A Critical Incidents Approach to Outcomes Assessment

Standardized questionnaires often have been used to elicit student opinions on issues regarding accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business--International (AACSB). These questionnaires require students to rate a wide range of items that may or may not be important to them. In this study, the authors supplemented these questionnaires by asking graduating business students to evaluate their university experiences by describing aspects that were especially successful and factors that needed improvement. This open-format, "critical incidents" approach to outcomes assessment readily generated recollections of incidents useful in guiding program change. The incidents provided additional perspective on data obtained from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. (Contains 5 tables.)