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KCCS Progress

With over 500 interviews completed, we have transitioned to the next phase of the Kent County Congregations Study. Over the next few months, we’ll be busy analyzing the data and organizing key findings for our reports. We also plan on having a public event later this year to celebrate the completion of the project and share some of the findings.

KCCS is as a study of educational and social service provision by religious congregations in Kent County, Michigan. Many of the congregations we interviewed reported involvement in a variety of programs aimed at benefiting their communities.

We used several different measures in an attempt to document these programs, and one item that helped us greatly was our program type list. While not exhaustive, this list contained many types of programs that congregations in other similar studies have mentioned. 

This figure depicts the most prevalent types of programs reported by the congregations we interviewed. For a better idea of what items were on this list, please click here. If you have questions about this study, please contact the . 

VanAntwerp presents engineering retention findings at ASEE

Engineering professor Dr. Jennifer Jewett VanAntwerp will present findings from a pilot study of engineering student retention at Calvin at the annual conference of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) on Tuesday, June 24 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The presentation will describe a new measurement model that attempts to document students’ experiences of seven important dimensions of engineering education, including recruitment efforts, the cultural setting, and others. CSR staff assisted in survey design, deployed the online survey for engineering students, and used AMOS 16.0 software to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of the measurement model. We will post a link to the paper here as soon as ASEE makes a public version available.

Faculty Scholarhip Showcase - Friday, May 16, 2008

Calvin’s Centers & Institutes are hosting the second annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship on Friday, May 16, 2008 from 9am to 2pm in the Library Lobby and Meeter Center. As the title suggests, this event recognizes and appreciates important scholarly accomplishments within each discipline.

The CSR will feature several faculty and off-campus projects, including highlights from the Kent County Congregations Study, the CRC 150th Anniversary Survey, and the Pharmaceutical Access Program project with Cherry Street Health Services. Please stop by the Library Lobby and Meeter Center between 9am and 2pm on Friday, May 16 to learn more about these projects, as well as other scholarly work across all disciplines.

PALS Teens at MPA

Last week, the Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) hosted its annual meeting at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, IL. As the current CSR Research Associate, I presented a poster on some of my collaborative work with Calvin psychology professor, Marjorie Gunnoe.

Using PALS teen data, professor Gunnoe and I examined predictors of teenage expectations to marry. We explored several theoretical & well-established domains in an effort to compare our data with other national studies and to contribute to the growing body of literature on teenage development and attitudes toward marriage.

In addition to several poster sessions, I had the opportunity to hear a fabulous lecture by Washington University’s memory expert, Henry L. Roediger, III on how testing not only measures knowledge but enhances it. Visit the Washington University Memory Lab for more on this groundbreaking research.

Business development mentoring in Haiti, Kenya and Nicaragua

In summer and fall 2007, CSR assisted Roland Hoksbergen, professor of economics and international development, and student Jeremy Veenema in their evaluation of the Partners Worldwide “Million Mentors Initiative.”

In addition to other information sources, Hoksbergen and Veenema conducted a survey of the target population for the initiative, entrepreneurs and employees in small businesses in Haiti, Kenya and Nicaragua. Local field interviewers in each country conducted interviews with business owners and employees in the field, then returned to their home bases (often colleges and universities) and entered their data into web forms created by CSR (you can view preview versions of the forms for owners and employees). Hoksbergen and Veenema also received statistical analysis consulting support from CSR.

Their final report is posted here. They found strong evidence for the program’s effectiveness, with a total of 84 business associations, 6,419 individual members and 4,516 businesses across the three countries.