Initial Publication Date: October 27, 2007
How will you know your recruitment efforts make a difference?
Participants at the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors produced the following list of methods for assessing the effectiveness of recruitment activities.
- Increasing numbers (of declared majors, enrolled students, geology club members, etc.) suggest effective recruiting efforts. However, correlation is not causation; to establish causation, you need additional data.
- Ask your students why they chose your major
- At the entry to the major (when they declare)
- In the second or third course
- Exit interview for seniors
- Do a baseline survey now, compare to results after implementing new efforts
- Ask students who leave your major why they are making that choice