Cross Section Study

1. A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring:
The Importance of Student Support Services, as
Perceived by Nontraditional Students Enrolled in
4-Year Public Institutions in South Texas
Conducted by:
Dr. Bridgette Everhart Hardin
Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

2. Presentation Outline
The purpose of today’s presentation is to discuss the
following:
• Why was the research necessary?
• The foundation and administration of the research.
• What was discovered?
• Why does it matter?

3. Why was the research necessary?
Background
A changing student
composition in Higher
Education:
• NCES (2002): Undergraduate
population different than a
generation ago.
• Choy (2002): More
nontraditional students on
campus.

4. • The definition of a nontraditional student is expanding to
include traditional aged students with nontraditional lives
(Horn, 1996).
• Nearly 75% of undergraduates, enrolled in American
colleges or universities, can be defined as “nontraditional”
in some way (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2005, p.
26).
Why was the research necessary?
Background
Minimal Maximum

5. Why was the research necessary?
Background
US Dept. of Education
Students 25 years or older,
attending postsecondary
education in the United
States has increased
from 28% in 1970 to 44%
in 2004 (2005).

6. Why was the research necessary?
Background
THECB 2007
Enrollment Trend Analysis
for its postsecondary institutions
has indicated that nearly half
of Texas resident students will
be 25 or older in 2020.

7. Why was the research necessary?
Background
THECB 2007
Enrollment Trend Analysis
for South Texas predicts an
increase enrollment of 20% for
nontraditional students (25 or
older & first time in college)
over the next 15 years.

8. Why was the research necessary?
Background
Many Texas Students have defined themselves
as nontraditional in some way:
• Data collected from the National Survey of Student
Engagement, (2005) showed 44% of participating
undergraduates enrolled in 4-year public
institutions in Texas were employed at least PT
while attending college.
• Additionally, 36% of the participating
undergraduates, from the same institutions,
identified themselves as caretakers of dependents
while attending college (NSSE Report, 2005).

9. Why was the research necessary?
Background
South Texas factors to consider:
• 40% of households comprised of families with
children under 18 years of age (US Census
Bureau, 2005);
• 32% of households defined as single-parent
families (US Census Bureau, 2005).

10. Why was the research necessary?
Background
South Texas factors to consider:
• Employment rates for P/T & F/T combined were at
50% in south Texas for people ages 16 and older
(Self Reported to US Census Bureau, 2005).
• 20% increase in degree-required employment
options for its residents over the next 15 years
(Texas Workforce Commission, 2005).

11. Why was the research necessary?
Background
Economic Factors to Consider:
• Demographic, economic, and
technological developments”
evolving from the “Knowledge Age”
(Richardson & King, 1998, p.65).
• Need to be competitively desirable in
the labor market (Wagner 2002).

12. Why was the research necessary?
The Rising Problem
• Blind navigation through college
(Cross, 1981; Dolly 1995; Kim, 2002).
• Support services unavailable or
inaccessible:
although these students pay the same tuition
and fees as their traditional & daytime
counterpart (Scott-Summers, 1992).
• Institutional resistance to change:
adhering to a “traditional student campus
model” (Tierney, 1998; Knowles, 1990).
Nontraditional students often experience:

13. • Administrators need to find out what appropriate student
support services are needed in order for their
nontraditional student population to-
successfully navigate through college.
Why was the research necessary?
The Rising Problem
• Increasing Demand on Minimal Supplies:
Not enough nontraditional student structured services to
meet the growing enrollment demands of this group.

14. The foundation & administration of the research.
Purpose of the Study
To know the types of student support services
nontraditional students of South Texas need to
successfully navigate through their
undergraduate career to graduation.

15. The foundation & administration of the research.
Purpose of the Study
This study addressed the following research
questions through a survey from the perspective
of freshman nontraditional students and senior
nontraditional students currently enrolled in 4-
year, public university undergraduate programs
in South Texas:

16. 1. On the basis of importance, what are the
requirements for student support services, as
perceived by nontraditional freshman students
enrolled in south Texas 4-year public
institutions?
2. On the basis of importance, what are the
requirements for student support services, as
perceived by nontraditional senior students
enrolled in south Texas four-year public
institutions?
The foundation & administration of the research.
Purpose of the Study

17. 3. What is the difference between nontraditional
freshmen and seniors, with respect to their
perceptions of importance (aka- requirements)
regarding student support services?
4. To what extent are nontraditional,
undergraduate students support service needs
met, as inferred by senior, nontraditional
student response?
The foundation & administration of the research.
Purpose of the Study

18. The foundation & administration of the research.
Methodology of the Study
• Cross-sectional study of nontraditional students
in south Texas.
– A cross-sectional study explores the relationship
between different variables at a point in time, with
analysis focusing on how variables affect each other
at the same time (Meltzoff, 2004).

19. The foundation & administration of the research.
The Literary Review Process
• Historical forces influencing enrollment trends & changing
demographics on campuses
• Definitions & Characteristics describing nontraditional
students.
• Learning needs of nontraditional students.
• Student support services needs of nontraditional students
• Postsecondary institutional demands in meeting
nontraditional student needs.
• Relevance of Adult Education Research in Texas/ South
Texas

20. The foundation & administration of the research.
The Theoretical Approach
Andragogy
(6 Core Principles)
Learning needs of Adult Learners:
• Relevant,
• Locus of control,
• Impact personal experiences have on learning,
• Voluntary “readiness to learn”
– Satisfy some purpose
• Orientation to learning
– problem-solving/ life-centered/ task-oriented,
• Motivation/ intrinsic desire
- Knowles (1978;1990)

21. The foundation and administration of the research.
Operational Definitions
NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT**:
25 and older
Age 25 when enrolled as a FR
Delayed enrollment- 1st X in college
Limitation
‘Age’ was the primary criteria-matching characteristic used
to identify the subjects for the study.
** More subjects could have been identified using Horn’s
continuum (1996), the structure of the study mirrored that
of prior adult education research studies, with 25 yrs
serving as the “cut-off” (Houser, 2002).

22. The foundation & administration of the research.
Operational Definitions
REQUIREMENTS:
Respondents' responses to the Nontraditional Student
Support Services Needs Survey items were used to
measure student perceptions regarding the importance
and/or satisfaction of
1) academic guidance
2) educational planning,
3) career development, and
4) overall student development
for successful navigation through their undergraduate career.

23. The foundation & administration of the research.
Construct Definitions
Academic Guidance:
The area of student support that includes the following-
1. Preparing the student for graduation or professional
school
2. Providing student quality instruction and coursework
3. Providing adequate Faculty advising
4. Faculty related: Concern/ Respect for student
5. Faculty accessibility in and out of class

24. The foundation & administration of the research.
Construct Definitions
Educational Planning:
The area of student support that includes the following-
1. Educational programs to meet student skills & interests.
2. Knowledge on degree/graduation requirements
3. Knowledge on credit & non-credit acquisition by
nontraditional means
4. Enrollment, Registration & Financial Aid processes
5. Accessibility to college offices after working hours
6. Knowledge of Library procedures
7. Knowledge of campus environment
8. Additional services: Child Care; Transportation; Disability
Services

25. The foundation & administration of the research.
Construct Definitions
Career Development:
The area of student support that includes the following-
1. Identify individual strengths and abilities; matching to
career areas.
2. Knowledge of job opportunities (FT/ PT) in career interest
areas.
3. Acquisition of job opportunities (FT/PT) in career interest
areas.
4. Learning how to find job opportunities/ how to interview
5. Learning how to create resumes/ vitas.
6. Learning about income potentials in career interest areas.

26. The foundation & administration of the research.
Construct Definitions
Overall Student Development:
The area of student support that includes the following-
1. Acquisition of a variety of skills:
Math; Computer Literacy; Diversity; Ethics; Liberal Arts;
Politics; Economics
2. Reading and writing clear and correct English.
3. Developing a commitment to personal health & fitness.

27. The foundation & administration of the research.
Target Population
Nontraditional students enrolled in 5 universities of
the South Texas/ Rio Grande Region.
FR: n= 317
SR: n= 2620

28. The foundation & administration of the research.
Sample Selection
• Performed a proportionate, stratified random sampling
procedure to obtain the *criteria-matching student
participant group for the study.
• This technique:
– guaranteed a sample proportionate to known sizes in
the population of interest, and
– confidence intervals tend to be narrower in studies
employing stratified sampling procedures than studies
employing simple random sampling procedures of the
same population
(Fink, 2002).
*Criteria-Matching: 25 and older in freshman year.

29. Sample Selection

30. The foundation & administration of the research.
Sample Limitations
• The maximum collected sample was limited to 600 students,
as per the questionnaire use agreement made with the ACT
Incorporated.
• The results from the questionnaire administered may have
been influenced/ limited by:
– willingness of the participants to state their perceptions in
their responses;
– degree of accuracy and the opinions offered by the
participating students;
– regional cultures;
– institutional structures re: support services offered to NTS
NTS= Nontraditional Student

31. The foundation & administration of the research.
Instrumentation
Nontraditional Student Support Services Needs Online Survey
Constructs Measured:
10 items* Academic Guidance
14 items** Educational Planning
10 items** Career Development
9 items* Overall Student Development
9 items Demographics
Permission to use instrument items from:
*Graduating Student Survey- Texas A&M Corpus Christi
**Adult Learner Needs Assessment- ACT Incorporated

32. The foundation & administration of the research
Instrumentation
Nontraditional Student Support Services Needs Survey:
Demographic Questions:
– Gender
– Age
– Ethnicity
– Class level
– First-generation Status
– Financial Aid History
– GPA
– Awareness of various “student support services”
– Use of various “student support services”

33. The foundation & administration of the research.
Assumptions
• Participants of this study provided accurate and forthright
responses on the questionnaire, while demonstrating
knowledge about the topic of study.
• Student sampling was representative of the
nontraditional student age group and enrollment status
of undergraduate level freshman students and senior
students currently enrolled in south Texas.

34. The foundation & administration of the research.
Data Collection
Prior to conducting the formal research for this study, the
researcher Pilot tested the instrument.
– Established Content Validity:
the instrument reviewed by a panel of experts,
knowledgeable in the field of student support
services and adult learning theory;
– Established Internal Consistency/ Reliability:
Cronbach’s Alpha = .81 (43 items of importance)
Cronbach’s Alpha = .71 (43 items of satisfaction)

35. As part of the formal study:
• Solicitation and reminder through E-mail invitation.
• E-mail included a hyperlink to the web-based survey.
• Participants were properly informed of voluntary
participation in the study (electronic signature and
completion of survey).
• Data collection conducted from April 1, 2007- April 8, 2007
The foundation & administration of the research.
Data Collection

36. NTS Freshmen and NTS Seniors answered:
• 43 study-specific questions, rating level of importance
to each item.
• 9 demographic questions
NTS= Nontraditional Student
NTS Seniors also provided :
• level of satisfaction
responses to study-
specific items.
The foundation & administration of the research.
Data Collection

37. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
• The data were securely collected on-line and exported
into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 14.0
(SPSS) for the purpose of data analysis.
• Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and
organize all variables in the study.
• Inferential statistics were used to compare NTS
freshman & NTS senior groups on the basis of variables
of interest, as well as to compare importance &
satisfaction measures of NTS seniors with regard to
student support services.
NTS= Nontraditional Student

38. Data Analysis
70% of maximum allowable

39. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
All participants ranked items on the basis of importance
using a Likert-type scale:
4= Very Important
3= Important
2= Somewhat Important
1= Not Important

40. Data Analysis

41. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
The mean of study-specific items of each construct was
used to measure the constructs.
Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was used to estimate the
internal consistency/reliability of each of the study-specific
section’s scaled scores:
Academic Guidance= .80
Educational Planning= .89
Career Development= .90
Overall Student Development= .80

42. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
• Since the four study-specific sections were correlated
(p<.01), MANOVA was used to compare the two groups
on the basis of their centroids.
– A centroid is the mean of the vectors for each group.
– A vector is a mathematical expression representing
each subject’s scores on multiple response variables.
– MANOVA is used to differentiate among groups with
respect to their centroids (Stevens, 2002).
• The level of significance was set at .05 for the MANOVA.

43. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
• In spite of uneven sample sizes, the Box’s M test
of equality of covariance matrices was not
statistically significant:
Box’s M= 6.63, p= .78.
• Additionally, Homogeneity of Variance
Assumption was met for each of the four
construct scores.

44. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
• MANOVA showed that the difference between the
two groups was not statistically significant:
Wilks’ Lambda= 1.00, F (4, 416) = .35, p= .85.
• Mean difference effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were
computed to assess the practical significance of the
findings.
Effect size was small for all 4 constructs (d=<.2)

45. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
In addition to rating items based on importance, NTS
seniors rated items on the basis of satisfaction, using the
following Likert-type scale:
4= Very Satisfied
3= Satisfied
2= Somewhat Satisfied
1= Not Satisfied
NTS= Nontraditional Student

46. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was used to estimate the
internal consistency/reliability of each of the study-specific
section’s scaled scores (Gall, Gall and Borg, 2007):
Academic Guidance= .92
Educational Planning= .93
Career Development= .95
Overall Student Development= .90

47. What was discovered?
Data Analysis
• NTS Senior satisfaction responses were compared NTS
Senior importance responses.
• Comparison of importance to satisfaction of the NTS Senior
student group was done by performing a series of t-tests for
correlated samples.
• The results were statistically significant across all four
constructs at p<.001.
NTS= Nontraditional Student

48. Data Analysis

49. Why does it matter?
Significance of the Study
• Nontraditional students who are satisfied with their
institution’s support services have higher retention rates
and graduation rates than their unsatisfied counterparts
(Aslanian, 2001; Astin, 1975).
• With the results of this study, higher education
Administrators can use the study’s findings to aid them
in:
– Formation Nontraditional Student
– Implementation Support Services
– Revision

50. Why does it matter?
Significance of the Study
Results of this study could provide valuable insight regarding
the needs of nontraditional students to higher education
Administrators involved in the strategic planning process for:
•Cultivating a nontraditional student-centered learning
environment
•Recruitment of “continuum” nontraditional students
•Retention after the first-year
•Matriculation cycles

51. Questions?