Gender Differences in the Experience of Higher Education: quantitative and qualitative approaches

This paper reviews the evidence for differences between men and women in their experience of higher education. It is generally agreed that students manifest a number of different approaches to learning, and these have been operationalised in terms of quantitative measures derived from responses to formal questionnaires. Nevertheless, there is little consistent or valid evidence for gender differences in the responses to these instruments. Other researchers have used qualitative methodologies in order to identify different stages of intellectual development among students in higher education. Their findings indicate the existence of parallel, but distinct developmental schemes in male and female students.