Educational and social implications of Service-Learning using mixed methods: a meta-analysis.

Service-Learning (SL) aims to improve students' academic knowledge and performance, as well as their civic and social competencies. This study uses the meta-analysis technique to summarise up-to-date research findings on SL in scientific papers that used mixed methods research. The findings indicate that SL leads to significant improvements in students, especially in terms of knowledge acquisition (d=1.07), with a similar effect size for the few studies using a control group (d=0.89), although this effect size is smaller in terms of attitude toward service (d=0.45). There are no significant effects when these variables are compared with dependent variables such as programme duration, gender, or sample size. Moreover, there is high heterogeneity in the evaluation methods and measurement instruments used in the articles. Although research on SL is increasing significantly, the methodological quality of most of the studies reviewed is quite low. It can be concluded that SL is beneficial to the students involved in the service, however, in order to properly appreciate the different scenarios of the findings, more rigorous research designs are required. We would recommend creating uniform research protocols and extending SL using mixed methodology across every discipline, including the arts, and at every level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]