8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
1/27
Running Head: ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 1
Orienting Students Towards Success through Involvement
Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson, Ganesh Waran
Rutgers University
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
2/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 2
Introduction
Much research has been completed as it pertains to college student involvement and its
link to the success of students in their college careers. However, there are no uniform
descriptions of what the terms involvementorsuccess consist of. Some researchers determine
involvement by examining only students academic pursuits in and out of the classroom, whereas
others are interested in the co-curricular activities in which students engage. To some, success is
determined by students persisting to graduation, whereas others believe that college student
success entails much more.
Literature Review
College orientation programs are designed to help students become acclimated to the
college environment, as well as help set them up for success during their college years.
However, the termsuccess is measured in different ways depending on the researcher. Svanum
and Bigatti (2009) are among the researchers who define college student success only in terms of
academics and degree attainment. They performed a study, where, based on their results, they
posited that students who are academically engaged are more likely to attain a degree and attain
it faster than those who are not academically engaged. They define academic engagement in
terms of (1) textbook reading, (2) study guide use, (3) lecture attendance, (4) attendance at
review sessions, and (5) hours spent preparing for tests. There are many limitations in this study,
found apparent in the research design, sampling, data collection, etc. For the purposes of our
research, the most pertinent limitation is the researchers failure in considering that student
success is indicated by more than academic course engagement and degree attainment.
There are many social interactions and involvement opportunities outside the academic
context that can contribute to college student learning. Schreiner (2010) posits that performing
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
3/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 3
well academically is only one part of being successful in college. Furthermore, she states that
there is a wide disparity between being successful, or thriving, in college as opposed to merely
surviving college. After performing qualitative research in the form of interviews and focus
groups with students, as well as utilizing existing research related to student success and
psychology, Schreiner (2010) finds that in order to have a successful college experience, students
must thrive, which consists of (1) engaged learning, (2) academic determination, (3) positive
perspective, (4) diverse citizenship, and (5) social connectedness (p. 4). Her research implies
that the thriving student is more likely to attain success, which she describes as having strong
social and professional relationships, having a sense of belonging to a community, having
confidence in contributing to their communities, having confidence in being able to overcome
challenges, etc. These skills, Schreiner (2010) believes, will not be as prevalent for students who
do not thrive but merely survive their college careers.
Astins (1999) theory of student involvement further supports Schreiners (2010) claims
that student success is impacted by more than only academic pursuits and degree attainment.
The theory posits that for college students, learning takes place more effectively when students
become involved in their overall college experience. Astin (1999) defines involvement as the
physical and psychological energy that students exert toward their academic experience, which
includes studying, time spent on campus, involvement in student organizations, etc. One
important implication of Astins (1999) work is that he states that, since learning occurs more
effectively when students are involved, faculty and student affairs professionals should pay
particular attention to the students who are more passive or unprepared for college, which are
factors that can indicate a lower tendency to get involved. Since one of the orientation
programs objectives is to open the path toward getting involved on-campus, it is important to
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
4/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 4
know whether or not and to what extent the orientation program might have influenced, directly
or indirectly, such students to begin considering involvement on campus.
One effort that schools employ toward promoting the holistic view of college student
success is the orientation program. Pascarella, Terenzini, and Wolfe (1986) performed a study
pertaining to the effects of freshman orientation on persistence. From their findings, Pascarella
et al. (1986) suggest that the largest benefit that students took from their orientation was the
ability to cope with an unfamiliar environment through social integration. One significant
finding in their study was that students strongly impacted by the exposure that they got to the
extent to which they could become involved on campus. It is important to note that, according to
Pascarella et al. (1986), the influence that orientation has on students is not direct; instead,
students choose to get involved on campus due to the things that they saw, heard, and felt during
their orientation.
There are several limitations in the above research, however. First, the sample of
students was representative only of the student body and orientation program of the particular
institution where their research study took place. Though the total number of student
participants was indicated, the overall student population was not indicated, so there is no way to
know whether or not their sample was generalizable. A description of the institutions
orientation program was not provided, so it is impossible to know the degree to which student
involvement was emphasized at the freshman orientation, and/or the effect that including or not
including emphasis had on involvement. For example, if involvement was emphasized too
much, students could have begun to tune out the message that involvement is important, thus
nullifying it. It is important for our research to know whether or not a glass ceiling effect could
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
5/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 5
have taken place, as co-curricular involvement was stressed at the Rutgers New Student
Orientation 2011.
A factor that affects the usefulness of the research of Astin (1999) and Pascarella et al.
(1986) are the time periods in which their studies took place as compared to present day. Since
the students of today may have different needs, interests, and behavioral trends than students
years ago, one must take into consideration the characteristics of students in this millennial
generation. Sax (2003) speaks about research related to current student trends obtained from the
Cooperative Institutional Research Program, which surveys about 350,000 college students from
about 700 institutions nationwide. She states that todays college students are more interested in
community service, volunteerism, politics, and are more determined academically. However,
these same students tend to dedicate less time toward studying. Millennial students are likely to
engage in extra-curricular activities that follow suit with their ambitions (DeBard, 2004).
Saxs (2003) study of Millennial students is very useful and appears to be very reliable
due to the breadth of its sample and the content of the survey. One significant shortcoming of
her research is that the survey asks for self-reported information from admitted full-time students
who have not yet started their college careers. Therefore, this study does not take into account
the changes that can occur for students attitudes, values, perceptions, behavioral patterns, etc.,
after a given amount of time has passed during their college career. Instead, the study gauges the
aforementioned variables with which students enter college.
The breadth of research pertaining to college orientation, to student involvement, and to
student success, independently, is vast. Through our review of literature, we have come to
realize that student involvement plays an integral part in a students pursuit toward gaining a
successful college experience. However, studies interested in discovering the link between
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
6/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 6
college orientation and student involvement is lacking. In our research study, we intend to spark
an interest in this realm of student success.
Research Question
Does attending New Student Orientation impact traditional first year students involvement in
extracurricular activities, during their first year in college?
In line with the research performed by Astin (1999) and Pascarella et al. (1986), as cited
above, student involvement can be effected in some capacity as a result of participation in a
college orientation program. We hypothesize that traditional first year students, who attend New
Student Orientation, will show higher levels of interest in getting involved, than those who do
not attend New Student Orientation. We further expect to see a higher level of actual
involvement in students who attend New Student Orientation based on our follow-up study, as
compared to those students who do not attend New Student Orientation.
Population/Sample
We planned to use a probability sampling method on undergraduate students at Rutgers
University. Our intention was administer the questionnaire to a large sample of students at
Rutgers University, without limiting the sample by any demographics. Rutgers University has a
student population of 29,095 undergraduate students that represent a wide variety of diverse
backgrounds (Rutgers Admissions website, 2011). In 2011, exactly fifty percent of the student
body was male and fifty percent female, and more than half of the newly incoming students
identified as non-Caucasian. We would aim to obtain responses from at least fifteen percent of
the total student population (at least 4,365 responses) in order to suggest generalizability and to
account for potential respondent attrition. Since Rutgers is a large public institution with a very
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
7/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 7
diverse student population, our sample is representative of students at a similar-sized institutions
where the makeup of the student body is diverse on many levels.
Design and Instrumentation
Design
Our initial plan was to use a brief questionnaire o gather information, in the form of a
nonequivalent-groups posttest-only design. Based on McMillans (2007) design for this type of
study, we intended to use the following structure:
Group Intervention Posttest
Undergraduate Students New Student Orientation O1
(Attended Orientation)
Undergraduate Students O1
(Did Not Attend Orientation)
The intervention, in this case, was ex-post facto. We had hoped to note the differences in
involvement between students that went through the New Student Orientation process, and those
that did not.
Instrumentation
The questionnaire was designed to target students after orientation had already been
completed for the academic year. Many items in the questionnaire were designed to ask about
the students out-of-classroom involvement. Items prompting responses that yield information
regarding the extent to which students are or plan to be involved in their out-of-classroom
student involvement activities were included in order to explore the question of involvement
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
8/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 8
quality versus involvement quantity, as questioned by Pascarella et al. (1986). Also, following
research by Gonzales-De Hass, Willems, and Holbein (2005) that suggests that parental
involvement impacts student success, items that asked for information related to parental interest
and parental involvement were also included.
The respondents of the pilot test were assigned to their groups based on whether or not
they attended New Student Orientation. The same questionnaire was administered to all
respondents. Our pilot test consisted of 23 graduate students at Rutgers University, who were
asked to participate in our study, keeping in mind that the survey would be distributed to
undergraduate students at Rutgers. See Appendix A.
Results
Our pilot test through out questionnaire yielded the following results:
Of the 22 respondents, 16 were female and six were male.
Of the 22 respondents, 90% (20 out of 22) of respondents agreed that it is important for a
student to be involved on campus.
Of the 77% respondents (17 out of 22) that stated they were involved on campus 76% (13 out
of 17) do plan to run for a leadership position in the future.
About 55% (12 out of 22) of the respondents did attend new student orientation and all of
those respondents were in their first two years of their college career.
About 45% (10 out of 22) of the respondent did not attend new student orientation and only
50% (5 out of 10) of these respondents were in their first two years of their college career.
83% (10 out of 12) of the respondents who attended orientation are already involved in some
form on campus and 25% (3 out of 12) of those student are holding leadership positions.
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
9/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 9
70% of the respondents (7 out of 10) who did not attend orientation are involved in some
form on campus and all of these students are currently holding leadership positions
All of the respondents, those who did or did not attend orientation, who are not currently
involved on campus do plan on becoming involved in some form in the future.
Figure 1: Overall respondents who are involved and students who believe involvement is
important by percentage
Figure 2: Involvement by NSO Attendance
In the present study, a higher percentage and frequency of students that attended New
Student Orientation, were also involved on campus. An overwhelming number of students
(90%) felt that involvement on campus played an important role in contributing to success in
college. Half of the students who did not attend orientation were upperclassmen (third and
fourth year students), whereas every student surveyed that did attend orientation was an
underclassman (first and second-year students). An interesting observation that we made based
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
10/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 10
on the results of our pilot study was that 100% of the respondents that did not attend orientation,
but were involved on campus, held leadership positions within their organizations. Of the
respondents who were involved on campus, and attended orientation, only 25% held leadership
positions in their respective organizations. Based on our results, we do not feel that we had
adequate data to conclude whether our hypothesis was true or false. Although a higher
percentage of respondents who attended orientation also showed to be involved on campus, the
difference between the two groups was not significant enough to consider a major influence.
Limitations
Our original design posed a number of potential threats to both internal and external
validity. We had planned to simply use a one-time questionnaire, distributed to a mixed sample
of students (varied in age, class rank). This design lent itself to creating the potential for several
extraneous variables, including, but not limited to, parental involvement, advertising from
organizations on campus outside of new student orientation, and peer influence. Additionally,
there were systematic differences between the upperclassmen and first-year students
participating in the study, as the New Student Orientation process had actually been modified
significantly on an annual basis over the past few years. After realizing that we would not be
able to control for these extraneous variables without changing the way we designed our study,
we decided to re-design our research into a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group pretest,
post-test design (McMillan, 2007).
Discussion
Sample and Revisions
Considering the broad range of students in our sample, we found it very difficult to find
useful statistics on what were trying to discover (correlation between attending new student
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
11/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 11
orientation and likelihood to get involved and participate in extracurricular activities). Our pilot
test revealed some useful information that caused us to reconsider targeting such a large
population, in respect to our research question involving the correlation between new student
orientation and involvement. A significant threat to our internal validity was time; especially for
upperclassmen that were surveyed in our pilot test. After reviewing the results of our pilot test,
we realized that there may have been significant outside influences that arose over time,
considering that several semesters had passed since their attendance at new student orientation.
Our selection method, therefore threatened the internal validity of our study. Using McMillans
(2007) guide to effectively developing a probability sample, we have decided on revising our
sample to the following:
Our target population for our follow up study will be traditional first-year students. We
will focus on first-year students at Rutgers University. Our ideal sample size is 15% of the first
year class, which comes out to about 975 students.
Proposed Follow-up Design
Using McMillan (2007) as a guide, we developed the following revised design for this
study:
Group Pretest Treatment Posttest
First Year Students O1 New Student Orientation O2 Follow-up
(Attending orientation)
First Year Students O1 O2 Follow-up
(Not Attending Orientation)
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
12/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 12
Our study will now involve a pretest, which will be administered over the two weeks
prior to the Fall 2012 New Student Orientation, with two follow-up e-mails; one 5 days into the
survey, and one 10 days into the survey. The pre-test will seek to discover the rate of students 1)
planning to attend New Student Orientation, 2) not planning to attend New Student Orientation,
3) planning to get involved in extra-curricular activities, 4) not planning to get involved in extra-
curricular activities, and 5) how important, both students who plan to attend New Student
Orientation and those who do not plan to attend New Student Orientation, consider involvement
on campus.
The post-test will be administered over the course of two weeks, starting with the last day
of the 2012 Fall New Student Orientation, with one reminder e-mail sent 5 days after the first e-
mail, and a second reminder e-mail sent 10 days after the first e-mail. This post-test will seek to
discover the rates of students 1) planning to get involved on campus among students who
attended New Student Orientation as compared to students that did not attend New Student
Orientation, 2) whether students that attended New Student Orientation found the programs to
increase their interest in getting involved in extracurricular activities.
Our follow-up will take place throughout the first two weeks of the Spring 2013
semester, starting with the first day of class, followed by a reminder e-mail 5 days into the
survey, and another 10 days into the survey. The follow-up will seek to find out the rates of 1)
students actually involved in student organizations that attended New Student Orientation in Fall
2012 as compared to students that did not attend New Student Orientation in Fall 2012, and 2)
students who attended New Student Orientation in Fall, 2012 and still plan to get involved on
campus, compared to students that did not attend New Student Orientation in Fall 2012.
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
13/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 13
Our logic behind increasing the specificity of our population and adding the pre-test was
as follows:
Administering a pre-test to determine which students planned on attending orientation, as
well as their intention to get involved on campus, would provide us with a starting point
for determining whether the orientation process changes a students likelihood to get
involved on campus, and also establish our control and experimental groups.
Using only traditional first-year students would decrease the extraneous variable of
experiencing different orientation processes, posed by our initial decision to involve
upperclassmen as well.
Using only traditional first-year students would minimize any systematic differences
between the groups, as we would be focusing on the same population, separated only by
their decision to either attend or not attend new student orientation.
The results from this revised design would allow us to easily compare differences in
respondents intention to get involved, rate of participation in orientation, how many of
the respondents actually get involved, and the differences in rates of involvement
between the students that attended orientation and those that did not.
Revised Instrumentation
For our follow-up study, we made several revisions to our questionnaire. Our pilot test
revealed that there were a number of instructions throughout our questionnaire that were
confusing to some of the respondents. These were corrected; additionally, McMillan (2007)
recommends that items on questionnaires should be short, simple, and clear (p.161).
Coincidentally, we received some feedback that our word choice could be simplified, which we
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
14/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 14
took into consideration and went on to revise a few terms we had used, such as conscious
instead of aware. See Appendix B.
Implications for Future Research
The information with this study will not only give us an idea of trends in involvement
based on attendance in first-year orientation programs, but will also provide information for
universities across the country with some ideas to better promote student involvement and
improve their respective orientation programs. An interesting implication for future research that
was not effectively measured through our pilot test is the issue related to involvement quality
versus involvement quantity. Astin (1999) poses the question as to whether or not minor
involvement in multiple areas of college is as effective as heavier involvement on few areas of
college. Building on top of this, we are interested in looking at the issue of quality versus
quantity from the lens of the student affairs professional. Since the particular orientation
program at Rutgers University has a strong emphasis on student involvement, we are curious as
to whether there is a glass-ceiling effect is there a point after which repeated efforts in
communicating that students that they should get take advantage of on-campus involvement
opportunities eventually deafen them to the message? A stepping stone in truly helping students
capitalize on opportunities to get involved, lies in gaining a better understanding of how
orientation programs help lay the foundation for student success, starting with their initial
exposure to the college campus. We hope that future research will build on these curiosities, and
aim to uncover any significant correlations between orientation programs and student
involvement over time.
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
15/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 15
References
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: a developmental theory for higher education.
Journal of higher education, 40 (5), pp. 518-529.
Braxton, J. M., Braxton, A., & Hirschy, A. S. (2004). Understanding and reducing college
student departure. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
DeBard, R. (2004). Millennials coming to college. New visions for student services, 2004 (106),
pp. 33-45.
Fischer, M. J. (2007). Settling into campus life: differences by race/ethnicity in college
involvement and outcomes. The journal of higher education, 78 (2), pp. 125-156.
McMillan, J.H. (2012). Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer(6th
ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Pascarella, E. T., Terenzini, P. T., & Wolfle, L. M. (1986). Orientation to college and freshman
year persistence/withdrawal decisions. Thejournal of higher education, 57(2), pp. 155-
175.
Rutgers, T. S. (2011, 10 2011). Facts and Figures. Retrieved from About Rutgers:
http://www.rutgers.edu/about-rutgers/facts-figures
Sax, L. J. (2003). Our incoming students: what are they like? About campus, 8 (3), pp. 15-20.
Schreiner, L. A. (2010). The thriving quotient: a new vision for student success. About campus,
15 (2), pp. 2-10.
Svanum, S., & Bigatti, S. M. (2009). Academic course engagement during one semester
forecasts college success: engaged students are more likely to earn a degree, do it faster,
and do it better. Journal of college student development, 50 (1), pp. 120-132.
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
16/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 16
Appendix A: Original Annotated Questionnaire
Please take a few moments to fill out our questionnaire. Please mark your sheet as indicatedafter each question.
1. Did you attend Rutgers New Student Orientation in the summer of 2011?Please check one: ___ Yes ___No
(Pascarella, Terenzini, and Wolfe, 1986, stated that one of the main goals of orientation
programs is to acquaint attendees with student organizations on campus.)
2. If yes, please answer the following question. If no, please skip to question 3:Which Orientation did you attend? (Please choose one):
___ 2-Day New Student Orientation Session___ 1-Day Transfer Orientation Session
___ 1-Day EOF Program Orientation Session
(The research group is focusing on the 2-Day New Student Orientation session for first-year students, so this question is designed as a screening tool.)
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statement:Rutgers New Student Orientation 2011 and/or information on the Orientation website
helped you become conscious of on-campus clubs, groups, organizations, and other
involvement opportunities at Rutgers?Please circle one:
1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree3: Neither agree nor disagree4: Agree5: Strongly agree
(Braxton et al. 2004 emphasized the importance of providing students with theopportunity to interact with other students and faculty on multiple levels, including diverse
extracurricular activities. Their findings were used in constructing questions 3 and 4.)
4. To what extent do you agree with the following statement:Getting involved in on-campus organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups is an
important component of a students career at Rutgers.Please circle one:1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree5: Strongly agree
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
17/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 17
(See description for question 3).
5. Did your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) attend the New Student Orientation ParentProgram in the summer of 2011?
Please check one:
___ Yes ___No
(In analyzing K-12 students, Gonzales-DeHass, Willems, and Holbein (2005) state that
parental involvement benefits students education (except, generally, in cases whereparents micro-manage their childrens school lives or provide extrinsic rewards as focal
motivators). Furthermore, DeBards (2004) study of millennials indicates thatmillennials parents tend to be highly involved in their lives. Since the K-12 students
during the time of their study are millennials and potentially reaching college age, thisinformation is likely applicable to college students. Therefore, parental involvement,
including presence at the Parent Orientation, might have an indirect influence onstudents (a) tendency to get involved on campus and (b) likelihood of attending Rutgers
New Student Orientation.)
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement?My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) show interest in my decisions to participate or not
participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers.Circle one:
1: Strongly disagree2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree4: Agree
5: Strongly agree
(See description for question 5)
7. To what extent do you agree with the following statement?
My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) are involved in my decisions to participate or not
participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers.Circle one:
1: Strongly disagree2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree4: Agree
5: Strongly agree
(See description for question 5)
8. Are you involved in any Rutgers-affiliated student organizations, clubs, teams, etc.?Please check one:
___ Yes ___ NoIf yes, please answer questions 9 - 13. If you selected no, please skip to question 14.
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
18/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 18
(Pascarella et al. (1986) posit that orientation has a significant effect on students
likelihood to get involved on campus. For this question, we are aiming to see the numberof student respondents that report being involved in a student group, organization, club,
or team at Rutgers.)
9. How many organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. are you involved with atRutgers?
___ 1___ 2
___ 3___ 4 or more
(Based on Pascarella et al.s (1986) aforementioned research, this question aims to
measure the level of involvement of student respondents in terms of the number oforganizations in which they participate. The data will be used to draw a correlation
between attendance at Orientation and the number of organizations that a student is likelyto join.)
10.Out of these organizations, in how many of them do you hold a leadership position (i.e.position on the executive board, team captain, high-ranking student position, etc.)?Please choose one:
___ 0___ 1
___ 2___ 3
___ 4 or more
(In addition to the number of organizations that a student joins, it will be important for usto know what level of involvement they hold in those organizations. For example,
whether a student holds low-level student positions in one or multiple organizationsversus highly involved positions in one or two organizations will give us information to
measure the relationship between student participation in orientation and their level ofinvolvement on campus.)
11.How likely are you to run for a leadership position within a student organization in thefuture?
1: Very unlikely2: Unlikely
3: Neutral4: Likely
5: Very Likely
(As stated above, Pascarela et al. (1986) posit that attending orientation effects astudents likelihoodto get involved. We want to get a sense of a students desire to attain
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
19/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 19
a highly involved position within a student group who might not have had the chanceyet.)
12.Please specify which type of organization, club, team, student group, etc. in which youare involved:
Please check all that apply. ___ Academic organization ___ Social organization ___ Community service organization ___ Social Action/Political club
___ Ethnic/cultural club ___ Special Interest Organization ___ Religious group ___ Sports- or athletic-oriented team or club
___ Residence Life (RA) ___ Student Government ___ Residence Hall Govenrment/Assoc. ___ Other (please specify):______________
(It will be useful for us to get a sense of the types of organizations in which students tend
to participate. In particular, we take special interest in student responses that indicateinvolvement in groups that were represented at New Student Orientation Summer 2011.)
13.How did you become aware of these organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups?Check each that applies: ___ Through a friend or peer ___ Involvement fair
___ Flyers/advertising ___ I sought the group(s) out due to interest ___ Word of mouth ___ A faculty member or advisor
___ New Student Orientation ___ Other (please specify): _____________________ Group is linked to your
academic major ordepartment
(According to Pascarella et al. (1986), college orientations influence on student
involvement is rarely direct. Instead, they get involved due to what they saw, heard, andfelt during orientation. This question is interested in (a) measuring how manyrespondents report being directly linked to their student organizations at New Student
Orientation Summer 2011 and (b) whether we can draw an indirect correlation betweenparticipation at orientation and how students became aware of the organizations in which
they are involved.)
14.If you selectedNo to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in a Rutgers-affiliatedstudent organization, club, team, student group, etc. in the future?
(Please circle one)1: Very unlikely
2: Unlikely3: Neutral
4: Likely5: Very Likely
(As stated above, Pascarela et al. (1986) posit that attending orientation affects a
students likelihoodto get involved. We want to get a sense of a students desire to getinvolved who might not have had the chance yet.)
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
20/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 20
15.If you selectedNo to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in an organization,club, team, or group outside of Rutgers? (Please circle one)1: Very unlikely
2: Unlikely
3: Neutral4: Likely5: Very Likely
(Similar to question 14, this question serves to get a sense of a students desire to get
involved in cases where they are not able or realistically able to get involved in aRutgers-affiliated organization. Students who fall into this category might include
commuters. However, we do want to measure whether or not these students have a desireto involve themselves in non-Rutgers-affiliated involvement opportunities, such as part-
time jobs or volunteer work.)
16.To what extent do you agree with the following statement:The information I received during New Student Orientation had a positive impact on mydecision to get involved in organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. at Rutgers.
Please circle one:1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree5: Strongly Agree
(Braxton et al. (2004) emphasized the importance of providing students with the opportunity tointeract with other students and faculty on multiple levels, including diverse extracurricularactivities. Question 16 aims to determine whether the respondent believed that the opportunities
provided during the orientation process had an impact on their involvement.)
Participant Demographics
17.Gender (please check one): ___Male ___Female ___Transgender ___Do not wish to identify
(Kinzie et al. 2007 found that there were significant differences in the rates of campus
engagement between male and female undergraduate students. The research groupbelieves that noting the gender of respondents would be important, to determine whether
the correlation between attending orientation and becoming involved in campusorganizations is more significant between the various gender groups.)
18.Current Age (please check one):___17-19___ 19-21
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
21/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 21
___ 22-24___ 25 and older
19.For how years have you attended Rutgers?Please choose one:
___0___1___2
___3___4
___5 or more
(The research group is focusing on first-year students, because of the novelty of theRutgers summer orientation program. It would be useful to have other students input who have
gone through the older orientation program, so that we can measure any variances between thefeedback from first-year students versus that of returning students.)
20.With which of the following groups do you most ident ify? (Please check all that apply.)___White___Black or African American
___American Indian or Alaska Native___Hispanic/Latino
___Asian___Pacific Islander (Please Specify: ____________________)
___Other race (Please Specify: ____________________)
(Fischer (2007) pointed out that there are potential trends in levels of campus involvement and
how students get accustomed to campus life based on ethnicity. Her study was based on the ideathat the adjustment process varies among various ethnic groups.)
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
22/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 22
Appendix B: Revised Questionnaire
Please take a few moments to fill out our questionnaire. Please mark your sheet as indicated
after each question.
1. Did you attend Rutgers New Student Orientation in the summer of 2011?(Please check one)___ Yes ___No
If you answered Yes to question 1, please move on to question 2. If you answeredNo to
question 1, please skip to question 3:
2. Which Orientation did you attend? (Please check one):___ 2-Day New Student Orientation Session
___ 1-Day Transfer Orientation Session
___ 1-Day EOF Program Orientation Session
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one):Rutgers New Student Orientation 2011 and/or information on the Orientation website
helped you become aware of on-campus clubs, groups, organizations, and other
involvement opportunities at Rutgers?
1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree
5: Strongly agree
4. To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one):Getting involved in on-campus organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups is an
important component of a students career at Rutgers.
1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree4: Agree
5: Strongly agree
5. Did your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) attend the New Student Orientation ParentProgram in the summer of 2011? (Please check one)___ Yes ___No
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
23/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 23
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? (Please circle one)My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) show interest in my decisions to participate or not
participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers.
1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree5: Strongly agree
7. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? (Please circle one)My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) are involved in my decisions to participate or not participate in
student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers.
1: Strongly disagree2: Disagree3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree
5: Strongly agree
8. Are you involved in any Rutgers-affiliated student organizations, clubs, teams, etc.?(Please check one)
___ Yes ___ No
If you answered Yes to question 8, please answer questions 9 - 13. If you answeredNo to
question 8, please skip to question 14.
9. How many organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. are you involved with atRutgers? (Please check one)
___ 1
___ 2___ 3
___ 4 or more
10.Out of these organizations, in how many of them do you hold a leadership position (i.e.position on the executive board, team captain, high-ranking student position, etc.)?
(Please check one)___ 0
___ 1___ 2
___ 3
___ 4 or more
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
24/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 24
11.How likely are you to run for a leadership position within a student organization in thefuture? (Please circle one)
1: Very unlikely2: Unlikely
3: Neutral
4: Likely
5: Very Likely
12.Please specify which type of organization, club, team, student group, etc. in which youare involved (Please check all that apply):
___ Academic organization ___ Social organization
___ Community service organization ___ Social Action/Political club
___ Ethnic/cultural club ___ Special Interest Organization___ Religious group ___ Sports- or athletic-oriented team or club___ Residence Life (RA) ___ Student Government
___ Residence Hall Govenrment/Assoc. ___ Other (please specify):______________
13.How did you become aware of these organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups?(Please check all that apply)
___ Through a friend or peer ___ Involvement fair___ Flyers/advertising ___ I sought the group(s) out due to interest
___ Word of mouth ___ A faculty member or advisor
___ New Student Orientation ___ Other (please specify): _____________________ Group is linked to youracademic major or
department
If you answeredNo to question 8, please continue to question 9. If you selected Yes toquestion 8, please skip to question 16.
14.How likely are you to get involved in a Rutgers-affiliated student organization, club,team, student group, etc. in the future? (Please circle one)
1: Very unlikely2: Unlikely
3: Neutral4: Likely
5: Very Likely
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
25/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 25
15.If you selectedNo to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in an organization,club, team, or group outside of Rutgers? (Please circle one)
1: Very unlikely
2: Unlikely3: Neutral
4: Likely
5: Very Likely
16.To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one):The information I received during New Student Orientation had a positive impact on my
decision to get involved in organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. at Rutgers.
1: Strongly disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree4: Agree5: Strongly Agree
Participant Demographics
17.Gender (please check one):___Male ___Female ___Transgender ___Do not wish to identify
18.Current Age (Please check one):___ 17 or Younger
___ 18___ 19___ 20 or Older
19.With which of the following groups do you identify with? (Please check all that apply)___White___Black or African American
___American Indian or Alaska Native
___Hispanic/Latino
___Asian___Pacific Islander
___Other race (Please Specify: ____________________)
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
26/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 26
Appendix C: Institutional Review Board Consent Form
Consent Form to Participate in a Research Study
Title of Study: Relationship between New Student Orientation and On-campus Involvement
Principal Investigator(s): Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson and Ganesh Waran
INTRODUCTION
You are invited to participate in a research study that is being conducted by Higher
Education Researchers Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson, and Ganesh Waran.
Before you agree to participate in this study, you should know enough about it to make an
informed decision. If you have any questions, ask the investigators. You should be satisfied
with their answers before you agree to be in the study.
BACKGROUND/PURPOSEThe purpose of this study is to attempt to find a correlation between first-year students
participation in Rutgers New Student Orientation (NSO) and their tendency to participate in
student involvement opportunities on campus.
INFORMATION/PROCDEDURES
Participants will be given the same questionnaire with 19 questions related to their experience
with New Student Orientation and their involvement on-campus with different organizations and
activities. The questionnaire will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. If you agree to takepart in the study, you will be assigned a random code number that will be used on each test and
the questionnaire. Your name will appear only on a list of subjects, and will not be linked to the
code number that is assigned to you. There will be no way to link your responses back to you.
Therefore, data collection is anonymous.
RISKS
There are no foreseeable risks associated with the participation in this study
BENEFITS
Participation in this study may not benefit you directly. However, the knowledge we hope to
obtain from your participation and the participation of others, may help us to better understand
the effect that New Student Orientation has on the amount of participation new students engage
in. Information gathered will assist in the planning, implementation, and assessment of future
New Student Orientations to include all types of students and increase the effectiveness of future
programs.
CONFIDENTIALITY
This research is anonymous. Anonymous means that I will record no information about you that
could identify you. This means that I will not record your name, address, phone number, date of
birth, etc. The research team and the Institutional Review Board at Rutgers University are the
only parties that will be allowed to see the data, except as may be required by law. If a report of
8/3/2019 Buchalski Budhram Carlson Waran Quantitative Assessment Proposal Fall 2011
27/27
ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS 27
this study is published, or the results are presented at a professional conference, only group
results will be stated.
COMPENSATION
There is no compensation for participation in study.
CONTACT
If you have questions at any time about the research or the procedures, you may contact
the research group at [email protected]. If you have any questions about your rights
as a research subject, you may contact the Rutgers University IRB Administrator at:
Rutgers University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
3 Rutgers PlazaNew Brunswick, NJ 08901-8559
Tel: 848 932 4058
Email: [email protected]
PARTICIPATION
Your participation in this study is voluntary; you may decline to participate at any time
without penalty to you. If you decide to participate, you may withdraw from the study at
any time without penalty and without loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. If
you withdraw from the study before data collection is completed your data will be removed
from the data set and destroyed.
Sign below if you agree to participate in this research study. You will be given a copy ofthis form to keep.
Subject's signature______________________________________________
Date _________________
Investigator's signature__________________________________________
Date _________________