CSUN Student CoCurricular Engagement Over Time and By

CSUN Student Co-Curricular Engagement Over Time and By College Alexandra Cole, Department of Political Science, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Theoretical Overview: Participation in Student Organizations leads to Student Persistence Interaction with peers (Case, 2011) Involvement with institution Developing purpose in education & career (Foubert & Urbanski, 2006) (Holzweiss eet. al, 2007) Motivations behind joining student organizations Involvement Commitment/ satisfaction with institution (Carini, et. al. , 2006) Feeling of Support (Milem & Berger, 1997) Sense of Belonging (Brown & Burdsal, 2012; Tinto, 1993) Effects of membership in Student Organizations Perceptions Persistence (Brown & Burdsal, 2012; Astin, 1984) Overall Outcome Persistence Research questions: Does involvement in student organizations lead to higher rates of persistence? Is student persistence related to student perception? Is student perception related to type of student organization membership? Are there differences by college given differences in supply of student organizations by college?

Data § CSUN has participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) since 2006. § Zacherman/Foubert (2014) indicate that NSSE data serve as a reliable measure of student engagement. § This dataset provides information on: § INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Student involvement in Athletic and Greek Organizations, Number of hours spent in co-curricular activities, Student Major, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Parental Education § DEPENDENT VARIABLES: Student Rating of Experience at Institution, Whether Student would start over again at CSUN, Whether Student intends to take a leadership role in a student organization DATA n=15378 PROBLEMS WITH DATASET: § Student data did not include college and student major data in years previous to 2013; analysis of the data by college was therefore only possible for years after 2012. § Women make up 62. 2% of the dataset which severely underrepresents males. § Race/Ethnicity coded differently before and after 2012. After recoding, Latinos/Chicanos made up 40. 3% of the dataset, Whites 26. 8%, Asian-American 10. 9%, African Americans 6. 0%, and multiracial/ethnic 5. 5%. These percentages are not representative of the student body.

Findings: Athlete/Greek perceptions vs non -Athlete/Greek perceptions § 9% of the sample had been involved in intercollegiate athletics or a Greek organization § The average number of hours per week spent in extra curricular activities was 1. 91 hours; for athletes/Greeks this was 3. 79 hours, a statistically significant difference. § There were no statistically significant differences between athletes/Greeks in terms of how they rated their CSUN experience or whether they would choose to start over again at CSUN. § ORGANIZATIONAL INVOLVEMENT FOR ATHLETES/GREEKS DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT PERCEPTIONS Findings: Differences in perceptions by College § Students in the Colleges of Arts Media and Communications, Engineering and Computer Science, Business and Economics, and Health and Human Development spent a higher than average number of hours per week in cocurricular activities. This was statistically significant. § Students in the Colleges of Arts Media and Communications, Engineering and Computer Science, and Business and Economics rated their experiences at CSUN higher than students in the other Colleges. This was statistically significant. § Students in the Colleges of Science and Math and Engineering and Computer Science were more likely to say they would choose to start over again at CSUN. This was statistically significant.

§ Participation in Greek organizations and Intercollegiate Athletics did not significantly affect student perceptions. § Significant differences in student co-curricular activity and Implications and Directions for future Research perceptions were found by college; with more positive perceptions among those in colleges with higher levels of cocurricular activity among the students. § Next steps for research: § Use of Mata. Synch (Matador Involvement Center) for more detailed information on Student involvement. § Control of factors already identify by data champions as influential with respect to perceptions. That is to say, are the Colleges with more positive perceptions among the students, significantly different from students in other colleges § Connect to IRB persistence data by college.