Survey Development for Measuring the Near-term Effectiveness of a Program to Recruit Minority Geoscientists

Abstract

Theoretically and anecdotally, bridging programs that facilitate the transition from high school to college should increase the recruitment and retention of students into universities. Ideally, this type of program is deemed ‘effective’ if the program results in an increased number of the target population actually receiving a college degree. Thus, unless short-term indicators of success can be identified and measured, the program cannot be evaluated until five or more years have passed.The Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a bridging program aimed at preparing rural Alaska high school juniors and seniors for college. A geoscience course was recently added to the program in an effort to recruit Alaska Native students into geoscience careers. Using the concept of a geoscience career ‘pipeline,’ we developed a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in recruiting potential geoscience majors. By using rigorous survey construction and testing methodology, we developed a survey that we are confident provides a short-term measure of the course's effectiveness in promoting the acquisition of the attitudes and knowledge associated with retention in a geoscience career pipeline. Keys to developing an effective survey were: identification of the model being tested; cognitive testing of survey questions; and identification of a control group. Results of the survey suggest that the RAHI geoscience course is an effective means of recruiting potential geoscientists.