High-Impact Practices

SPSS Syntax: High-Impact Practices by Student Characteristics

Because of their positive effects on student learning and retention, undergraduate opportunities such as learning communities, service-learning, research with a faculty member, study abroad, internships, and culminating senior experiences are called high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008). High-impact practices share several traits: They demand considerable time and effort, provide learning opportunities outside of the classroom, require meaningful interactions with faculty and students, encourage interaction with diverse others, and provide frequent and meaningful feedback. Participation in these activities can be life-changing.

The table below displays the percentage of first-year students and seniors who participated in selected high-impact practices by several student characteristics. The syntax linked above can be used to recreate this summary table with your own institution's data. From these results, you can compare participation in high-impact practices across a variety of student characteristics.

Participation in High-Impact Practices by Student Characteristics (NSSE 2014)
	First-Year Students			Seniors
	Learning Community	Service- Learning	Research with Faculty	Learning Community	Service- Learning	Research with Faculty	Internship/ Field Exp.	Study Abroad	Culminating Experience
Sex^a
Female	16	51	5	27	65	25	54	17	47
Male	14	52	6	23	57	27	49	12	47
Race/ethnicity or international^a
American Indian or Alaska Native	18	56	7	27	69	25	49	11	43
Asian	14	56	5	23	66	22	47	12	38
Black or African American	18	55	7	29	68	22	47	9	43
Hispanic or Latino	15	55	5	24	64	21	46	11	38
Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander	11	56	6	28	69	24	46	10	37
White	15	49	5	25	61	27	55	16	49
Other	16	53	13	15	61	18	33	20	52
Foreign or nonresident alien	14	66	9	24	72	26	43	24	43
Two or more races/ ethnicities	18	53	6	26	62	27	53	16	49
Age
Traditional (First-year < 21, Senior < 25)	16	52	5	29	64	31	60	20	53
Nontraditional (First-year 21+, Senior 25+)	9	46	7	17	58	16	36	5	35
First-generation status^b
Not first-generation	16	50	6	27	60	30	58	20	51
First-generation	14	54	6	23	63	21	46	9	42
Enrollment status^a
Part-time	9	43	5	16	56	14	35	6	33
Full-time	16	52	6	27	63	28	56	17	50
Residence
Living off campus	12	52	6	24	61	24	50	13	44
Living on campus	17	51	5	34	63	38	65	27	62
Major category^c
Arts & humanities	15	47	5	23	54	28	46	25	59
Biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources	17	49	8	26	54	47	55	17	45
Physical sciences, math, computer science	14	44	7	20	42	41	47	11	44
Social sciences	15	49	5	23	60	34	50	21	48
Business	15	54	5	22	57	13	44	14	43
Communications, media, public relations	18	51	5	26	66	22	67	20	57
Education	16	62	4	37	82	17	69	12	50
Engineering	18	47	6	27	48	34	58	12	60
Health professions	15	57	5	30	80	20	55	9	38
Social service professionals	14	57	5	27	71	18	54	9	39
Undecided/ undeclared	12	47	4	19	65	16	30	11	24
Overall
	15	52	6	25	62	26	52	15	47

Note: Participating students are those who responded "Done or in progress" for all HIPs except service-learning, where students reported at least "Some" of their courses included a community-based project.
a. Institution-reported variable
b. Neither parent holds a bachelor's degree
c. NSSE's default related-major categories, based on students' reported major or expected major (first reported major for double majors). Excludes majors categorized as "all other."

For more information on these results and other ideas for using your NSSE results, see the 2014 NSSE Annual Results and Lessons from the Field.

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

High-Impact Practices

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