Running Head: ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

Orienting Students Towards Success through Involvement Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson, Ganesh Waran Rutgers University

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS Introduction

Much research has been completed as it pertains to college student involvement and its link to the success of students in their college careers. However, there are no uniform descriptions of what the terms involvement or success consist of. Some researchers determine involvement by examining only students academic pursuits in and out of the classroom, whereas others are interested in the co-curricular activities in which students engage. To some, success is determined by students persisting to graduation, whereas others believe that college student success entails much more. Literature Review College orientation programs are designed to help students become acclimated to the college environment, as well as help set them up for success during their college years. However, the term success is measured in different ways depending on the researcher. Svanum and Bigatti (2009) are among the researchers who define college student success only in terms of academics and degree attainment. They performed a study, where, based on their results, they posited that students who are academically engaged are more likely to attain a degree and attain it faster than those who are not academically engaged. They define academic engagement in terms of (1) textbook reading, (2) study guide use, (3) lecture attendance, (4) attendance at review sessions, and (5) hours spent preparing for tests. There are many limitations in this study, found apparent in the research design, sampling, data collection, etc. For the purposes of our research, the most pertinent limitation is the researchers failure in considering that student success is indicated by more than academic course engagement and degree attainment. There are many social interactions and involvement opportunities outside the academic context that can contribute to college student learning. Schreiner (2010) posits that performing

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

well academically is only one part of being successful in college. Furthermore, she states that there is a wide disparity between being successful, or thriving, in college as opposed to merely surviving college. After performing qualitative research in the form of interviews and focus groups with students, as well as utilizing existing research related to student success and psychology, Schreiner (2010) finds that in order to have a successful college experience, students must thrive, which consists of (1) engaged learning, (2) academic determination, (3) positive perspective, (4) diverse citizenship, and (5) social connectedness (p. 4). Her research implies that the thriving student is more likely to attain success, which she describes as having strong social and professional relationships, having a sense of belonging to a community, having confidence in contributing to their communities, having confidence in being able to overcome challenges, etc. These skills, Schreiner (2010) believes, will not be as prevalent for students who do not thrive but merely survive their college careers. Astins (1999) theory of student involvement further supports Schreiners (2010) claims that student success is impacted by more than only academic pursuits and degree attainment. The theory posits that for college students, learning takes place more effectively when students become involved in their overall college experience. Astin (1999) defines involvement as the physical and psychological energy that students exert toward their academic experience, which includes studying, time spent on campus, involvement in student organizations, etc. One important implication of Astins (1999) work is that he states that, since learning occurs more effectively when students are involved, faculty and student affairs professionals should pay particular attention to the students who are more passive or unprepared for college, which are factors that can indicate a lower tendency to get involved. Since one of the orientation programs objectives is to open the path toward getting involved on-campus, it is important to

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

know whether or not and to what extent the orientation program might have influenced, directly or indirectly, such students to begin considering involvement on campus. One effort that schools employ toward promoting the holistic view of college student success is the orientation program. Pascarella, Terenzini, and Wolfe (1986) performed a study pertaining to the effects of freshman orientation on persistence. From their findings, Pascarella et al. (1986) suggest that the largest benefit that students took from their orientation was the ability to cope with an unfamiliar environment through social integration. One significant finding in their study was that students strongly impacted by the exposure that they got to the extent to which they could become involved on campus. It is important to note that, according to Pascarella et al. (1986), the influence that orientation has on students is not direct; instead, students choose to get involved on campus due to the things that they saw, heard, and felt during their orientation. There are several limitations in the above research, however. First, the sample of students was representative only of the student body and orientation program of the particular institution where their research study took place. Though the total number of student participants was indicated, the overall student population was not indicated, so there is no way to know whether or not their sample was generalizable. A description of the institutions orientation program was not provided, so it is impossible to know the degree to which student involvement was emphasized at the freshman orientation, and/or the effect that including or not including emphasis had on involvement. For example, if involvement was emphasized too much, students could have begun to tune out the message that involvement is important, thus nullifying it. It is important for our research to know whether or not a glass ceiling effect could

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS have taken place, as co-curricular involvement was stressed at the Rutgers New Student Orientation 2011.

A factor that affects the usefulness of the research of Astin (1999) and Pascarella et al. (1986) are the time periods in which their studies took place as compared to present day. Since the students of today may have different needs, interests, and behavioral trends than students years ago, one must take into consideration the characteristics of students in this millennial generation. Sax (2003) speaks about research related to current student trends obtained from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, which surveys about 350,000 college students from about 700 institutions nationwide. She states that todays college students are more interested in community service, volunteerism, politics, and are more determined academically. However, these same students tend to dedicate less time toward studying. Millennial students are likely to engage in extra-curricular activities that follow suit with their ambitions (DeBard, 2004). Saxs (2003) study of Millennial students is very useful and appears to be very reliable due to the breadth of its sample and the content of the survey. One significant shortcoming of her research is that the survey asks for self-reported information from admitted full-time students who have not yet started their college careers. Therefore, this study does not take into account the changes that can occur for students attitudes, values, perceptions, behavioral patterns, etc., after a given amount of time has passed during their college career. Instead, the study gauges the aforementioned variables with which students enter college. The breadth of research pertaining to college orientation, to student involvement, and to student success, independently, is vast. Through our review of literature, we have come to realize that student involvement plays an integral part in a students pursuit toward gaining a successful college experience. However, studies interested in discovering the link between

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

college orientation and student involvement is lacking. In our research study, we intend to spark an interest in this realm of student success. Research Question Does attending New Student Orientation impact traditional first year students involvement in extracurricular activities, during their first year in college? In line with the research performed by Astin (1999) and Pascarella et al. (1986), as cited above, student involvement can be effected in some capacity as a result of participation in a college orientation program. We hypothesize that traditional first year students, who attend New Student Orientation, will show higher levels of interest in getting involved, than those who do not attend New Student Orientation. We further expect to see a higher level of actual involvement in students who attend New Student Orientation based on our follow-up study, as compared to those students who do not attend New Student Orientation. Population/Sample We planned to use a probability sampling method on undergraduate students at Rutgers University. Our intention was administer the questionnaire to a large sample of students at Rutgers University, without limiting the sample by any demographics. Rutgers University has a student population of 29,095 undergraduate students that represent a wide variety of diverse backgrounds (Rutgers Admissions website, 2011). In 2011, exactly fifty percent of the student body was male and fifty percent female, and more than half of the newly incoming students identified as non-Caucasian. We would aim to obtain responses from at least fifteen percent of the total student population (at least 4,365 responses) in order to suggest generalizability and to account for potential respondent attrition. Since Rutgers is a large public institution with a very

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

diverse student population, our sample is representative of students at a similar-sized institutions where the makeup of the student body is diverse on many levels. Design and Instrumentation Design Our initial plan was to use a brief questionnaire o gather information, in the form of a nonequivalent-groups posttest-only design. Based on McMillans (2007) design for this type of study, we intended to use the following structure: Group Undergraduate Students (Attended Orientation) Intervention Posttest

New Student Orientation O1

Undergraduate Students (Did Not Attend Orientation)

O1

The intervention, in this case, was ex-post facto. We had hoped to note the differences in involvement between students that went through the New Student Orientation process, and those that did not. Instrumentation The questionnaire was designed to target students after orientation had already been completed for the academic year. Many items in the questionnaire were designed to ask about the students out-of-classroom involvement. Items prompting responses that yield information regarding the extent to which students are or plan to be involved in their out-of-classroom student involvement activities were included in order to explore the question of involvement

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

quality versus involvement quantity, as questioned by Pascarella et al. (1986). Also, following research by Gonzales-De Hass, Willems, and Holbein (2005) that suggests that parental involvement impacts student success, items that asked for information related to parental interest and parental involvement were also included. The respondents of the pilot test were assigned to their groups based on whether or not they attended New Student Orientation. The same questionnaire was administered to all respondents. Our pilot test consisted of 23 graduate students at Rutgers University, who were asked to participate in our study, keeping in mind that the survey would be distributed to undergraduate students at Rutgers. See Appendix A. Results Our pilot test through out questionnaire yielded the following results: Of the 22 respondents, 16 were female and six were male. Of the 22 respondents, 90% (20 out of 22) of respondents agreed that it is important for a student to be involved on campus. Of the 77% respondents (17 out of 22) that stated they were involved on campus 76% (13 out of 17) do plan to run for a leadership position in the future. About 55% (12 out of 22) of the respondents did attend new student orientation and all of those respondents were in their first two years of their college career. About 45% (10 out of 22) of the respondent did not attend new student orientation and only 50% (5 out of 10) of these respondents were in their first two years of their college career. 83% (10 out of 12) of the respondents who attended orientation are already involved in some form on campus and 25% (3 out of 12) of those student are holding leadership positions.

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

70% of the respondents (7 out of 10) who did not attend orientation are involved in some form on campus and all of these students are currently holding leadership positions

All of the respondents, those who did or did not attend orientation, who are not currently involved on campus do plan on becoming involved in some form in the future.

Figure 1: Overall respondents who are involved and students who believe involvement is important by percentage

Figure 2: Involvement by NSO Attendance In the present study, a higher percentage and frequency of students that attended New Student Orientation, were also involved on campus. An overwhelming number of students (90%) felt that involvement on campus played an important role in contributing to success in college. Half of the students who did not attend orientation were upperclassmen (third and fourth year students), whereas every student surveyed that did attend orientation was an underclassman (first and second-year students). An interesting observation that we made based

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

10

on the results of our pilot study was that 100% of the respondents that did not attend orientation, but were involved on campus, held leadership positions within their organizations. Of the respondents who were involved on campus, and attended orientation, only 25% held leadership positions in their respective organizations. Based on our results, we do not feel that we had adequate data to conclude whether our hypothesis was true or false. Although a higher percentage of respondents who attended orientation also showed to be involved on campus, the difference between the two groups was not significant enough to consider a major influence. Limitations Our original design posed a number of potential threats to both internal and external validity. We had planned to simply use a one-time questionnaire, distributed to a mixed sample of students (varied in age, class rank). This design lent itself to creating the potential for several extraneous variables, including, but not limited to, parental involvement, advertising from organizations on campus outside of new student orientation, and peer influence. Additionally, there were systematic differences between the upperclassmen and first-year students participating in the study, as the New Student Orientation process had actually been modified significantly on an annual basis over the past few years. After realizing that we would not be able to control for these extraneous variables without changing the way we designed our study, we decided to re-design our research into a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group pretest, post-test design (McMillan, 2007). Discussion Sample and Revisions Considering the broad range of students in our sample, we found it very difficult to find useful statistics on what were trying to discover (correlation between attending new student

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

11

orientation and likelihood to get involved and participate in extracurricular activities). Our pilot test revealed some useful information that caused us to reconsider targeting such a large population, in respect to our research question involving the correlation between new student orientation and involvement. A significant threat to our internal validity was time; especially for upperclassmen that were surveyed in our pilot test. After reviewing the results of our pilot test, we realized that there may have been significant outside influences that arose over time, considering that several semesters had passed since their attendance at new student orientation. Our selection method, therefore threatened the internal validity of our study. Using McMillans (2007) guide to effectively developing a probability sample, we have decided on revising our sample to the following: Our target population for our follow up study will be traditional first-year students. We will focus on first-year students at Rutgers University. Our ideal sample size is 15% of the first year class, which comes out to about 975 students. Proposed Follow-up Design Using McMillan (2007) as a guide, we developed the following revised design for this study: Group First Year Students (Attending orientation) Pretest O1 Treatment New Student Orientation Posttest O2 Follow-up

First Year Students (Not Attending Orientation)

O1 O2 Follow-up

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

12

Our study will now involve a pretest, which will be administered over the two weeks prior to the Fall 2012 New Student Orientation, with two follow-up e-mails; one 5 days into the survey, and one 10 days into the survey. The pre-test will seek to discover the rate of students 1) planning to attend New Student Orientation, 2) not planning to attend New Student Orientation, 3) planning to get involved in extra-curricular activities, 4) not planning to get involved in extracurricular activities, and 5) how important, both students who plan to attend New Student Orientation and those who do not plan to attend New Student Orientation, consider involvement on campus. The post-test will be administered over the course of two weeks, starting with the last day of the 2012 Fall New Student Orientation, with one reminder e-mail sent 5 days after the first email, and a second reminder e-mail sent 10 days after the first e-mail. This post-test will seek to discover the rates of students 1) planning to get involved on campus among students who attended New Student Orientation as compared to students that did not attend New Student Orientation, 2) whether students that attended New Student Orientation found the programs to increase their interest in getting involved in extracurricular activities. Our follow-up will take place throughout the first two weeks of the Spring 2013 semester, starting with the first day of class, followed by a reminder e-mail 5 days into the survey, and another 10 days into the survey. The follow-up will seek to find out the rates of 1) students actually involved in student organizations that attended New Student Orientation in Fall 2012 as compared to students that did not attend New Student Orientation in Fall 2012, and 2) students who attended New Student Orientation in Fall, 2012 and still plan to get involved on campus, compared to students that did not attend New Student Orientation in Fall 2012.

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

13

Our logic behind increasing the specificity of our population and adding the pre-test was as follows: Administering a pre-test to determine which students planned on attending orientation, as well as their intention to get involved on campus, would provide us with a starting point for determining whether the orientation process changes a students likelihood to get involved on campus, and also establish our control and experimental groups. Using only traditional first-year students would decrease the extraneous variable of experiencing different orientation processes, posed by our initial decision to involve upperclassmen as well. Using only traditional first-year students would minimize any systematic differences between the groups, as we would be focusing on the same population, separated only by their decision to either attend or not attend new student orientation. The results from this revised design would allow us to easily compare differences in respondents intention to get involved, rate of participation in orientation, how many of the respondents actually get involved, and the differences in rates of involvement between the students that attended orientation and those that did not. Revised Instrumentation For our follow-up study, we made several revisions to our questionnaire. Our pilot test revealed that there were a number of instructions throughout our questionnaire that were confusing to some of the respondents. These were corrected; additionally, McMillan (2007) recommends that items on questionnaires should be short, simple, and clear (p.161). Coincidentally, we received some feedback that our word choice could be simplified, which we

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

14

took into consideration and went on to revise a few terms we had used, such as conscious instead of aware. See Appendix B. Implications for Future Research The information with this study will not only give us an idea of trends in involvement based on attendance in first-year orientation programs, but will also provide information for universities across the country with some ideas to better promote student involvement and improve their respective orientation programs. An interesting implication for future research that was not effectively measured through our pilot test is the issue related to involvement quality versus involvement quantity. Astin (1999) poses the question as to whether or not minor involvement in multiple areas of college is as effective as heavier involvement on few areas of college. Building on top of this, we are interested in looking at the issue of quality versus quantity from the lens of the student affairs professional. Since the particular orientation program at Rutgers University has a strong emphasis on student involvement, we are curious as to whether there is a glass-ceiling effect is there a point after which repeated efforts in communicating that students that they should get take advantage of on-campus involvement opportunities eventually deafen them to the message? A stepping stone in truly helping students capitalize on opportunities to get involved, lies in gaining a better understanding of how orientation programs help lay the foundation for student success, starting with their initial exposure to the college campus. We hope that future research will build on these curiosities, and aim to uncover any significant correlations between orientation programs and student involvement over time.

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS References

15

Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: a developmental theory for higher education. Journal of higher education, 40 (5), pp. 518-529. Braxton, J. M., Braxton, A., & Hirschy, A. S. (2004). Understanding and reducing college student departure. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass DeBard, R. (2004). Millennials coming to college. New visions for student services, 2004 (106), pp. 33-45. Fischer, M. J. (2007). Settling into campus life: differences by race/ethnicity in college involvement and outcomes. The journal of higher education, 78 (2), pp. 125-156. McMillan, J.H. (2012). Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Pascarella, E. T., Terenzini, P. T., & Wolfle, L. M. (1986). Orientation to college and freshman year persistence/withdrawal decisions. The journal of higher education, 57 (2), pp. 155175. Rutgers, T. S. (2011, 10 2011). Facts and Figures. Retrieved from About Rutgers: http://www.rutgers.edu/about-rutgers/facts-figures Sax, L. J. (2003). Our incoming students: what are they like? About campus, 8 (3), pp. 15-20. Schreiner, L. A. (2010). The thriving quotient: a new vision for student success. About campus, 15 (2), pp. 2-10. Svanum, S., & Bigatti, S. M. (2009). Academic course engagement during one semester forecasts college success: engaged students are more likely to earn a degree, do it faster, and do it better. Journal of college student development, 50 (1), pp. 120-132.

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS Appendix A: Original Annotated Questionnaire

16

Please take a few moments to fill out our questionnaire. Please mark your sheet as indicated after each question. 1. Did you attend Rutgers New Student Orientation in the summer of 2011? Please check one: ___ Yes ___No (Pascarella, Terenzini, and Wolfe, 1986, stated that one of the main goals of orientation programs is to acquaint attendees with student organizations on campus.) 2. If yes, please answer the following question. If no, please skip to question 3: Which Orientation did you attend? (Please choose one): ___ 2-Day New Student Orientation Session ___ 1-Day Transfer Orientation Session ___ 1-Day EOF Program Orientation Session (The research group is focusing on the 2-Day New Student Orientation session for firstyear students, so this question is designed as a screening tool.) 3. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: Rutgers New Student Orientation 2011 and/or information on the Orientation website helped you become conscious of on-campus clubs, groups, organizations, and other involvement opportunities at Rutgers? Please circle one: 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree (Braxton et al. 2004 emphasized the importance of providing students with the opportunity to interact with other students and faculty on multiple levels, including diverse extracurricular activities. Their findings were used in constructing questions 3 and 4.) 4. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: Getting involved in on-campus organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups is an important component of a students career at Rutgers. Please circle one: 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS (See description for question 3).

17

5. Did your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) attend the New Student Orientation Parent Program in the summer of 2011? Please check one: ___ Yes ___No (In analyzing K-12 students, Gonzales-DeHass, Willems, and Holbein (2005) state that parental involvement benefits students education (except, generally, in cases where parents micro-manage their childrens school lives or provide extrinsic rewards as focal motivators). Furthermore, DeBards (2004) study of millennials indicates that millennials parents tend to be highly involved in their lives. Since the K-12 students during the time of their study are millennials and potentially reaching college age, this information is likely applicable to college students. Therefore, parental involvement, including presence at the Parent Orientation, might have an indirect influence on students (a) tendency to get involved on campus and (b) likelihood of attending Rutgers New Student Orientation.) 6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) show interest in my decisions to participate or not participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers. Circle one: 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree (See description for question 5) 7. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) are involved in my decisions to participate or not participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers. Circle one: 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree (See description for question 5) 8. Are you involved in any Rutgers-affiliated student organizations, clubs, teams, etc.? Please check one: ___ Yes ___ No If yes, please answer questions 9 - 13. If you selected no, please skip to question 14.

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

18

(Pascarella et al. (1986) posit that orientation has a significant effect on students likelihood to get involved on campus. For this question, we are aiming to see the number of student respondents that report being involved in a student group, organization, club, or team at Rutgers.) 9. How many organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. are you involved with at Rutgers? ___ 1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 or more (Based on Pascarella et al.s (1986) aforementioned research, this question aims to measure the level of involvement of student respondents in terms of the number of organizations in which they participate. The data will be used to draw a correlation between attendance at Orientation and the number of organizations that a student is likely to join.) 10. Out of these organizations, in how many of them do you hold a leadership position (i.e. position on the executive board, team captain, high-ranking student position, etc.)? Please choose one: ___ 0 ___ 1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 or more (In addition to the number of organizations that a student joins, it will be important for us to know what level of involvement they hold in those organizations. For example, whether a student holds low-level student positions in one or multiple organizations versus highly involved positions in one or two organizations will give us information to measure the relationship between student participation in orientation and their level of involvement on campus.) 11. How likely are you to run for a leadership position within a student organization in the future? 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely (As stated above, Pascarela et al. (1986) posit that attending orientation effects a students likelihood to get involved. We want to get a sense of a students desire to attain

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

19

a highly involved position within a student group who might not have had the chance yet.) 12. Please specify which type of organization, club, team, student group, etc. in which you are involved: Please check all that apply. ___ Academic organization ___ Social organization ___ Community service organization ___ Social Action/Political club ___ Ethnic/cultural club ___ Special Interest Organization ___ Religious group ___ Sports- or athletic-oriented team or club ___ Residence Life (RA) ___ Student Government ___ Residence Hall Govenrment/Assoc. ___ Other (please specify):______________ (It will be useful for us to get a sense of the types of organizations in which students tend to participate. In particular, we take special interest in student responses that indicate involvement in groups that were represented at New Student Orientation Summer 2011.) 13. How did you become aware of these organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups? Check each that applies: ___ Through a friend or peer ___ Involvement fair ___ Flyers/advertising ___ I sought the group(s) out due to interest ___ Word of mouth ___ A faculty member or advisor ___ New Student Orientation ___ Other (please specify): __________________ ___ Group is linked to your academic major or department (According to Pascarella et al. (1986), college orientations influence on student involvement is rarely direct. Instead, they get involved due to what they saw, heard, and felt during orientation. This question is interested in (a) measuring how many respondents report being directly linked to their student organizations at New Student Orientation Summer 2011 and (b) whether we can draw an indirect correlation between participation at orientation and how students became aware of the organizations in which they are involved.) 14. If you selected No to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in a Rutgers-affiliated student organization, club, team, student group, etc. in the future? (Please circle one) 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely (As stated above, Pascarela et al. (1986) posit that attending orientation affects a students likelihood to get involved. We want to get a sense of a students desire to get involved who might not have had the chance yet.)

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

20

15. If you selected No to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in an organization, club, team, or group outside of Rutgers? (Please circle one) 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely (Similar to question 14, this question serves to get a sense of a students desire to get involved in cases where they are not able or realistically able to get involved in a Rutgers-affiliated organization. Students who fall into this category might include commuters. However, we do want to measure whether or not these students have a desire to involve themselves in non-Rutgers-affiliated involvement opportunities, such as parttime jobs or volunteer work.) 16. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: The information I received during New Student Orientation had a positive impact on my decision to get involved in organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. at Rutgers. Please circle one: 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly Agree (Braxton et al. (2004) emphasized the importance of providing students with the opportunity to interact with other students and faculty on multiple levels, including diverse extracurricular activities. Question 16 aims to determine whether the respondent believed that the opportunities provided during the orientation process had an impact on their involvement.) Participant Demographics 17. Gender (please check one): ___Male ___Female ___Transgender ___Do not wish to identify (Kinzie et al. 2007 found that there were significant differences in the rates of campus engagement between male and female undergraduate students. The research group believes that noting the gender of respondents would be important, to determine whether the correlation between attending orientation and becoming involved in campus organizations is more significant between the various gender groups.) 18. Current Age (please check one): ___17-19 ___ 19-21

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS ___ 22-24 ___ 25 and older 19. For how years have you attended Rutgers? Please choose one: ___0 ___1 ___2 ___3 ___4 ___5 or more

21

(The research group is focusing on first-year students, because of the novelty of the Rutgers summer orientation program. It would be useful to have other students input who have gone through the older orientation program, so that we can measure any variances between the feedback from first-year students versus that of returning students.) 20. With which of the following groups do you most identify? (Please check all that apply.) ___White ___Black or African American ___American Indian or Alaska Native ___Hispanic/Latino ___Asian ___Pacific Islander (Please Specify: ____________________) ___Other race (Please Specify: ____________________) (Fischer (2007) pointed out that there are potential trends in levels of campus involvement and how students get accustomed to campus life based on ethnicity. Her study was based on the idea that the adjustment process varies among various ethnic groups.)

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS Appendix B: Revised Questionnaire

22

Please take a few moments to fill out our questionnaire. Please mark your sheet as indicated after each question. 1. Did you attend Rutgers New Student Orientation in the summer of 2011? (Please check one) ___ Yes ___No If you answered Yes to question 1, please move on to question 2. If you answered No to question 1, please skip to question 3: 2. Which Orientation did you attend? (Please check one): ___ 2-Day New Student Orientation Session ___ 1-Day Transfer Orientation Session ___ 1-Day EOF Program Orientation Session 3. To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one): Rutgers New Student Orientation 2011 and/or information on the Orientation website helped you become aware of on-campus clubs, groups, organizations, and other involvement opportunities at Rutgers? 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree 4. To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one): Getting involved in on-campus organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups is an important component of a students career at Rutgers. 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree 5. Did your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) attend the New Student Orientation Parent Program in the summer of 2011? (Please check one) ___ Yes ___No

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

23

6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? (Please circle one) My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) show interest in my decisions to participate or not participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers. 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree 7. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? (Please circle one) My parent(s)/legal guardian(s) are involved in my decisions to participate or not participate in student groups, clubs, and/or organizations at Rutgers. 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly agree 8. Are you involved in any Rutgers-affiliated student organizations, clubs, teams, etc.? (Please check one) ___ Yes ___ No If you answered Yes to question 8, please answer questions 9 - 13. If you answered No to question 8, please skip to question 14. 9. How many organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. are you involved with at Rutgers? (Please check one) ___ 1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 or more 10. Out of these organizations, in how many of them do you hold a leadership position (i.e. position on the executive board, team captain, high-ranking student position, etc.)? (Please check one) ___ 0 ___ 1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 or more

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

24

11. How likely are you to run for a leadership position within a student organization in the future? (Please circle one) 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely 12. Please specify which type of organization, club, team, student group, etc. in which you are involved (Please check all that apply): ___ Academic organization ___ Community service organization ___ Ethnic/cultural club ___ Religious group ___ Residence Life (RA) ___ Residence Hall Govenrment/Assoc. ___ Social organization ___ Social Action/Political club ___ Special Interest Organization ___ Sports- or athletic-oriented team or club ___ Student Government ___ Other (please specify):______________

13. How did you become aware of these organizations, clubs, teams, and student groups? (Please check all that apply) ___ Through a friend or peer ___ Flyers/advertising ___ Word of mouth ___ New Student Orientation ___ Group is linked to your academic major or department ___ Involvement fair ___ I sought the group(s) out due to interest ___ A faculty member or advisor ___ Other (please specify): __________________

If you answered No to question 8, please continue to question 9. If you selected Yes to question 8, please skip to question 16. 14. How likely are you to get involved in a Rutgers-affiliated student organization, club, team, student group, etc. in the future? (Please circle one) 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

25

15. If you selected No to question 8, how likely are you to get involved in an organization, club, team, or group outside of Rutgers? (Please circle one) 1: Very unlikely 2: Unlikely 3: Neutral 4: Likely 5: Very Likely 16. To what extent do you agree with the following statement (Please circle one): The information I received during New Student Orientation had a positive impact on my decision to get involved in organizations, clubs, teams, student groups, etc. at Rutgers. 1: Strongly disagree 2: Disagree 3: Neither agree nor disagree 4: Agree 5: Strongly Agree Participant Demographics 17. Gender (please check one): ___Male ___Female ___Transgender ___Do not wish to identify 18. Current Age (Please check one): ___ 17 or Younger ___ 18 ___ 19 ___ 20 or Older 19. With which of the following groups do you identify with? (Please check all that apply) ___White ___Black or African American ___American Indian or Alaska Native ___Hispanic/Latino ___Asian ___Pacific Islander ___Other race (Please Specify: ____________________)

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS Appendix C: Institutional Review Board Consent Form Consent Form to Participate in a Research Study

26

Title of Study: Relationship between New Student Orientation and On-campus Involvement Principal Investigator(s): Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson and Ganesh Waran INTRODUCTION You are invited to participate in a research study that is being conducted by Higher Education Researchers Jon Buchalski, Devin Budhram, Adam Carlson, and Ganesh Waran. Before you agree to participate in this study, you should know enough about it to make an informed decision. If you have any questions, ask the investigators. You should be satisfied with their answers before you agree to be in the study. BACKGROUND/PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to attempt to find a correlation between first-year students participation in Rutgers New Student Orientation (NSO) and their tendency to participate in student involvement opportunities on campus. INFORMATION/PROCDEDURES Participants will be given the same questionnaire with 19 questions related to their experience with New Student Orientation and their involvement on-campus with different organizations and activities. The questionnaire will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. If you agree to take part in the study, you will be assigned a random code number that will be used on each test and the questionnaire. Your name will appear only on a list of subjects, and will not be linked to the code number that is assigned to you. There will be no way to link your responses back to you. Therefore, data collection is anonymous. RISKS There are no foreseeable risks associated with the participation in this study BENEFITS Participation in this study may not benefit you directly. However, the knowledge we hope to obtain from your participation and the participation of others, may help us to better understand the effect that New Student Orientation has on the amount of participation new students engage in. Information gathered will assist in the planning, implementation, and assessment of future New Student Orientations to include all types of students and increase the effectiveness of future programs. CONFIDENTIALITY This research is anonymous. Anonymous means that I will record no information about you that could identify you. This means that I will not record your name, address, phone number, date of birth, etc. The research team and the Institutional Review Board at Rutgers University are the only parties that will be allowed to see the data, except as may be required by law. If a report of

ORIENTING STUDENTS TOWARDS SUCCESS

27

this study is published, or the results are presented at a professional conference, only group results will be stated. COMPENSATION There is no compensation for participation in study. CONTACT If you have questions at any time about the research or the procedures, you may contact the research group at FakeEmail@introreseach.com. If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact the Rutgers University IRB Administrator at: Rutgers University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects Office of Research and Sponsored Programs 3 Rutgers Plaza New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8559 Tel: 848 932 4058 Email: humansubjects@orsp.rutgers.edu PARTICIPATION Your participation in this study is voluntary; you may decline to participate at any time without penalty to you. If you decide to participate, you may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty and without loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. If you withdraw from the study before data collection is completed your data will be removed from the data set and destroyed. Sign below if you agree to participate in this research study. You will be given a copy of this form to keep. Subject's signature______________________________________________ Date _________________ Investigator's signature__________________________________________ Date _________________