Qualitative Evidence and Systemic Interrogations of Admissions Research, Logics, Practices, and Norms

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

College admissions is an opaque process wherein a handful of professionals admit or bar entry to organizations whose credentials directly shape one’s future opportunities. A significant body of admissions research has heavily relied on quantitative methods to examine racialized, classed, and gendered admissions outcomes, leaving much work to be done to interrogate the organizational logics, practices, and norms that reproduce inequalities. Qualitative methodologies and scholars can offer important contributions to research in this area. In this symposium, we will present and interrogate possibilities, approaches, and frameworks in qualitative research examining admissions in higher education. Each featured scholar will present an example of their qualitative work on admissions to illustrate the advantages and challenges of qualitative research on admissions.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 3: Organization, Management, and Leadership

Chair

• Dominique Baker, University of Delaware

Papers

• Enacted Versus Espoused: The Complementarity of Interviews and Observations in Diversity-Focused Yield Recruitment - Kelly Slay, Vanderbilt University

• The Admissions Interaction Order: Discourse as a Window Into the Modern Tensions of College Admissions - Steve Desir, University of Southern California

• Interviewing Selective Admissions Systems Leaders in the Post-COVID "Test-Optional" Era - Nancy Wong, University of Maryland; OiYan A. Poon, University of Maryland

• The Affordances of Comparative Case Study in Understanding Admissions Reform Outcomes - Julie Renee Posselt, University of Southern California