Student narratives describe learning beyond attainment measures

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Anna Huvos and colleagues develop an interview approach for exploring students’ accounts of learning and character development. It combines direct questions about valued qualities with narratives about educational experiences.

What the study examined

The cross-sectional sample comprised 83 students from three Dutch universities, spanning first years, second years and recent graduates. Invitations used randomly selected pseudonymised lists; this does not establish that the participating sample was representative. Interviews lasted one to two hours and explored intellectual, performance and civic development.

Direct questions helped participants name qualities. Narratives about high points, low points and turning points provided accounts of experiences and perceived change. An ‘intellectual challenge’ prompt often elicited stories about exams, motivation or everyday study rather than the qualities the researchers had intended to explore.

The authors describe substantial interviewing and analysis work and acknowledge the role of researcher interpretation. They state that there is insufficient evidence for longitudinal conclusions at this stage.

This review uses accessible methods, selected results and discussion passages. The complete instrument and results were not checked. Retrospective accounts illuminate students’ interpretations; they do not isolate how much development the university caused or prove superiority to attainment measures.

Questions for evaluation teams

Pair a question about a valued quality with a request for a specific experience, then test whether students interpret the wording as intended. Ask what contributed to the experience and allow for influences outside the course.

A shorter local questionnaire would need its own evaluation. Repeated narratives may support reflection, but a changed answer is not automatically a measured learning gain. Preserve context, explain coding decisions and distinguish description from attribution when using open-text evidence.

Reference

Huvos, A., Leesen, T., Gelissen, J., & van Lenning, A. (2026). Mapping character and learning gain in higher education: the development of a qualitative instrument. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2026.2681691.