The Relationship Between Community Service Involvement and Student Outcomes in Mexican Higher Learning Institutions
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Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertations Graduate Research 2011 The Relationship Between Community Service Involvement and Student Outcomes in Mexican Higher Learning Institutions Raul Lozano Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Lozano, Raul, "The Relationship Between Community Service Involvement and Student Outcomes in Mexican Higher Learning Institutions" (2011). Dissertations. 531. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/531 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in the Andrews University Digital Library of Dissertations and Theses. Please honor the copyright of this document by not duplicating or distributing additional copies in any form without the author’s express written permission. Thanks for your cooperation. ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY SERVICE INVOLVEMENT AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN MEXICAN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS by Raul Lozano Chair: O. Jane Thayer ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University School of Education Title: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY SERVICE INVOLVEMENT AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN MEXICAN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS Name of researcher: Raul Lozano Name and degree of faculty chair: O. Jane Thayer, Ph.D. Date completed: October 2011 Problem Although Mexican Seventh-day Adventist higher learning institutions involve their students in diverse forms of community service, it is not clear whether involvement in service-related projects in these institutions is producing the desired prosocial, spiritual, and personal development in the students. Method A mixed methods design combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches was carried out to understand the way community service is implemented in Mexican Adventist higher education and its impact on students. In the qualitative stage, three cases were studied in which 18 people from three Seventh-day Adventist universities in Mexico participated in interviews and focus groups. Data were also gathered by looking at documents and reports provided by the institutions and by observation of actual community service. In the quantitative stage a questionnaire was given to 202 seniors at the same three universities to explore the relationships between involvement in community service experiences and the prosocial, spiritual, and personal development of students. The questionnaire was constructed based on data obtained from the three case studies and the literature. A pilot study was conducted to examine the clarity and relevance of items in the questionnaire. Pearson r correlation coefficient, one-way and two-way ANOVA analyses, and multiple regression statistics were run using SPSS. Results Qualitative cases revealed five themes around which the experience of community service on the studied campuses is understood: commitment of the institution to community service, institutional ethos, variety of community service activities, people and roles in community service activities, and impact of community service on students. In the quantitative stage, subjects reported high levels of prosocial, spiritual, and personal development associated with their involvement in community service. The most influential variables of community service involvement were involvement in church-related community service, satisfaction derived from involvement in community service, intensity of community service involvement, and learning derived from community service involvement. These findings are congruent with the theory of involvement which undergirded this study. Required community service did not correlate with any student outcome variable, and political involvement was not related to any of the community service involvement variables. Conclusions The benefits obtained through community service in the prosocial, spiritual and personal development of students are worth the effort. Also, this study confirms both the validity and relevance of integrating community service into the academic program and student life of all higher learning institutions, as observed in other studies in this field. Community service works as a formative resource whenever institutions take seriously the moral and civic development of their students and make an intentional commitment to that goal by making it as central to their mission statement as possible. Deliberately created ethos and culture of community service in higher learning institutions help students to embrace community service as a value. Community service is more successful when the institution offers wider diversity in the kinds of activities available to students. Structure is needed to plan, organize, and implement the community service projects. It is up to every institution to decide which form of structure to use when managing community service. This structure may include diverse human groups such as faculty, staff, and students. Continuous empirical evaluation of community service’s developmental goals provides more reliable evidence on which to base decisions than just soliciting anecdotal reports from students. Student outcomes are associated with community service when the students increase their intensity of involvement, increase the learning, time volunteered for community service and satisfaction derived from involvement in community service, play leadership roles when engaged in community service, and become involved in church- related community service. Developmental gains are attained when students and their parents engage in community service earlier in their lives. Working while attending college and living in the residence halls play a positive role in the students’ prosocial, spiritual, and personal development. Andrews University School of Education THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY SERVICE INVOLVEMENT AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN MEXICAN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Raul Lozano October 2011 © Copyright by Raul Lozano 2011 All Rights Reserved THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY SERVICE INVOLVEMENT AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN MEXICAN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy by Raul Lozano APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: ______________________________ ______________________________ Chair: O. Jane Thayer Dean, School of Education James R. Jeffery ______________________________ Member: Jerome D. Thayer ______________________________ Member: Shirley Freed ______________________________ ______________________________ External Examiner: Carlos Flores Date approved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. xiv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION.. 1 Background of the Problem. 1 Education as a Solution to Moral Decay.. 1 Prosocial Development Through Service Involvement. 3 Ways to Handle Service Involvement in Education. 5 Service Among Mexican Colleges. 6 Statement of the Problem. 8 Purpose of the Study. 8 Research Questions. 9 Rationale for the Study. 10 Theoretical Foundations.. 11 Definitions. 13 Delimitations of the Study.. 14 Limitations of the Study.. 14 Summary. 14 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. 16 Introduction.. 16 Variables for the Study. 16 Community Service Involvement. 16 Prosocial, Spiritual, and Personal Formation.. 17 Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Service and Prosociality. 17 Bible’s Teaching on Love and Mercy. 17 Prosociality and Human Nature in Biblical Perspective. 19 Motivations for Christian Service. 22 Empirical Foundations of Service and Prosociality.. 24 A Mature Trend in School Settings. 24 Reasons for the Outburst. 25 Community Service vs Service-Learning.. 27 The Theory Behind. 29 Benefits of Service. 33 Prosocial Formation.. 33 The Role of the Student in the Learning Experience. 33 The Process of the Learning Experience. 35 Spiritual Development.. 37 iii Findings on Spiritual Growth. 38 The Process of Spiritual Development. 39 Summary. 40 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 41 Introduction.. 41 Research Design. 41 Qualitative Stage of the Study.. 42 Sample. 42 Data Collection. 43 Procedures. 47 Data Analysis. 48 Validity. 49 Generalizability. 50 Quantitative Stage of the Study. 50 Population and Sample. 50 Instrument’s Design. 51 Instrument’s Validity. 55 Data Collection. 56 Data Analysis. 56 Ethics. 56 Summary. 57 4. QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.. 58 Introduction.. 58 Overview of the Three Schools. 58 Linda Vista University.. 59 The University of Montemorelos. 59 The University of Navojoa. 60 The Linda Vista Experience. 60 Commitment to Service. 60 Institutional Ethos and Culture Towards Community Service. 62 Variety of Community Service Activities. 63 People and Roles in Community Service Activities. 66 Impact of Community Service on the Students. 70 Summary of Linda Vista University. 71 The Montemorelos Experience. 71 Commitment to Service. 71 Institutional Ethos and Culture Towards Community Service. 72 Variety of Community Service Activities. 74 People and Roles in Community Service.. 77 Impact of Community Service on Students. 81