Use of Pre- and Postcourse Surveys to Predict Student Outcomes

We obtained data from pre- and postcourse questionnaires given in an Introduction to the Psychology Major course taught for 10 semesters and compared these data with institutional outcomes concerning the students' last known major and their graduation status. We found the questionnaire reliably measured (a) vocational identity, (b) knowledge of course content, and (c) students' knowledge of information-finding strategies. Generally, students who entered the course with high commitment to psychology or who demonstrated the greatest growth in commitment tended to remain psychology majors and earned the bachelor's degree in psychology. We discuss factors that affect these predictive outcomes.