Facilitating major choice with and without typology assessments: An action research project in an introduction to business classroom

Abstract

Research suggests that student confidence in their choice of major, especially when it is made early in their undergraduate career, is positively related to student retention and persistence (Cuseo, 2010; Shaw and Barbuti, 2010). As such, institutions of higher education have a vested interest in helping students to make major choices early in their college careers. One method for helping students to determine which career, and therefore college major, they should choose are typology assessments. However, the use of typology assessments to aid students in academic and vocational choice is problematic, especially as those typologies are reductionistic and replicate societal inequities. In this chapter, we review the use of typologies as a tool to direct major choice through a critical lens. Second, we discuss the results of an action research project in an introductory business classroom that implemented and assessed student experiences with alternative activities to help students identify career and major interests. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for instructional activities that can help students make a major choice.