STUDYING TRANSFER STUDENTS: PART I: INSTRUMENT DESIGN AND IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The experience of community college transfer students at four-year institutions has been well documented by studies characterizing their adjustment process as “transfer shock.” A popular paradigm, the transfer shock concept only describes the cognitive outcome of students’ academic adjustment as measured by GPA. Numerous researchers have utilized various instruments to collect data from transfer students to assess their experiences at four-year institutions. Many of these studies have focused on traditional outcome measures such as levels of engagement, involvement with faculty and campus life, and satisfaction. Only recently have researchers been interested in attempting to uncover the psychosocial experiences of transfer students at four-year institutions. The objective of this article is to add to the literature by describing the Laanan-Transfer Students’ Questionnaire (L-TSQ)©, which can be utilized as a data collection tool to better understand transfer students’ adjustment process at four-year institutions. The purpose of this article is three-fold: (1) to provide the theoretical framework guiding the development and design of the L-TSQ; (2) to discuss the instrumentation and psychometric properties of the L-TSQ; and (3) to articulate the benefits of the L-TSQ with respect to research and policy implications. The goal of this article is to provide new ways of studying transfer students at four-year institutions. With the increasing diversity among transfer students, assessment of their experiences would yield valuable benefits to researchers, student affairs professionals, faculty, and administrators at both the two- and four-year environments.