiences at each
institution.
The sample of this study would consist of approximately 14 students. I would split the
sample equally between the two institutions that would be used for this sample (7 each). This
sample size has been suggested as appropriate for phenomenological studies (Johnson &
Christensen, 2012) and will be manageable for data collection from the in-depth interviews. In
my study, I hope to work with academic departments that support service-learning courses
(Experiential Learning, Centers for Service, etc.) and identify possible participants for the study.
A smaller component is to examine the structures for service-learning programs at these
institutions and my hope is to build relationships with these departments in order to better
understand their systems. Using the information gathered from these institutions will be
important in data analysis in order to explain specific phenomena that may occur at a specific
institution. This will be the most effective way to get participants because these departments
have familiarity with their own system and the students that are entering service-learning
courses. Additionally, it will be important to (if possible) select students from similar course
subject areas in order to create consistency in the findings compared between institutions.
Instrumentation and Procedure
The primary method of data collection will be in the form of four semi-structured
interviews before, during and after the students service-learning experience. Since individual
reflection has been shown to be a best practice for service-learning courses, each interview will

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be reflective in nature. The protocol questions outlined in Appendix A will serve as a basic
model for the research team to ask questions that relate to the overall research question, while
having the freedom to ask probing questions for clarification or further reflection. Additionally,
the researcher will be able to change and add questions for future interviews as additional
phenomena become present. Since service learning and service participation will have varying
effects on each student, this type of interview will help gain a deeper understanding of a students
motivations to continue their service participation.
Once the participants are identified and have filled out necessary release information and
demographic data (age, gender, sexual orientation, intended major, etc.), the research team will
conduct their first interview with the students within the first two weeks of the semester. Ideally,
these interviews should take place prior to the start of class, but may not be feasible given the
various activities associated with first-year, first-semester undergraduates. All interviews will be
audio recorded and conducted by the same researcher throughout all 14 interviews.
Observational data will be collected, however it will be used extensively in the analysis of the
data. Conducting the first interview within the first two weeks will be important to understand
each students individual experiences around service and their expectations for their servicelearning experience. Cruce and Moore (2012) found in their study that the best prediction of a
students service participation during their undergraduate years was their involvement in service
during their secondary education. This finding is reflected in the pre-class interview questions
along with other questions that gain a deeper understanding of the students choice in
undergraduate institution and their current understanding of service participation. These
responses will be important in order to better understand some of the additional factors that may
influence a students continuation of their service participation.

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Using some of the questions used in Astin et al.s (2000) study, participants will be
interviewed during the mid point of their course (five to seven weeks depending on academic
term) to track their development. Ideally, the students will have already started their service
experience and will be able to articulate how this class relates to the experiences they are having
in other classes. As we continue to collect data throughout the study, these responses will serve
as important information when tracking their development throughout their service-learning
course.
A third interview will be conducted within two weeks of finishing the course (either
before or after) that will continue to focus on their classroom experience. These questions are
evaluative in nature, asking participants to reflect on their experiences and provide examples of
the important pieces of reflection they had during the experience. These questions will help
understand how students viewed their experiences during the class and if they have any
intentions to become involved in service after completion of the term.
The fourth and final interview will be used to fully answer the research questions. The
last interview will be conducted about one year after the completion of the service-learning
course. The questions asked during this interview will ask participants if they have been
involved in service after their course and if their experiences impacted their choice to engage in
service activities. Additionally, participants will be asked what they envisioned as the lasting
impacts of their participation in the service-learning course. Once data has been collected, it will
be coded and analyzed. This process will be discussed in the next section.
Analysis and Validity
The primary method for analysis in this study will be consensus coding. All of the
interviews will be transcribed by an external agency (in order to prevent bias) and handed over to

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the research team for review. The researchers conducting the study will be asked to code the
data and find phenomena individually. The individual researchers will then bring their findings
back to the research team, who will then discuss some possible results and additional coding
analysis, if necessary.
In order to address validity in this study, a number of techniques will be put in place.
Even though the interviews may look differently depending on the participant, my hope is to
create consistency by having the same researcher conduct the interviews. My intent is for the
participants to not only gain comfortability with the researchers in order to build rapport and
enhance their reflections, but to ensure that the same interview approaches are used throughout
the data collection. Additionally, with the interview protocol questions in Appendix A, I hope to
gain additional validity in the process of the data collection.
Specifically for the data analysis, my main form of validity will be in the form of
descriptive validity. By using a team of researchers to analyze the interview transcripts, I hope to
increase the validity of the study through investigator triangulation (Johnson & Christensen,
2012). This type of validity is appropriate for phenomenological studies because it allows the
researchers to explore various elements of the phenomenon that may present itself in the data.
Once the data has been collected and the results have been analyzed, I will share the results with
the participants and the university departments that aided in selecting the participants for the
study. This tactic will be employed to ensure that the analysis of the data reflects the experiences
of the participants and ensures that the study was conducted in an ethical way. Finally, prior to
submission for publication, I hope to share the findings of the study with colleagues, peers, and
external auditors to ensure the data analysis is clear and provides helpful information to inform
the practice of service learning courses.

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24
References

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Astin, A. W., Vogelgesang, L. J., Ikeda, E. K., & Yee, J. A. (2000). How service learning affects
students. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute, University of
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Evans, N., J. Forney, D. S., Guido, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student
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community service. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7, 25-34.

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Appendix A: Sample Protocol Questions for Semi-Structured Interviews

Pre-Course Interview (after completion of demographic survey)
1. What were some of the main factors that guided your choice in undergraduate institution?
a. This question would be asked during the initial interview and helps inform the
background from which the student decided to go to college. In answering this
question, the student will engage with the researcher around a discussion about
their choice process for their undergraduate institution and if the availability of
service opportunities influenced their decision to attend their specific institution.
A few pieces of research find that understanding previous experiences are
important to understand a students individual context and control for external
factors that may be present throughout the study
2. How do you define service and what importance does it have on your communities?
a. In order to gain a basic-level understanding of the students contexts, this question
aims to better understand how a student views service. The way they view service
in their community may impact the outcomes that they gain from the experience.
3. What past service experiences have you engaged in and how did you get involved?
a. After having a conversation about their personal definition of service, this
question aims to gain a deeper understanding of the students context prior to
attending college. This information can be used when interpreting the results of
the study to compare students who did not have previous experience in service
and those that had extensive experience in service work.
4. What are your expectations for a service-learning course?
a. In addition to understanding a students pre-service-learning context, this question
aims to understand the expectations students may have around their experience.
Understanding a students expectation of their experience will guide how they
enter the experience and may influence the specific outcomes they gain.

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Mid-Course Interview1
1. Please describe the service component of your course. Where are you volunteering?
What type of service are you engaged in? How many hours of service are you engaged?
What type of training did you receive prior to engaging in your service project?
a. Even though I, as the researcher, will have done research on the type of course
and service-learning component, it will be important to see how each student
articulates their service-learning experience. Presumably, the student has been
volunteering for about a month, which will shape their understanding of the
service-learning requirement.
2. Please describe the types of assignments used in this course. How does the amount of
work in this course compare to your other courses? So far, what kind of impact does this
course have on you personally, academically, and socially?
a. Much like the previous question, this question helps frame how the student
perceives the level of challenge in their course. If the student perceives the
service component as overwhelming, they may not consider continuing in service
after their experience.
3. Please describe any connections you see between the academic material you are learning
in this course and the work you are doing at your service site. How do you feel the
service-learning component in this course relates to the subject of the course? What kind
of reflection activities have you engaged in? So far in this course, what do you feel has
been the most important lesson, takeaway, or reflection you have gained?
a. This question attempts to engage the student in a reflection about how they are
connecting the material in class to their service-learning experience and vice
versa. Hopefully this reflection has already occurred in class, however this may
provide a way for the student to begin reflecting on their experience.
1 Questions adapted from Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, and Yee (2000)

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Post-Course Interview
1. What was most the most impactful piece of your service-learning experience?
a. This question would be asked in the interview that immediately followed their
completion of the students service-learning course. Allowing the student to
define the ways in which they made meaning through the experience will guide
the discussion about how they will share this impact with peers and if they have
any intentions to continue service work in the future.
2. What were your overall impressions of your service-learning course?
a. This question relates to the earlier questions around the students perceived
learning in their service-learning course.
3. As a result of your experience in this service-learning course, what are your intentions to
get more involved in service-oriented activities?
a. This question gets at the core of the research purpose and questions. Does the
student want to get involved in future service? If so, why? If not, why? These are
important questions to answer as the researcher that will be hopefully uncovered
through this interview question. If a student wants to get involved in future
service, how can the university support their actions? If they dont want to get
involved, what factors led to that decision and how can universities create
environments that support this student?
One-Year Follow-Up Interview (after collecting demographic information)
1. What lasting impacts have stayed with you as a result of your service-learning
experience?
a. This question would be asked in the one-year follow up interview and engage the
student in a discussion around how their experience informs their current
involvement on campus. The student may not have reflected on this experience in

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the time between the interviews and the hope is to engage them in that reflection
through this question.
2. Since your service-learning course, how have you gotten involved in the community?
What elements, if any, of the course influenced this decision?
a. This question serves to understand if there is a lasting impact on service-learning
experiences. The question does not ask specifically about service and is openended to allow the student to define what involvement has looked like in their
community. From this question, I hope to have a conversation about the potential
role service learning played in their decision to become involved outside of their
coursework.