Using a Mixed Methods Content Analysis to Analyze Mission Statements From Colleges of Engineering

Abstract

A mixed method design was used to conduct a content analysis of the mission statements of colleges of engineering to map inductively derived codes with the EC 2000 outcomes and to test if any of the codes were significantly associated with institutions with reasonably strong representation of women. Most institution's (25 of 48) mission statement had two or fewer of the outcomes endorsed by the accrediting agency. The diversity code was significantly related to the representation of women, but is not one of the outcomes identified by the accrediting agency. The research demonstrates how mixed methods can be applied to content analysis.

Demonstrating Use of Natural Language Processing to Compare College of Engineering Mission Statements

“…Despite the contradicting views in existing literature on whether or not mission statements are truly reflective of the institution's intent and goals, there has been ongoing research in understanding existing themes important to various institutions through analyzing mission statements both nationally and internationally (e.g., Creamer & Ghoston, 2013;Kreber & Mhina, 2007). This can be attributed in part to the accreditation systems in place which demand that institutions have unique mission statements.…”

“…Morphew and Hartley (2006) describe mission statements as being ubiquitous to institutions and reason "accreditation agencies demand them, strategic planning is predicted on their formulation, and virtually every college and university has one available for review". Creamer and Ghoston (2013) acknowledge views by Delucchi (1997) and Morphew and Hartley (2006) both of who maintain that there is little research on mission statements in higher education, and add insight based on their search for such research by stating "a more accurate statement is that research literature is dispersed across a variety of disciplines…in fields as diverse as consumer studies, business, Christian education, and educational policy and management". However, Creamer and Ghoston (2013) state that their search did not reveal any research on mission statements specific to engineering or STEM contexts.…”

“…The results of the mixed methods content analysis conducted by Creamer and Ghoston (2013) in analyzing 48 mission statements from engineering colleges serve to inform this research. Creamer and Ghoston (2013) mapped codes inductively derived from analyzing mission statements to the EC 2000 outcomes to test if any of the codes were associated.…”

“…Mission statements can be described as public documents (Kreber & Mhina, 2007), readily accessible through the internet (Creamer & Ghoston, 2013), which are unique to institutions since they are intended to convey university-specific information reflecting the university's overall vision and purpose ( (Kibuuka, 2001), as cited in Creamer and Ghoston (2013)), and are often developed through strategic planning in institutions. Thus, multiple research studies have acknowledged mission statements to be important in describing institutions intent and goals (e.g., Tierney, 1999;Young, 2001), and have argued that institutions need to be more strategic in developing statements which truly reflect their characteristics (e.g., Barnett (2003) in Kreber and Mhina (2007)).…”

“…Creamer and Ghoston (2013) mapped codes inductively derived from analyzing mission statements to the EC 2000 outcomes to test if any of the codes were associated. Bird, Klein, and Loper (2009) attribute the term Natural Language Processing (NLP) to describe any kind of computer based manipulation of a natural language.…”