Data, Decisions, and Telling YOUR Story Lindsey K. Fields, M.S., M.Ed., LPC Assistant Director for Residence Life

Goals of this session Understand various data collection methods and processes Better understand ways to use data to impact decision making Learn the importance of sharing YOUR story as data drive decisions within your department

University of North Texas Just under 38,000 total enrollment 14 Residence Halls Approximately 6,300 residents living on-campus 180 Resident Life Advisor Student Staff Resident Assistant Housing Ambassadors Facilities Assistants 24 Hall Director Staff Hall Director, Assistant Hall Director, Graduate Assistant 75th largest public research university in the United States Doubled the number of Residence Halls since 2000 25th largest on-campus residence hall population of a public university in the U.S.

UNT On-Campus Population

On-Campus Students Ethnicity Difference -0.043 -0.348 -0.229 -0.303 -0.227 -0.443 -0.340 All On-Campus -0.246

Where do you go at your Institution for data?

Assessment can be Boring Overwhelming Intimidating Time-Consuming Boring – think of those meetings and endless slides or long reports showing assessment results. Overwhelming – with the focus on the details, we often lose sight of the big picture. Intimidating – this is especially true for new professionals and those without assessment experience. Time-Consuming – Learning and understanding the details requires the time that many do not have

Survey Cycle 1 Survey Students 2 Review Results 3 Take Action

Step 1 = Survey Students Quality of Life – Qualtrics, October 2nd-23rd, 4 email reminders, no student incentive, option to be anonymous ACUHO-I Residential Assessment Qualtrics – led to EBI portal, April 14-May 15, one email invite, no student incentive, anonymous

ACUHO-I Residential Assessment Administered in Spring 2015 and Spring 2016 Measures residents perception of their satisfaction and learning Allows UNT to “select 6” schools to compare results to, as well as compares us to our Carnegie Classification and all institutions that participate in the survey that year Spring 2015, N = 575 Spring 2016, N = 617

Step 2 = Review Results Results shared with: Central Housing Staff, Hall Director Staff, student staff, and students Student Portraits Symposium Executive Summary to VP for Student Affairs

Factor Analysis allows researchers to investigate concepts that are not easily measured directly by collapsing a large number of variables into a few interpretable underlying factors. What is a Factor Analysis?

Factor analysis helps us determine where we should invest our Time Resources Energy

Crucial Elements The lower the level of satisfaction… … the greater the opportunity to make improvements

Crucial Elements Level of impact of a factor on overall satisfaction Degree to which factor, if improved will impact overall outcome High Impact factors, if improved, will do the most to improve Overall Satisfaction

ACUHO-I High Impact Factors 2015 2016 Category 1st Predictive Factor Overall Program Effectiveness Satisfaction: Hall Environment Overall Satisfaction Satisfaction: Hall Environment Overall Learning Learning: Self-Management Category 1st Predictive Factor Overall Program Effectiveness Learning: Personal Interactions Overall Satisfaction Satisfaction: Hall Programming Overall Learning Learning: Self-Management

ACUHO-I High Impact Factors on Overall Satisfaction 2015 2016 Factor Contribution to Total Impact Hall Environment 25.4% Services Provided 11.7% Hall Programming 9.8% Factor Contribution to Total Impact Hall Programming 21% Hall Environment 15.9% Community Environment 12.4%

High Impact Factors for Overall Satisfaction Hall Environment Hall Programming Community Environment Your ability to study in your room Variety of Programs Respect your property Your ability to sleep in your room Quality of Programs Respect your privacy Your degree of privacy Social/Educational/Cultural Programming Respect your study time The noise level of your floor/ community Athletic/Recreational Activities Respect your sleep time Top performing are listed first, and down to last are least satisfied

ACUHO-I High Impact Factors on Overall Learning 2015 2016 Factor Contribution to Total Impact Self-Management 23.6% Personal Interactions 19.6% Alcohol & Drug Use 10.9% Factor Contribution to Total Impact Self-Management 28.3% Personal Interactions 25.4% Alcohol & Drug Use 10.2%

High Impact Factors for Overall Learning Self-Management Personal Interactions Solve your own problems Living Cooperatively Balance your social, work, and academic commitments Meeting other people Manage your time Live a healthy life (e.g., sleep, exercise, diet) Improving interpersonal relationships Manage your money Resolving Conflicts

Quality of Life Survey Administered October 2015 Measures satisfaction with areas of their residential living experience Broken down by hall Administered to 6,170 residents (N) 1,542 surveys were initiated n = 1,286 completed (24.99% response rate!)

Overall Satisfaction: Multiple Areas – All Halls Resident Assistants Front Desk Staff Hall Director Staff Programming Caution – what do you see as a trend in this slide? Who do you encounter more frequently? 1 = Strongly Disagree 3 = Neutral/Neither 5 = Strongly Agree

Hall Director and Personal Interaction Items & Means Please share with us how satisfied you are in regards to your satisfaction with your Hall Director in the following areas: Professionalism exhibited in the halls Providing a welcoming environment Serving as a source of helpful information Providing information regarding Housing and UNT Resolving issues I bring to their attention Interacting with me in non-disciplinary situations

Resident Assistant and Personal Interaction Items & Means Please share with us how satisfied you are in regards to your satisfaction with your Resident Assistant in the following areas: Treating everyone with respect Interacting with me in non-disciplinary situations Availability to see me Helping me with problems Fairly enforcing policies throughout the building Resolving issues I bring to their attention Help me connect with others within the hall Demonstrating commitment to my academic success

In statistics, the correlation coefficient r measures the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables on a scatterplot. The value of r is always between +1 and –1. To interpret its value, see which of the following values your correlation r is closest to: 0.  No linear relationship +0.30.  A weak uphill (positive) linear relationship +0.50.  A moderate uphill (positive) relationship +0.70.  A strong uphill (positive) linear relationship Exactly +1. A perfect uphill (positive) linear relationship What is a correlation?

RLAs and Hall GPAs .39 correlation Weak positive relationship

Hall Director and Personal Interaction Items & Correlation with Sense of Feeling a Part of a Residence Hall Community Please share with us how satisfied you are in regards to your satisfaction with your Hall Director in the following areas: Correlation with sense of Res. Hall Community Professionalism exhibited in the halls .783 Providing a welcoming environment .763 Serving as a source of helpful information .858 Providing information regarding Housing and UNT .846 Resolving issues I bring to their attention .790 Interacting with me in non-disciplinary situations

Resident Assistant and Personal Interaction Items & Correlation with Sense of Community Please share with us how satisfied you are in regards to your satisfaction with your Resident Assistant in the following areas: Correlation with Sense of Community Availability to see me .840 Helping me with problems .867 Help me connect with others within the hall .927 Fairly enforcing policies throughout the building .769 Demonstrating commitment to my academic success .903 Treating everyone with respect .765 Interacting with me in non-disciplinary situations .834 Resolving issues I bring to their attention .880

Correlation Let’s look at a scatter plot when it comes to the Correlation with Resident’s sense of belonging to a community and the Average RA score in response to “my RA helps connect me with others.” STRONG CORRELATION of .927 These two items have a STRONG RELATIONSHIP

Step 3 = Take Action What have we done so far? What do we have left to do?

Steps Our Department Has Taken Based on Quality of Life Survey All Hall Directors had: Read student comments/concerns Addressed concerns in-hall Central Housing Staff & Dining have: Read all hall averages Addressed immediate concerns within halls Begun steps for improvements

Conclusions Drawn Residents are least satisfied in the area of Hall Director non-disciplinary interactions, and it correlates to their sense of community. Residents are least satisfied in the area of Resident Assistants helping them connect with other people in the hall, and it correlates to their sense of community. Our Residents need help in the areas of Personal Interactions and Self-Management as these are High Impact Factors contributing to Overall Learning.

Steps Our Department Has Taken Based on ACUHO-I Residential Assessment Implement Student Success Meetings Goal: to have every Hall Director will meet with every FTIC and New Undergraduate Transfer student during the Fall 2016 semester Guided discussions related to self-management and personal interactions Community Development Model Changed From heavy programmatic model to B.A.S.I.C. 2.0 Community Development model based on personal interactions between RA and Resident

How did I walk you through our Story? Started with descriptive information of our population Walked you through two survey results Taught you about Factor Analysis and Correlations Walked you through how conclusions were drawn Connected how results/conclusions are being used in the department

Why Storytelling? Engage your audiences Connect assessment to their existing knowledge Provide a structure we can all relate to Provide charts and ask for descriptive examples (qualitative)

What questions do you have? I challenge you to revisit your assessments: Does each question have a purpose? Do you have a plan to reach enough of a representative sample? Do you need to compare your results to other institutions? Who needs to know this information and what will THEY do with the results? Are you telling YOUR story to enough people? Lindsey.Fields @unt.edu Assistant Director for Residence Life