ASSESSING THE PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF A MARKETING RESEARCH SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT: THE MR-SL SCALE

Abstract

Studies of service learning suggest that students and instructors believe it benefits students. Nevertheless, the literature is still lacking in methods for assessing the effectiveness of service learning. This research helps fill this gap by developing, validating, and evaluating a service learning survey for a marketing research course (the MR-SL scale). The survey captures four important dimensions for assessing perceived student learning and satisfaction, and assesses student learning more comprehensively than other service learning scales. The results demonstrate that students describe learning about marketing research, developing critical thinking skills, gaining value in working with others, and contributing to the community.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ As an additional test, we took a random sample of n = 16 from the service learning class and compared it to the control group class, and the results were consistent across all four subscales.

² Note that this sample size exceeds the recommendation of n = 41 for four independent variables with a minimum R² of .25, assuming p = .05 and statistical power of 80% (Hair, Hult, Ringle, and Sarstedt (2017), p. 26).

³ Names and details have been changed for anonymity.