| Background
In 1997, we began work that was aimed at yielding a comprehensive
portrait of the impact of the Bonner Scholars Program on its
student participants. Our initial work focused on revising,
implementing, and interpreting an omnibus Student Impact Survey
(SIS) which had been in previous use by the Foundation. Our
findings from the 1997-1998 administration of that survey
are contained in our December, l998 report to the Foundation,
“Evaluation of Responses by 929 Bonner Scholars to the
Bonner Scholar Student Impact Survey and Related Interviews
and Focus Groups.”
While data generated by the SIS provided valuable insights
into the Bonner Scholar Program (BSP) and useful comparisons
with other larger scale studies, the omnibus nature of the
SIS meant that we were asking the same questions of first-
through fourth-year students. This produced a mismatch between
freshman respondents and questions best answered by seniors
and vice versa. Moreover, we were concerned that repeating
the same omnibus survey year after year would produce significant
survey fatigue which could compromise our abilities to get
full participation and high quality data.
Hence in 1998 we embarked on the process of designing and
implementing the yearly administration and analysis of four
more finely targeted surveys:
1. An Incoming Student Survey (ISS) that seeks to
clarify the profiles of incoming students on each campus,
attending to demographic questions, past service experience,
areas in which the BSP aims to engender growth, and the outlook
and expectations students bring with them into the BSP. It
provides a useful point of reference for measuring the growth
of Bonner Scholars over the course of their years in the BSP.
2. A Midpoint Impact Survey (MIS) gauges impact of
the first two years of Bonner participation, including the
summer of service experience, while yielding a view of the
program from those who are in the midst of their Bonner involvement.
3. The Graduating Student Impact Survey (GSIS) gathers
data on the full four-year impact of the program. This survey
focuses both on impact and introduces questions regarding
outlook and plans beyond college.
4. The Bonner Alumni Survey evolved from a series
of focus groups with alumni aimed at generating a set of survey
questions grounded in alumni experience. The survey is available
on this website.
The findings of the Bonner Student Impact Survey can be found
in the following two papers and a powerpoint presentation
by Cheryl Keen, Senior Research Fellow for the Bonner Foundation
and her colleague on this project Kelly Hall, Director of
Planning, Research and Grants, Clark State Community College:
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