Thriving Knowledge Center
The research behind the instruments
Every Thriving Quotient instrument rests on published, peer-reviewed research into what it means for a student to thrive in college — and on the doctoral studies that tested that model with specific populations. This is the record: the publications, the conference papers, the dissertations, the recordings and the articles, kept here so that an institutional research office can check the instrument against the literature before it buys.
What is here
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Publications
Journal articles, chapters and research reports on the Thriving Quotient and student thriving, from the 2010 About Campus series that introduced the instrument onward.
Publications -
Presentations
Conference papers and presentations by members of the Thriving Project team since 2009 — ASHE, NASPA, ACPA, AERA and others — with the papers where they may be shared.
Presentations -
Dissertations
Doctoral dissertations from Azusa Pacific University using the Thriving Quotient and its components, 2012 onward.
Dissertations -
Webinars
Recordings of Thriving Project webinars, to review at your convenience or pass along.
Webinars -
Articles
Shorter pieces from the team on pathways to thriving.
Articles
What thriving means here
Thriving is an expanded vision for student success that incorporates students' intellectual, interpersonal, and psychological engagement and well-being while in college. Emerging from the intersection of research in positive psychology on flourishing (Keyes & Haidt, 2003) and Bean and Eaton's (2000) psychological model of student retention, thriving takes a holistic view of students and their college experience.
Author of the Thriving Quotient, Dr. Laurie Schreiner, describes thriving students as “not only succeeding academically but also engaged in the learning process, investing effort to reach important educational goals, managing their time and commitments effectively, connected in healthy ways to other people, optimistic about their future, positive about their present choices, appreciative of differences in others, and committed to enriching their community” (Schreiner, 2020, p. 20). Each of these aspects of thriving are amenable to change through campus interventions.
The instruments built on this research are described on the Instruments pages; permission to use one in your own study is granted through Researcher access.
Two short explainers for readers arriving with the market's vocabulary: how thriving relates to engagement, retention and belonging, and how the Thriving Quotient compares with NSSE.
The definition above is Dr. Schreiner's own, as published by The Thriving Project. A fuller explanatory page on the model is planned for the next phase of this site.