Assessing the Value of Service-Learning in K-12 Education: Might Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Research Methods Yield More Support for the Affective Value of Service-Learning?

Rigorous quantitative studies of service-learning are difficult to conduct. They typically include the complexity of service-learning itself, as well as more technical issues such as difficulty in developing appropriate comparison/control groups, and other challenges including conducting field research in large urban school bureaucracies, and scarce funding. In this article the authors argue that research findings to support the legitimacy of service-learning as an instructional strategy in K-12 education are firmer and yield more supportive practical examples when research designs adopt qualitative or mixed methods approaches to capture the entire range of outcomes and processes associated with service-learning programs. The authors develop the theme that one important value of service-learning lies in the affective domain of learning.