IEBC and Q2 Insights Webinar Capturing the Student Voice Brad Phillips President, IEBC Kirsty Nunez President, Q2Insights

Welcome to Capturing the Student Voice Brad Phillips, PhD President/CEO  Institute for Evidence-Based Change  (IEBC) Kirsty Nunez, MA, MSPH President and Chief Research Strategist Q2 Insights, Inc. IEBC helps education stakeholders use  data and information to make informed decisions, improve practice and increase student success. Q2 Insights is a leading marketing research firm blending cutting edge technology with a full spectrum of research methodologies.

Student Equity and SSSP – An Opportunity to Learn From Our Students

What We Are Familiar With

What Today’s Students Are Familiar With

A Focus on Student Success Institutions want students to be successful and students themselves want to be successful. As institutions, How do we help students become more successful throughout their educational experience? How do we engage students more deeply for an enriched college experience that is appealing to them? How do we align ourselves more closely with students’ needs and lifestyles to reach a wider potential student base?

Integrate the Student Voice in Important Decisions To help students become more successful, we need to: Become more student centered by understanding student experiences from the student perspective. Ask and listen to students with the right tools to get a deep understanding of attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of an increasingly diverse student body. Use tools that enable students to give their honest opinion and feedback. Make the right decisions based on the student experience for effective and meaningful change.

Young Adults: A Digitally Mobile Population 89% of student time spent on media is through mobile apps. Smart phones are widely used for accessing educational resources. 30% of smart phone users use smart phones to take a class or get educational content. Younger adults who have low income and low educational attainment levels and tend to be non-white consider themselves “smart-phone dependent” Using the right digital tools for the job, higher education institutions can uncover changes and support the fastest-growing and most underserved student population, leading to an optimal college experience.

In-Person Versus Digital Qualitative Research Recruitment can be time consuming and challenging Recruitment is efficient and less challenging One Focus Group is two hours in length One Focus Group is conducted over three days Students must participate on a specific date at a specific time Student contributions are 1.5 hours over a three day time period 8 to 12 students 25 students “Air time” is not equal across all students All students contribute at least 1.5 hours of content Students may be not fully forthcoming More likely to tell it like it is Moderator’s Guides typically do not change during the Focus Group session Moderator’s Guides are set but change based on student responses Generally only verbal feedback is obtained from students Feedback from students includes voice, narrative, storytelling and uploaded pictures, video, etc. Cost for 75 students: $56,200 Cost for 75 students $32,000 but much more content

Benefits of Digital Mobile Technology Mobile and other digital survey tools allow higher education leaders to transcend time and place barriers to tap into the student voice when, where and how it is convenient for them. Students are not required to physically show up at an appointed time nor to express their opinions in an artificial environment amongst strangers. There is an increased willingness to participate in research and to offer opinions in an anonymous environment, especially when discussing sensitive topics such as failure. Using digital tools, students are in an environment in which they are comfortable and tend to feel a stronger sense of control. As a result, engagement levels increase.

Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups use a digital platform that gives respondents the ability to login at any time during a 24-hour period using their mobile device, tablet, laptop or desktop and provide feedback over a set period of days or weeks. The methodology affords greater insight-rich sessions than traditional in-person qualitative Focus Groups. Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups generate more qualitative data than would be generated by in-person Focus Groups conducted with a comparable number of respondents. Traditional Focus Group: 8 to 12 respondents generate 2 hours of qualitative data Digital Bulletin Board Focus Group: 25 respondents generate 37.5 hours of qualitative data

Stimulus material in the form Feedback can be in the form of … Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups Stimulus material in the form of … Visual (video or pictures) Auditory Written words Messages Websites Posters Video Text Narrative Storytelling Feedback can be in the form of …

Digital Bulletin Board Focus Group Process Recruiting Students will typically be recruited from a client database provided. Q2 Insights recommends over-recruiting to ensure 25 participate per DBBFG. DBBFG Platform Each DBBFG will be three days in duration. Students will be required to log in and participate at least 30 minutes per day for three days. Professional Moderating Senior marketing research consultants will moderate the Focus Groups. Reporting A detailed report of findings will be developed in MS PowerPoint format; conclusions and recommendations will be included.

Sample Device Views

Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups Concept Statement Sample Stimulus Material Stimulus materials might be mood boards, concept statements, advertisements, videos, images, or other materials. Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups Concept Statement Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups give students the ability to log on at their leisure and provide feedback over a set period of time.  Students are engaged in the research asynchronously. The methodology provides greater geographic reach and longer, more in-depth transcripts than any other qualitative methodology. Conduct research in-home, in-field, in-school, or even offline. Participants love the convenience. Clients love the depth of information and video management capabilities.

Qualitative Reporting Examples

Five Steps to Take Advantage of this Student Voice Opportunity 1 Identify the issues at your institution that need to be addressed 2 Work with IEBC and Q2 Insights to formulate objectives for the research 3 Recruit students to participate 4 Senior researchers from Q2 Insights will moderate the three-day boards while you observe digitally 5 Receive a report that addresses the objectives and includes conclusions and recommendations

Timeline Depending on the scope of the project, the following timeline may be achieved for a Digital Bulletin Board Focus Group. Week: One Two Three Four Five Project Set-Up Including Recruiting Screener Development Recruiting Screener Approved Draft Moderator’s Guide Moderator’s Guide Approved Recruiting Conduct Focus Group Reporting Report Deliver

One Focus Group of 25 students may range from: Costs Costs are dependent upon the scope of the project. Other elements that affect costs are the number of participants, the number of Digital Bulletin Board Focus Groups conducted, incentives, and the stimulus materials or exercises developed. This work falls under Student Equity and SSSSP. Gathering the student voice is critical for colleges to better develop programs and services that can really address student needs – not the needs we think students have. One Focus Group of 25 students may range from: $12,000 to $15,000

How to Get Started Contact IEBC: Contact Q2 Insights: Phone: 760-436-1477 Brad C. Phillips bphilips@iebcnow.org www.iebcnow.org Contact Q2 Insights: Phone: 760-230-2950 ext. 1 Kirsty Nunez kirsty.nunez@Q2insights.co  www.Q2insights.com

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