The issue of selectivity mars many studies of service-learning students who engage in service, the argument goes, will already exhibit the dispositions and behaviors that service is expected to develop. In order to avoid this problem, Sharon Hamerich at Butler University split the students in her communications course into two groups: one group of students spent their lab hours in local community agencies, while the other stayed on campus. Each group was tested on such scales as self-certainty, self-perception, social self-esteem, and global self-esteem. Writing samples, word associations, and thought processes were analyzed. Service-learning participants showed greater improvements in all categories except global self-esteem.
