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Nontraditional Student Survey - Fall 1997

Results - Importance of and Satisfaction with Various Activities

Students were asked to rate the importance of and their satisfaction with 11 activities.

Importance

  • Of the 11 activities, on average students assigned the highest importance to being able to get advice on choosing courses, having one place to go for general questions, taking an active part in class, accessing services at nights and on weekends, and getting advice on careers.
    • 47-58% of students said it is "very" important to be able to do these things; fewer than 10% said these things are "not at all" important.
  • On average, students assigned the lowest importance to participating in campus social activities and being involved in extracurricular activities.
    • Only 5% said these activities are "very" important whereas 36-39% said these activities are "not at all" important.

Table D

How important is it for you to be able to:
(1=not at all important  2=somewhat important  3=quite important  4=very important)

Ordered from highest to lowest average importance
Item Percent who rated importance as Mean Importance
Not at all Somewhat Quite Very
Get advice on choosing courses 4% 19% 19% 58% 3.3
Have one place to go for general questions 4% 12% 31% 52% 3.3
Take an active part in classes 2% 15% 36% 48% 3.3
Access services at night/weekend 7% 11% 31% 51% 3.2
Get advice on careers 8% 16% 29% 47% 3.1
Interact w/instructor out of class 7% 20% 34% 39% 3.1
Get to know persons of diff race/ethnicities 8% 30% 33% 30% 2.8
Make friends w/classmates 7% 32% 39% 22% 2.8
Get to know other nontrad students 13% 27% 37% 23% 2.7
Be involved in extracurricular activities 36% 37% 22% 5% 2
Participate in campus social activities 39% 40% 17% 5% 1.9

Satisfaction

  • Of the 11 activities, on average students reported being the most satisfied with instructor availability outside of class, opportunities to take part in classes, and opportunities to make friends with classmates.
    • 48%-56% of students reported being satisfied with these activities; fewer than 20% expressed dissatisfaction with these activities.
  • On average, students reported being the least satisfied with the advising they've received on choosing courses and the advising they've received on careers.
    • 39-40% reported being dissatisfied with these activities; 26-36% reported being satisfied.

Table E

How satisfied are you with the amount of information you've received on:
(1=very dissatisfied 2=dissatisfied 3=neutral 4=satisfied 5=very satisfied)

Ordered from highest to lowest average satisfaction
Item Percent who said they are Mean Satisfaction
Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied
Instructor availability out of class 14% 31% 56% 3.5
Opportunities to take part in classes 19% 30% 52% 3.4
Opportunities to make friends w/classmates 18% 35% 48% 3.3
Opportunities to know others of diff race 22% 38% 40% 3.2
Availability of extracurricular activities 15% 60% 26% 3.1
Availability of campus social activities 14% 62% 24% 3.1
Opportunities to know nontrad students 23% 45% 32% 3.0
Advising on choosing courses 39% 26% 36% 2.9
Advising on careers 40% 35% 26% 2.8

Importance vs Satisfaction

  • Areas which showed the biggest deficit between importance and satisfaction (i.e., those areas for which students' satisfaction isn't as high as the importance would dictate) are advising on courses and advising on careers. Thus, these are areas that campus services might want to target in terms of improving students' campus experiences.
  • Conversely, students' satisfaction with participating in campus social activities and being involved in extracurricular activities is greater than the importance they assign to these activities. As such, these are areas for which improvements are probably not necessary at this time.

Table F

Comparison of importance and satisfaction ratings
Importance percent of max scale: 0=not at all 33=somewhat 66=quite 100=very
Satisfaction percent of max scale: 0=very dissat 25=dissat 50=neutral 75=satis 100=very sat

Ordered from highest to lowest average importance
Item Average percent of max Difference between Importance and Satisfaction Scores
Importance Satisfaction
A. Get advice on choosing courses 77 47 30
J. Have one place to go for general questions 77 . .*
C. Take an active part in classes 76 59 17
K. Have access services at night/weekend 75 . .*
B. Get advice on careers 72 44 27
D. Interact w/instructor out of class 69 63 6
F. Know persons of diff race/ethnicities 62 54 7
E. Make friends w/classmates 59 59 0
G. Get to know other nontrad students 57 51 5
I. Be involved in extracurricular activities 32 53 -21
H. Participate in campus social activities 29 52 -22
* Students were not asked about their satisfaction with these items as it was believed these things currently do not exist. Instead students were asked if they had problems with these items (see next section).

Display B
Average percent of max scores: Satisfaction vs Importance 

Satisfaction
75 +                                |                             |                             |
   |                                |                           + |                             |
70 +                                |                       +     |                             |
   |                                |                   +         |                             |
65 +                                |                             |                             |
  Moderate                          |               +     D       |                             |
60 +                                |           +                 | C                           |
   |                                |       +  E                  |                             |
55 +                                |             F               |                             |
   |       H  I                     |   +                         |                             |
50 +--------------------------------+-------G---------------------+-----------------------------+--
   |                            +   |                             |  A                          |
45 +                                |                         B   |                             |
   |                        +       |                             |                             |
40 +                    +           |                             |                             |
  Low               +               |                             |                             |
35 +                                |                             |                             |
   |            +                   |                             |                             |
30 +        +                       |                             |                             |
   |    +                           |                             |                             |
25 +               Low              |         Moderate            |             High            | 
   ---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--
     25    30    35    40    45    50    55    60    65    70    75    80    85    90    95    100
                                               Importance

Items below the diagonal: satisfaction ratings are lower than their corresponding importance ratings
Items above the diagonal: satisfaction ratings are higher than their corresponding importance ratings

Last revision 07/08/05



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