Gauging the impact of study abroad: how to overcome the limitations of a single‐cell design

Criterion and construct validation analyses support the use of both retrospective questions in lieu of a pretest and a methodological innovation to compensate for the absence of a control group in a program evaluation that calls for an unavailable experimental design. The findings obtained with this method present evidence that study abroad programs have a very positive impact on US university students. Notes Department of Sociology, Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 / USA. Email: Benjamin.Hadis@montclair.edu Matching treatment and control groups is not necessary if we can randomly assign subjects to one or the other group. However, randomization is not an option in the context of programs that students choose voluntarily. The New Jersey State Consortium for International Studies was founded in 1968 to organize study abroad and student exchange programs for the students of its member institutions: Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University, The College of New Jersey, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Rowan University and William Paterson University. This project was also meant as a graduate Research Methods course hands‐on training. The use of inverted commas around 'pretest' signifies that this was a substitute for a pretest. Eight students (8.4%) studied abroad through programs other than those of the New Jersey State Consortium for International Studies. They were counted as part of the treatment group, i.e. as having studied abroad. Age at application is based on the age at last birthday—as of the time the questionnaire was answered, November–December 2002—and the semester prior to the intended departure to study abroad. The deadline for application to study abroad in Summer or Fall is March 15. The deadline for Spring study abroad is the prior October 15. Data by institution were obtained online at http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/?p=25193 (averages by Carnegie institution type were computed by this author).