The purpose of this study was to explore differences in the perception of residential living experiences between students living in residential learning communities and those living in traditional residence halls. These two groups were further disaggregated based on their living environment location, on- or off-campus, and their gender. The quality of experience was based on students' perception of their living environment assessed using the Student Residence Environment Scales.;The participants in this study were undergraduate students at a large southeastern public Research I institution enrolled as full-time status students. The on-line survey solicited 600 usable responses (35% usable response rate). of that total, 225 students lived in university owned and operated on-campus residence halls and 375 lived in the privately-owned off-campus residence halls.;Results of this study show that differences do exist between students living in residential learning communities and those living in traditional residence hall environments; however those differences are contingent upon the location of students' residence hall and gender. Location of residence hall and gender impact students' perceptions of their living environment in an interactive relationship with the type of residence hall.;Recommendations for further research included: a replication of this study on multiple campuses to obtain a norm for responses; qualitative data gathering for greater understanding of students experiences; and exploration of the differences between university-owned residence halls and privately-owned residence halls. Recommendations for practitioners included: annual assessment of residential learning communities; and conduct multivariate analysis for a greater understanding of the multiple variables impacting students' perception.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:wm.edu/oai:scholarworks.wm.edu:etd-1744 |
| Date | 01 January 2003 |
| Creators | Jones, Jennifer Benson |
| Publisher | W&M ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | William and Mary |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects |
| Rights | © The Author |
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