Purpose
The purpose of the NSLLP is to assess how participation in college and university Living-Learning Programs (LLPs) shapes the academic, social, and developmental outcomes for students. It fills an empirical void for national, multi-campus data relating positive student outcomes to specific institutional factors—such as the mission, culture, policies, and program offerings.

Rationale
LLPs were designed to create the intimate climate of a small college within large universities. While other learning communities (such as cohorts in large course, team-taught courses, or clustered courses) place a greater emphasis on curriculum, LLPs emphasize personal development through engagement in broader community (Shapiro and Levine, 1999).

Curriculum-focused learning communities have been examined by several large, national studies; however, the scope of research on LLPs has been restricted to a handful of small, focused studies. Individual LLPs have assessed the benefits conferred by participation, generating idiosyncratic, program-specific data. In addition to these highly specific research questions, these individual studies collectively form a body of research that is characterized by inconsistent methodology, lack of cohesion, and limited representation of LLPs. As a result, the existing data is difficult to extrapolate to examine LLPs at a national level.

Neither the existing non-LLP research nor the ad-hoc studies provide relevant, reliable data about LLPs, creating an empirical void. This gap can only be fulfilled by dedicated research across different types of LLPs in different institutional contexts. In addition to contributing to academic theory, such data has practical implications for institutions of higher education. It would quantify the benefits LLP participants enjoy over their non-LLP counterparts and generate evidence-based guidelines for program development. By relating outcomes to specific environmental conditions, a dedicated, national study may inform best practices for policies, planning, and programming.

The NSLLP distinguishes itself from previous research by investigating a broad range of student outcomes from an unprecedented, national scope. It uses a standard method of inquiry for the different types of LLPs and introduces an innovative typology.