Refining impact assessment in undergraduate STEM education: Differential item functioning analysis of field-based learning interventions

This dataset contains self-efficacy survey responses from undergraduate biology students enrolled in three different course formats (lecture, introductory field, and intensive field) at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 2016-2019. The data structure includes pre/post survey responses measuring students' self-efficacy across four skill areas (species identification, experimental design, oral presentation, and field research), demographic information (URM status, first-generation status, gender, and Educational Opportunity Program status), and calculated change scores for 564 students. The dataset demonstrates how Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis can quantify both the magnitude and demographic patterns of educational interventions with greater precision than traditional assessment methods. Analysis revealed field course students were significantly more likely to report higher self-efficacy ratings compared to lecture course students (odds ratios ranging from 2-167 ..., Study Context and Participants
We conducted several sets of new analyses on student response data from a pre/post survey previously administered by Beltran et al. (2020) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The original survey response data ranges from Fall 2016 through Spring 2019 and assessed three undergraduate biology courses with different levels of the intervention (field-based learning): (1) BIOE 20C Ecology and Evolution (lecture course; no field-based learning; n = 81); (2) BIOE 82 Introduction to Field Research and Conservation (introductory field-based learning; n = 190); and (3) California Ecology and Conservation (intensive field-based learning; n = 293). Complete course descriptions are provided in Supplement 1. For demographic analyses, we compared five dichotomous groups based on self-reported student identities: (1) URM versus non-URM status, (2) FIF versus non-FIF status, (3) Female versus male gender identity, (4) Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) versus n..., # Refining impact assessment in undergraduate STEM education: Differential item functioning analysis of field-based learning interventions

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnqs](10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnqs)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains self-efficacy survey responses from undergraduate biology students enrolled in three different course formats at the University of California, Santa Cruz from Fall 2016 through Spring 2019. The data was collected to analyze how field-based learning experiences impact students' self-efficacy development across demographic groups. The dataset includes pre/post survey responses measuring students' self-efficacy in several areas, demographic information, and course enrollment data.

This data is an extension of research originally published by Beltran et al. (2020) and archived at Dryad ([https://doi.org/10.7291/D1DM3P](https://doi.org/10.7291/D1DM3P)). The current dataset includes additional analyses examining differenti..., We received explicit consent from participants to publish the de-identified data in the public domain and de-identified data through our approved UCSC IRB protocol #HS3230.

StudentIDs were anonymized and do not represent a means to identify participants.