Using Institutional Data to Improve University Policy

Do OU Students Work Too Much? …And Other Questions

Reuben TernesOIRAOctober, 2013Contact: ternes@oakland.edu

OIRA Office of Institutional Research and

Assessment We have lots of cool data about OU

students. Our primary job is to conduct

research about OU students, and to disseminate this information to the campus community.

We’re also in charge of some assessment related activities.

www.oakland.edu/OIRA

OIRA What?

We have two primary types of research 1) Surveys

Graduation Survey Student Satisfaction Surveys NSSE (Nessie) CIRP CLA (Collegiate Learning

Assessment) 2) Internal Research

Do our need-based financial aid policies improve retention rates?

Should all students take 16 credits their first semester, regardless of their ACT score?

Do students that get AP credit for the first course in a sequence have just as much success as students that take the entire sequence here at OU?

What Kind of Research?

We also compile the university’s official statistics. Student Profiles (i.e., who are OU

students?) Retention Rates Graduation Rates Progress to Degree Enrollment data Degree data Distribution of Grades

All of this information is available on our website: www.oakland.edu/OIRA

What Else Does OIRA Do?

CIRP = Cooperative Institutional Research Project

The CIRP Survey asks students a whole bunch of questions about Behaviors Attitudes Values Expectations Also covers some demographic data

Usually taken during freshmen orientation

Mostly, we find that we are more similar to other institutions than we are dissimilar.

CIRP Survey

Drank beer during senior year

19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20092010

20120

10

20

30

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60

OUNational

OU students’ political views

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ftLib

eral

Middle-of-the-ro

ad

Conservative

Far ri

ght

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

OUPeer

College student survey that assesses the extent to which students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development Administered every two years. (Sometimes more often). Complete data is available on OIRA’s website.

All data is for 1st year students unless otherwise noted.

Peer comparison is other public institutions in our regional area (Great Lakes).

NSSE Survey

National Survey of Student Engagement(NSSE: pronounced ‘nessie’)

Time Spent Preparing for Class

1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 30+0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

OUPeer

Quality of Interactions with Advisors

1 (Poor) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Excellent)0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

OUPeer

Full NSSE results are displayed on our website. It’s super fun to explore And it can help with various class projects.

For Example:

What Can NSSE Tell Us?

Percentage of Students that Report Working more than 15 Hours Off-Campus per Week (2013 NSSE)

Class OU Peer National Norm

Freshmen 28% 16% 18%

Seniors 59% 40% 41%

Percentage of Students that Report Working Zero Hours Off-Campus per Week (2013 NSSE)

Class OU Peer National Norms

Freshmen 42% 69% 68%Seniors 25% 44% 44%

Another Way of Looking at the Same Data

Periodically, OIRA releases some of its internal research, in a format that we call ‘Spotlight on OU.’ All of our Spotlights can be found online.

One of these Spotlights uses NSSE data to show the relationship between retention rate and the number of reported off-campus working hours for freshmen students.

There are 4 main findings that I want to talk about today.

Is Working Off-Campus Bad?

Is there a relationship between first-year retention rates and off-campus working hours? Not really. Or, if there is, the impact is relatively small. (2007 & 2009 NSSE Data) (2013 NSSE Data shows the same basic patterns, though retention rate is higher for all groups).

Finding #1

Weekly Hours Zero 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31+ Totals

Retention Rate 86% 91% 87% 84% 86% 85% 82% 86% 86%N 410 87 100 150 176 123 78 57 1181

Is there a relationship between off-campus working hours and the rate that students return with sophomore status?

Yes. (χ2 = 14.7, p < 0.05, df = 7) Students that work more hours do not appear to accumulate as many credits. (2007 & 2009 NSSE Data)

(2013 NSSE Data shows the same basic patterns, though sophomore return rate is higher for all groups).

Finding #2

Weekly Hours Zero 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31+ TotalsReturn as

Sophomore 63% 76% 68% 69% 67% 62% 55% 53% 65%N 410 87 100 150 176 123 78 57 1181

Students that reported more working hours, also reported taking less credits during their first term. This isn’t really very surprising. (2007 & 2009 NSSE Data)

Finding #3

Weekly Hours Zero 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31+ TotalsAve. 1st Term

Credits14.7 14.7 14.5 14.6 14.2 14.1 14.3 13.5 14.4

N 410 87 100 150 176 123 78 57 1181

What about GPA? There does not appear to be any relationship between off-campus working hours

and student GPAs.

Finding #4

The main issue with students that work many hours, is that their progress towards graduation is significantly slower. Instead of taking 4 years, they take 6. Some research (both internal and

external) suggests that accumulating credits too slowly may ultimately deter students from completing their degree.

It is difficult to know the life situations of all of our students, so, the question might not be answerable. However, from a university perspective,

we want to encourage students to complete as many credits as they can, each semester.

Internal research also suggests that, when we set higher expectations, students tend to meet those expectations.

Do OU Students Work Too Much?