Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Richard Hoelhien
Keywords
college finances, content validation, design validation, developmental opportunities, facilities, formative committee, higher education, implementation, literature review, maintenance, measurement instrument, residential facilities, residential life, residential services, residential student satisfaction, student retention, student satisfaction, summative committee, survey development, survey instrument, validation, Virginia Wesleyan College
Abstract
The problem is that poor student retention rates at Virginia Wesleyan College affect the financial stability of the institution. The college has become increasingly dependent on funds generated by residential fees. Thus, the purpose of the study was to develop a survey instrument that could be utilized regularly to determine student satisfaction with the residential services and facilities at Virginia Wesleyan.
There were two research questions for this study: What are valid criteria for a survey instrument that could be used to determine student satisfaction with the services provided by the office of residence life at Virginia Wesleyan College? What are valid content and design for a survey instrument that could be used to determine student satisfaction?
There were several procedures for this development study beginning with a literature review and ending with a proposal to an authority. Formative and summative committee processes were used to validate the established criteria and the survey's content and design.
The result of this study was the development of a survey that measures residential student satisfaction with multiple aspects of their residential experiences. The findings of the study indicate that student satisfaction is determined by a number of factors. For this reason, a successful tool for measuring student satisfaction must reflect these factors which include facilities, staff, programs, developmental opportunities, maintenance, and the environment of the living community. It was recommended that the findings of this study and the developed instrument be presented to the dean of students and its immediate implementation be considered.