D’Andra Mull
A26202115
CEP 822
Lehmann, Professor
THE EFFECTS OF STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN RESIDENCE HALLS
ON DEVELOPMENT AND RETENTION
Purpose
The general purpose of this research is to enhance the existing knowledge
about ways by which to predict student success at the collegiate level. Student
involvement outside of the classroom, particularly within the residence halls, has
been linked to students’ learning and development, as well as persistence and
retention (Astin, 1977). In delineating what has come to be known as Astin’s
involvement theory, he surmised that student involvement occurs along a
continuum, and the amount of learning and personal development within an
educational program is directly proportional to the amount of energy invested
(Astin, 1977). Further, Astin (1999) also found a student’s residence to be
“probably the most important and pervasive environmental influence on the
student’s persistence in school.” Because a student resided in the hall, he or she
seemed to possess an advantage over a non-residential student in terms of
getting involved in some aspect of campus life, and moreover, this attributed
immensely to a student’s social integration within the institution (Astin, 1999). As
the student spent so much time within the university community, he or she had
greater opportunities to interact with faculty, join student groups, become
involved in hall government, or join a sorority or fraternity, all of which attributed
greatly to the student’s chances of graduating and developing more on a
personal level (Astin, 1999). With the data supplied by this study (and
subsequent research), universities will be better able to understand some factors
that can be attributed to student success, which in turn, aids them greatly in their
retention initiatives.
Definitions
Development: To develop means to make active or promote the growth
of, to cause to unfold gradually, or to expand by a process of growth. The
journey to develop at the collegiate level could be thought of as being derived
from the need to grow and succeed academically and intellectually, the need to
expand knowledge and experience, and the need to gain immensely from one’s
college experience. An individual who has developed through campus
involvement, would possess the following characteristics:
1. Be more aware of issues of diversity within the university community.
2. Be more involved with campus activities and student organizations.
3. Be more likely to complete the baccalaureate degree.
4. Have more opportunities for interaction with the peer group and the
university community.
Prior Research
Association of College and University Housing Officers-International and
Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (2001).
This project discussed the findings of ACUHO in terms of the level of
activity of students at the collegiate level; further, the study also discussed the
retention rates for the 2000-2001 school year and the patterns as they related to
students who were involved in residence life clubs, groups, organizations, and
activities.
Astin, A. W. (1977). Four critical years. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Astin outlines a complete analysis of the impact of residence life and
student involvement during the collegiate career, particularly as it relates to the
overall development and success of the student. Astins’ writings included a
number of samples of research from institutions of higher education on retention
rates as they relate to a student’s connectiveness to the university. Further,
Astin formulated the notion that a student’s residence was likely to be the most
important and pervasive environmental influence on the student’s persistence in
school, as though who live on campus often become more involved in campus
life when compared to commuter students.
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for
higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40, 518-529.
Astin, with a number of references to his previous research and writings,
explains how student involvement directly impacts his/her motivation to remain in
school, to apply for graduate or professional schools, and to excel academically.
Astin also offers higher education institution insight into how much more
developed students self-reported as it relates to their involvement in residence
and campus life activities.
Chickering, A.W., and Reisser, L. (1993). Education and Identity. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chickering and Reisser explain how great of a role the university plays in
helping students to develop personal competence, more mature interpersonal
relationships, purpose, and integrity. Further, they also discuss how the
university can assist in student development by establishing clear and consistent
institutional objectives, by helping students to develop student-faculty
relationships, and helping to establish educationally powerful environments. The
authors also discuss how residence life department plays an intricate role in
providing quality leadership opportunities by which students can learn a number
of transferable skills. Chickering and Reisser discuss the importance of
connecting academic units to residence life personnel, so as to provide students
with a true support system as they strive to be retained and mature.
Cress, C. M., Astin, H. S., Zimmerman-Oster, K., & Burkhardt, J. C. (2001).
Development outcomes of college students’ involvement in leadership
activities. Journal of College Student Development, 42, 15-27.
The journal article explains the importance of connecting academics and
community involvement in order to enhance a student’s interest in leadership
experiences. Further, the article also discusses the notion that leadership skills
are positively related to a student’s ability to impact other students and helps to
develop these skills in others. The authors explain how leadership skills
increases the chances of students working to promote interracial and ethnic
understanding, as students work to broaden the circle of people they impact.
Furr, S. R. and Elling, T. W. (2000). The influence of work on college
student development. NASPA Journal, 37, 454-470.
Furr and Elling discuss the factors that may attribute to residential
students being unable to participate in hall and campus life, such as employment
obligations, and help to explain the absence of some students from campus and
hall activities. Furr and Elling surmise that students who work off-campus tend to
be more removed from participating in activities outside of the classroom,
whereas students who work on-campus seem to take an even larger interest in
hall and campus life. Further, the students who work on campus also tend to
have more contact with faculty and student organizations, which has a positive
effect on their development and participation. Their writings also included
research on majors for students; they found that student in majors such as
business and engineering tended to know less about diversity and were less
involved in campus activities, as opposed to majors such as education and social
sciences.
Inman, P., and Pascarella, E. (1998). The impact of college residence on the
development of critical thinking skills in college freshmen. Journal of
College Student Development, 39, 557-568.
This article supports the notion that the inclusion of selected involvement
activities had a slight, yet statistically significant increase in end-of-year critical
thinking among freshmen, and through this finding, they surmised student
involvement to be a key element in the process of student development.
Kuh, G. D. (1995). The other curriculum: Out-of-class experiences
associated with student learning and personal development. Journal of
Higher Education, 66 (2), 123-155.
Kuh’s writings surmised that residence hall students who took the
opportunity to socialize with different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups enhanced
their overall college experience, yet differences in communication and interaction
styles (due to ethnic, cultural, or racial differences) also helped to contribute to
difficulties among residents. These differences and difficulties were noted in their
study of white and black students, where both cultural groups reported difficulties
in understanding the other. Unfortunately, this caused some tension in a few
situation, as rather than get to know each other, the residents simply pretended
that the other group did not exist. Kuh goes on to talk about how this affected the
level of involvement on the part of the students, which could hinder their overall
development process.
McCluskey-Titus, P., Oliver, R. S., Wilson, M. E., Hall, L. M., Cawthon, T. W.,
and Crandall, P. D. (2002). The relationship between community and
academic achievement in residence halls. Journal of College and
University Student Housing, 30 (2), 11-16.
The journal article suggests that there is a moderate relationship between
intellectual development and both social activity and sense of belonging, and
assuming that sense of belonging is positively related to involvement, a great
number more students should therefore, achieve academic success. Member of
the floor community, which in turn, has a positive influence on resident’s
academic endeavors, notes this through the dedication to academics.
Pike, G. R. (1999). The effects of residential learning communities and
traditional residential living arrangements on educational gains during the
first year of college. Journal of College Student Development, 40, 269-284.
This article discusses research that supports the theory that students who
live in residence halls in which involvement in out-of-class activities is higher (as
in living-learning centers) experience greater cognitive gains than students who
live off-campus. Further, Pike explores the theory that residence hall
involvement is related to students’ satisfaction with their living environment, as
determined by his study of 183 higher education institutions.
Astin, A. W. (1993).
Bass.
What matters in college? San Francisco: Jossey-
Bierman, S. E. and Carpenter, D. S. (1994). An analysis of resident
assistant work motivation. Journal of College Student Development, 35,
467-474.
Moore, J., Lovell, C., McGann, T. and Wyrick, J. (1998). Why involvement
matters: A review of research on student involvement in the collegiate
setting. College Student Affairs Journal, 17 (2), 4-17.
Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of
student attrition (2nd ed.). Chcago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Warner, M.J., and Noftsinger, J. B. (1994). Increasing student involvement
through residence hall lifestyle assignments and developmental
programming. Journal of the Freshmen Year Experience, 6 (1), 91-114.
Each of these journals articles are quite similar in that they each support
the research that campus involvement is a great factor in whether a student is
retained, and further develops more on a number of different levels that leads to
greater academic, social, and intellectual success. They also each explore the
role of residence life staff in helping these students to succeed and prosper in
their environments through support, hall programs, and referrals to different
campus and community resources.
Hypothesis
The more involved a student is in residence and campus life, the greater
his/her chances are at being retained.
Population
An ideal population would be a study of freshmen at all colleges and
universities across the U.S. Because this study would be nearly impossible to
conduct, a study of the universities in the Big 10 would be used.
Sampling
The study will be conducted during the spring semester in the residence
hall system and with commuter students. As this would require a great deal of
time, this sampling would be modified by taking a random sample of students
from these schools, and would be further modified to include only a random
sample of second-semester freshmen across the study.
Instrumentation
Instrumentation will include a rating scale to be used to rate the degree to
which each student was involved in hall and campus activities. Each student will
place his student identification number on his/her survey, which we will use the
following year to determine if he/she is still enrolled. A sample rating scale is
shown below.
Reliability: We can only go by the information reported by the students
and the retention reports received by the university during the following fall.
Validity: The self-reports of the students and their involvement with
campus activities will be compared to their return (or not) to the university in the
following academic year. .
RATING SCALE
1-Strongly agree
2-Agee
3-Undecided
4-Disagree
5-Strongly disagree
1. I actively participate in hall activities 1 2 3 4 5
I do not participate in hall
activities
2. I participate in campus activities
12345
I do not participate in
campus activities
3. I know a lot about campus life
12345
I do not know a lot about
campus life
4. I have learned a lot about other
other cultures through the university
12345
I have not learned a lot
about other cultures
through the university
5. I plan to return to the university in the 1 2 3 4 5
fall
I do not plan to return to
university in the fall
6. I lived on campus this year
12345
I commuted this year
7. I have been to my professors’
office hours
12345
I have not been to my
professors’ office hours
8. I am employed on-campus
12345
I am not employed oncampus
9. I am employed off-campus
12345
I am not employed offcampus
Student Identification Number or PID _____________________________
Procedures
Since the freshmen population at Big 10 institutions average more than
5,000, the surveys would be handed out at various residence halls that house
freshmen over the course of three months. The surveys would be handed out to
hall staff, to be distributed to each resident at community meetings; we will also
request the help of resident assistants in administering the survey, as this could
greatly aid in data collection.
Extraneous variables (threats to validity) might
include the reluctance of students to complete a survey, or only getting really
active students to complete them.
Further, students could falsify their
involvement in campus and hall activities, which could greatly alter the results of
the study, or they could falsify their student identification numbers, which would
make their survey void.
Data Analysis
The data would be analyzed the following year to determine if student
involvement has any impact on retention rates. This would be done by utilizing
campus enrollment records to see how many students have returned for the
sophomore year, and to take note of their previous year’s relationship with hall
and campus life.