1. Dorm or Non-Dorm That is the question

2. Introduction Many different living choices for Dartmouth students Most prevalent choice is college owned and maintained dormitories Non-dorm housing available –(Examples are Off-campus, Greek and other societies, and affinity housing) – However, less plentiful and often more expensive Dormitory housing is easily obtained and often cheaper

3. We wondered Do students live in dorms… –Because they are not always able to obtain other housing? –Or because they are satisfied with the living conditions in dorm housing?

4. Our Feelings We think most students are dissatisfied with dorm living conditions If so, the college should make dormitories more pleasing to students The college should try to make dorms as desirable as alternatives

5. Our Survey Survey was easy to understand and quick to fill out –We hoped this would maximize our responses Conducted via blitz We each sent to at least 15 people who had already lived in non dorm housing while taking classes –Classes important because this strongly affects a student’s experience, and therefore their opinion of that type of housing

6. Survey cont.d We did not know each other before this project –we felt the lists we each chose would be different –This would provide for a more diverse sampling

7. The Questions We asked everyone the same questions –What is your year? –Can you confirm that you have lived in non dorm housing at least 1 term while taking classes at Dartmouth? –Which housing do you prefer: Dorms or Non- dorm (Greek, affiliated, off campus etc.)?

8. Respondents from Each Class

9. Results Every class with the option to live in non dorm housing was included 36 of our respondents preferred non-dorm housing, 80 % 9 people (20%) preferred dorm housing

10. Preferences

11. Confounding Factors Most of the people surveyed were ’05s –Test results might be more representative of this class’s opinions than of the student body as a whole –In future tests we should try to include an equal number of participants from each class It wasn’t a blind distribution since we surveyed only people we knew

12. Confounding (cont.d) We also sent the survey to more than 15 people in order to get 15 responses Large difference in quality of living depending on which dorm or non-dorm location you choose. –Off-campus houses and apartments can differ dramatically from fraternities

14. Confounding (cont.d) –The Choates is not the same quality as East Wheelock

15. Confounding (cont.d) We did not offer the choice of “no preference” Our sample was limited as we had to find people who had sampled both types of housing –This did not consider how many terms of each housing they had tried, which housing etc

16. Proposal for Action We hypothesized that 70% would prefer non-dorm housing –We were surprised to see that 80% felt this way This supports the claim that dorm housing at Dartmouth is not satisfactory Therefore, the college should move to improve dorm conditions or offer more non dorm options

17. Follow Up A follow up to this survey should involve the entire campus (excluding freshmen) If similar results occur, further steps should be taken, such as a questionnaire asking how dorms could be improved to make them a more desirable housing option