Mid-sized University Research Articles

The Educational Return on Investment Commitment: Using Predictive Analytics and Financial Aid to Leverage Retention

This study employed propensity score matching and regression analysis to determine whether or not a retention scholarship pilot program at a mid-size public research university was effective at increasing first-year retention. The scholarship pilot did not require any application process for students but rather used a predictive logistic regression model for identifying recipients and automatically awarded students $5,000. The scholarship was only awarded for the students’ sophomore year. The award was not continued as students persisted to their junior and senior years. Findings demonstrated that students who did not receive the scholarship were two times more likely to depart from the institution at the end of their first year compared with scholarship recipients. Longitudinally, nonscholarship recipients were 1.4 times more likely to depart at the end of their sophomore year.

Social identification and academic performance: integrating two existing models of tertiary student learning

Recent research has mapped the ways social identification and normative influence affect students’ self-reported learning approaches and course experience, and also, the ways in which social identification and learning approach impact directly on grades. However, there is no evidence for a model incorporating both of these processes. The current paper aims to address this in a dataset drawn from a range of courses and disciplines at a mid-size Australian university. The data capture student demographics, social identification with the field of study, perceived learning norms and learning approaches, and examine how these map onto end of semester academic outcomes. Findings indicate support for the Bliuc identification-to-grade, through learning approach model. Further, we find support for the Smyth identification-by-norm moderation model of predicting learning approaches. Added to which, we find support for a combined moderated mediation model, where the identification–norm interaction moderates the indirect effect of identification predicting grades through learning approach. Implications for course design are discussed.

Testing the influence of message framing, donation magnitude, and product category in a cause-related marketing context

ABSTRACTCause-related marketing (CRM) has developed into a versatile and cost-effective tool to accomplish corporate objectives. Understanding the consumer expectations and preferences while planning and designing effective CRM communication strategies has become necessary for marketers. In order to understand the effect of CRM communication on consumers purchase intention, two separate experiments were conducted to examine the interactive effect of donation message framing, donation magnitude, and product category with a sample of 180 participants for each. This study was drawn from a sample of undergraduate students from a mid-sized university in India. The results of study 1 indicated that exact message framing regardless of the product (i.e., high and low involvement) generated higher purchase intention. Study 2 demonstrated that purchase intention for high CRM donation magnitude was influenced most by product category involvement. Overall, the outcome suggests that design elements of CRM communication does influence consumer response to the campaign.

Iranian Student Experience Pursuing Admission to Universities in the United States

This qualitative phenomenological study investigated the challenges faced by Iranian students during the admissions process at a mid-size southern university in the United States. Researchers used a convenience sample from Iranian masters and doctoral degree applicants admitted for the 2015-2016 academic year. Using face-to-face interviews researchers collected responses from seven Iranian students currently in the first year of their graduate programs. The overarching question guiding the study concentrated on the challenges experienced by Iranian students during the university admissions process. Focused questions included a discussion of specific challenges faced by Iranian students. The results from the interviews led the researchers to common themes that resonated across all three focused questions and a student recommendation on ways to streamline the process.

An Academic and Cultural Transition Course for International Students: Efficacy and SocioEmotional Outcomes

The current study details changes in first-year international undergraduate students’ perceived knowledge of, confidence in, and usefulness of intercultural skills in specific US university contexts after completing a semester-long academic and cultural transition course at a mid-sized private university. Results revealed significant increases in participants’ (n= 42) perceived intercultural competence, perspective shifting, suspending judgment, self-advocacy, and interacting in class with students of other cultures; participants also reported significantly higher campus belonging and social support than a comparison group of students at the university who were not enrolled in the course (n = 32). These findings provide initial evidence for the potential of transition courses to increase intercultural skills and campus belonging for first-year undergraduate international students attending US universities.

Learner expectations and satisfaction in a US-Spain intercultural telecollaboration

The focus of this paper is the analysis of data collected after conducting a telecollaboration project throughout one semester with 12 advanced learners of Spanish from a mid-sized Atlantic coast university in the USA and 12 higher intermediate students of English from a technical university in Spain. Data was collected through a questionnaire enquiring about learner expectations at the outset of the project and a final survey seeking detailed information about learner satisfaction in order to implement improvements in subsequent projects. In-depth analysis of the data shed light on the perceived benefits and challenges of the intercultural telecollaboration project. There was evidence that the students were very open-minded about discussing multifaceted intercultural issues and very positive toward collaborating with fellow students from a different cultural background. The surveys also suggest that the learners’ expected benefits aligned with their stated benefits after carrying out the project, which led us to believe that possible frustrations and communication breakdowns had been kept to a minimum.

Student Attendance At Campus Sporting Events: How Can We Get Them There?

College student attendance at campus sporting events has been declining for a number of years with administrators looking for ways to reverse that trend. There are multiple reasons for the declining attendance and a multitude of possible solutions have been proposed. This case examines the situation for the football program at one mid-sized university, providing data from a representative cross section of the student population. Readers are tasked with making recommendations based on the data and to describe methods of evaluating the success of any changes.

Principal Coaching in Central Office Supervisory Roles: Exploring Persistent Tensions

Scholars have increasingly focused on the practice of central office administrators. Principal supervisors, who often work in central offices, have received attention as scholars view these administrators as an essential source of support for school principals. This study employed a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 principal supervisors who participated in coaching partnership facilitated by a private, mid-sized university over three academic years. Additionally, the data set included 127 hours of non-participant observation and 59 documents. The findings indicate that principal supervisors had difficulty reconciling coaching behaviors within the context of their supervisory roles. In particular, supervisors found the expectations associated with their role more prescriptive than anticipated and thus an impediment to the adoption of coaching behaviors in their work. Supervisors thus sought to adjust their practice to accommodate coaching behaviors. However, given expectations associated with their role, supervisors often resorted to directive and supervisory behaviors. A primary conclusion of this study is that leadership coaching behaviors might not be readily implemented within the context of supervisory practice unless adequate support, training, and organizational reforms occur. The findings thus have implications for the configuration of central office supervisory roles as well as how leadership preparation programs prepare candidates for central office supervisory positions.

Experiential Learning in Family Life Education Methodology: Low, Medium, and High Dosage Projects

Background: Family Life Education Methodology (FLEM) is an integral component of the family science collegiate curriculum. Given the range of topics and that material is not immediately interesting to students, teaching FLE courses is consistently reported as difficult. Purpose: The goal of this study is to evaluate an experiential learning approach to FLEM that addresses these pedagogical issues by expanding on the low, medium, and high dosage projects as proposed by Vaterlaus and Asay. Methodology/Approach: This approach was implemented with four FLEM classes in a midsize university ( N = 120). Students completed a low, medium, and high dosage project throughout each course, and completed written evaluations after each project, which were analyzed using qualitative analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Students reported multiple benefits for each project. The low dosage project was associated with learning what FLEM is, finding, and building on passions. The medium dosage project was associated with tangible and self-learning. The high dosage project was associated with outside learning and making a difference in the community. Implications: The proposed approach utilized multiple opportunities for experiential learning that appear beneficial for student learning. Replication is needed in other collegiate contexts to validate the approach.

A lab-based study exploring the associations among nonsuicidal self-injury, pain, and emotion among university students

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; e.g., self-cutting without lethal intent) is a widespread mental health concern among emerging adults in university. Although accumulating evidence suggests that NSSI is primarily an emotion coping behaviour, little is known about variability in emotional response to pain among individuals who self-injure. Recent theory on NSSI suggests that individuals who engage in NSSI to self-punish may experience additional affective gains in response to pain compared to individuals without self-punishment motivations for NSSI and individuals who do not self-injure. To test this hypothesis, 82 undergraduate students (Mage = 21.52 years) were recruited from a mid-sized university, and reported on their emotions three times: at baseline, following a stress-induction task, and after a cold-pressor task. Although all participants showed decreased negative emotions (e.g., hostility, fear) and increased serenity following cold pain, students who engaged in NSSI specifically to self-punish also showed decreased guilt and sadness. The present findings demonstrate that pain may serve to regulate different emotions for students who self-injure depending on their motivations for engaging in NSSI. Additionally, findings suggest that prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing the need to self-punish may help to reduce some of the emotionally reinforcing properties of NSSI.

Developing and Validating an Individual Sustainability Instrument with Engineering Students to Motivate Intentional Change

This paper describes three studies that were conducted sequentially for purposes of validating the Individual Sustainability survey for use with undergraduate engineering students. During the first study, researchers administered the original 50-item Individual Sustainability survey to an undergraduate engineering class at a mid-sized University, using real and ideal self. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the survey instrument was reduced to 36 items, and reframed to compare real self to ideal professional engineer. The new version was administered to three cohorts of engineering students at the same institution, and factor structures were analyzed again. In order to provide more stable parameter estimates, a third study with 34 items was run with engineering students in similar courses at four different institutions. The methods and results of all three studies are described, to justify the survey’s evolution. This is followed by a discussion of the final survey instrument and approaches for administering the survey to undergraduate engineering students, or adapting survey administration for other student populations. The instrument, in its current form, is an effective way to identify dissonance between one’s real and ideal conceptualizations of self, and help individual students identify opportunities for personal change and professional growth toward sustainability values and behaviors.

Social media privacy concerns: trusting beliefs and risk beliefs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to build a research model that examines social media privacy concerns (SMPC) in relation to users’ trusting beliefs and risk beliefs.Design/methodology/approachAn instrument with eight constructs (SMPC: collection, SMPC: secondary usage, SMPC: errors, SMPC: improper access, SMPC: control, SMPC: awareness, trusting beliefs and risk beliefs) was developed and administered to subjects from a mid-sized university in the USA. Collected data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results showed that three of the six SMPC (i.e. secondary usage, improper access and awareness) were negatively and significantly associated with users’ trusting beliefs. In addition, three of the six SMPC (i.e. collection, errors and improper access) were positively and significantly associated with users’ risk beliefs.Practical implicationsPractical implications were aimed at the social media sites to design simple and straightforward privacy policy statements that are easy to understand; to safeguard users’ online privacy behaviors; and to develop mechanisms to protect personal information.Originality/valueThis study enhances the literature by contributing to a generalized knowledge of SMPC of users as they relate to their trusting beliefs and risk beliefs.

Urban population density and mortality in a compact Dutch city: 23-year follow-up of the Dutch GLOBE study

We investigated the association and underlying pathways between urban population density and mortality in a compact mid-sized university city in the Netherlands. Baseline data from the GLOBE cohort study (N = 10,120 residents of Eindhoven) were linked to mortality after 23 years of follow up and analyzed in multilevel models. Higher population density was modestly related to increased mortality, independently of baseline socioeconomic position and health. Higher population density was related to more active transport, more perceived urban stress and smoking. Increased active transport suppressed the mortality-increasing impact of higher population density. Overall, in dense cities with good infrastructure for walking and cycling, high population density may negatively impact mortality.

Research Attitudes and Their Correlates Among Undergraduate Social Work Students

ABSTRACTThe purpose of our study was to describe research attitudes of undergraduate social work students and to identify individual characteristics associated with positive research attitudes. Our data were collected in the spring semester of 2016 through an online survey at a midsize state university with 170 study participants. Research attitudes were measured with the Attitudes Toward Research Scale and the Kirk-Rosenblatt Research Inventory. We found that although respondents appreciated the value of research and its application to social work, negative emotions of anxiety and stress persisted. Older age, completion of prior research course work, prior research exposure, knowing what evidence-based practice means, and acceptance into the BSW program were associated with more positive attitudes toward research.

Smoking, health and academic outcomes: evidence from a limited smoking campus policy.

Although there is substantial literature on the impact of smoking laws, the number of studies that investigate the impact of such policies on college campuses is sparse. Using a rich data set from various waves of the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment survey for a mid-sized public university in the southern United States, we investigate a possible causal link between a limited smoking policy and smoking behaviours, health and academic outcomes among college students. We employ propensity score matching methods to control for endogeneity of unobservable characteristics. Our results show a significant reduction in the propensity to smoke cigarettes and cigars following the introduction of the policy. Further, we find that the policy has increased academic outcomes; however, it has no significant effect on student health. These findings have important policy implications for schools that are considering instituting comprehensive smoking bans on college.

Epistemic belief structures within introductory astronomy

The reliability and validity of inventories should be verified in multiple ways. Although the epistemological beliefs about the physical science survey (EBAPS) has been deemed to be reliable and valid by the authors, the axes or factor structure proposed by the authors has not been independently checked. Using data from a study sample we discussed in previous publications, we performed exploratory factor analysis on 1,258 post-test EBAPS surveys. The students in the sample were from an introductory Astronomy course at a mid-sized western university. Inspection suggested the use of either a three-factor model or a five-factor model. Each of the factors is interpreted and discussed, and the factors are compared to the axes proposed by the authors of the EBAPS. We find that the five-factor model extrapolated from our data partially overlaps with the model put forth by the authors of the EBAPS, and that many of the questions did not load onto any factors.

Perceptions of non-traditional tobacco products between asthmatic and non-asthmatic college students

ABSTRACTObjective: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use is common among college students and there are perceptions that ENDS are not as harmful as traditional cigarettes. The aim of this study was to examine differences in ENDS use, risk perceptions, and co-occurring smoking behaviors between college students with and without asthma. Methods: The study consisted of a cross-sectional online survey with a final sample size of 898 college students. The voluntary participation survey was disseminated to all undergraduate and graduate students at a mid-sized liberal arts university in the Southeast U.S. in the Fall of 2014. Results: Approximately 19.7% reported that they had been previously diagnosed with asthma. Forty three percent of participants (n = 384) used ENDS in the past 30 days. Equivalent percentages of college students with asthma (46.9%) and college students without asthma (46.9%) have tried ENDS. Overall participants indicated that they perceived ENDS use as less (44%) or equally (38%) as harmful as cigarettes. College students with asthma had 2.85 (95% CI: 1.18–6.89) greater odds of being in the poly-user class, which was characterized by dual use of ENDS, combustible cigarettes, hookah, and marijuana. Conclusions: In this study, college students with asthma were similar to their peers with regard to their use of ENDS and related risk perceptions; however, a small subsample of those with asthma exhibited problematic smoking behaviors characterized by dual use of multiple tobacco products including marijuana.

A Novel Low-Cost Indicator of Student Perseverance and Its Association with College Student Academic Performance

Within the research literature investigating how student characteristics related to perseverance impact academic outcomes, leading scholars have encouraged the development of new measurements, both survey and non-survey based. We introduce here an innovative non-survey-based measurement, derived from common higher education variables, that reflects the perseverance construct. The created perseverance proxy is easily created and explainable to audiences with minimal statistical background. The variable was used to analyze academic outcomes at a mid-sized public university in the United States. The perseverance proxy strongly positively associates with academic outcomes, as measured both by GPA and odds of academic probation, in multivariate analysis across both genders. The perseverance proxy explains more of the variation in academic outcomes than any of the cognitive and financial aid variables used in the analysis. The technique for constructing the perseverance proxy is easily replicated at any college or university having data on students’ high school ranking and college admission exam scores.

Religious Identity and Perceptions of Criminal Justice Effectiveness

Religiosity and attitudes regarding the criminal justice system have remained largely unstudied to date, despite the centrality of religion as an aspect of one’s identity formation. This study tests the hypothesis that perceptions of the effectiveness of police and the courts vary according to religious identity (affiliation, membership, and self-described religiosity or spirituality). A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 342 undergraduate students in introductory social science courses at a mid-sized university in the Southeastern US. Multiple Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses were performed on predictors of two outcome variables: perceived police effectiveness and perceived court effectiveness. Results offer partial support for a religious identity-based explanation of public perceptions of criminal justice system effectiveness. Membership of a local congregation, in general, was associated with higher ratings of police and court effectiveness. In addition, African Americans rated criminal justice effectiveness lower than non-African Americans. Once interactions between race and religious identity were incorporated, race itself became non-significant for both views on court and police effectiveness. However, these results showed that among African Americans, being a congregation member significantly reduced rather than increased ratings of police effectiveness. Religion thus continues to be complex and even paradoxical in shaping perceptions in the US.

Patterns, Perception and Behavior of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Use and Multiple Product Use Among Young Adults.

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are battery-operated devices used to inhale vaporized or aerosolized nicotine. There is increasing research uncovering negative health effects of these devices. Less is known about the social and behavioral aspects among college students. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a mid-sized private university in Florida. The survey was sent via e-mail to the student body of undergraduates. A final sample size of 989 students was analyzed to understand demographic differences between users and nonusers, initiation factors, and influencers, as well as multiple product behaviors. Approximately 51.4% (n = 508) of participants reported ever using an ENDS and other tobacco consumption. Males were significantly more likely to be users of ENDS. Polytobacco use, or the use of multiple tobacco products, was also more common among participants who have tried ENDS (P < .001). Perceptions of harm of both the primary and secondary vapor were considered to be less than that of conventional cigarettes. Peers were the primary influencer for initial use. A 4-class latent variable model differentiated between usage patterns characterized as abstainers (70%), hookah users only (14%), ENDS only (11%), and polytobacco users (4%). ENDS are not commonly used as a quit tool among college students, but rather as a secondary source of nicotine, most commonly in current smokers.