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Excerpts From All 8 Freshmen Focus Groups, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Freshmen are taking fewer credits than they have in the past, and this is potentially delaying their expected graduation. Lower credit loads also mean fewer FTE students and the possibility of falling short of state budgeted FTE. If the perceived problem is confirmed, WWU administrators would like to know why freshmen are taking fewer credits, and whether interventions are appropriate to encourage higher credit loads, or if more applicants should be admitted to fill the gap. To help answer these questions, the Office of Survey Research (OSR) conducted eight focus groups of freshmen during their second quarter at Western (Winter08). …

Freshmen Enrollment Focus Groups: Attributes And Schedule, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Freshmen are taking fewer credits than they have in the past, and this is potentially delaying their expected graduation. Lower credit loads also mean fewer FTE students and the possibility of falling short of state budgeted FTE. If the perceived problem is confirmed, WWU administrators would like to know why freshmen are taking fewer credits, and whether interventions are appropriate to encourage higher credit loads, or if more applicants should be admitted to fill the gap. To help answer these questions, the Office of Survey Research (OSR) conducted eight focus groups of freshmen during their second quarter at Western (Winter08). …

Group 1 Freshmen Enrollment Focus Groups, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Group 1. Eleven students participated. All eleven students in this group took 14 or fewer state support credits in fall quarter, and all scored lower than one standard deviation below the mean verbal SAT score for the freshmen class. Two of the students took 12 credits in the fall, four took 13 credits, and five took 14 credits. Their interests were distributed among the colleges, as represented by Summerstart advising group assignments—environmental studies, health, or math and science, four in humanities or Fairhaven, two in music or fine and performing arts, or admitted to Fairhaven college, one undecided, and none …

Group 2 Freshmen Enrollment Focus Groups, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Group 2. Ten students participated. All ten students in this group took 14 or fewer state support credits in fall quarter, and all scored higher than one standard deviation above the mean verbal SAT score for the freshmen class. One student took 12 credits in the fall, three took 13 credits, and six took 14 credits. Their interests were distributed among the colleges, as represented by Summerstart advising group assignment–Three in environmental studies, health, or math and science, three in humanities or Fairhaven, two in education, one in music or fine and performing arts, and one undecided. Five are female …

Group 3 Freshmen Enrollment Focus Groups, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Group 3. Twelve students participated. All twelve took 15 or more state support credits in the fall, and all scored below 1 standard deviation below the mean verbal SAT score. Half of the students took 15 credits in the fall, two took 16 credits, and the remaining four took 17 credits. Their interests were distributed among the colleges, as represented by Summerstart advising group assignment; with four assigned the environmental studies, CST scholars, health or math/science groups, two assigned to the undecided group, two to the Fairhaven College, music or fine & performing arts groups, one to the humanities or …

Group 3 Freshmen Enrollment Focus Groups, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Group 3. Twelve students participated. All twelve took 15 or more state support credits in the fall, and all scored below 1 standard deviation below the mean verbal SAT score. Half of the students took 15 credits in the fall, two took 16 credits, and the remaining four took 17 credits. Their interests were distributed among the colleges, as represented by Summerstart advising group assignment; with four assigned the environmental studies, CST scholars, health or math/science groups, two assigned to the undecided group, two to the Fairhaven College, music or fine & performing arts groups, one to the humanities or …

Evaluating A Four State Workforce Education Project: Questions Of Investigative Interest And Impact, Neal Grandgenett, Elliott Ostler, Applied Information Management Institute, Jeanne L. Surface

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

How can a large scale, multi-state, collaborative workforce development project be evaluated? This article describes the evaluation process of the Midwest Center for Information Technology (MCIT). The project uses “impact threads” to connect the outcomes of the project to strategic evaluation questions. The MCIT project, involving 10 public two-year colleges located in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota, strives to assist partner colleges in enhancing information technology training and related degree programs. The MCIT was funded as a regional center within the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This article details the evaluation plan …

Fye Seminars: Summary Report, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Selected Excerpts from Focus Groups Conducted with FYE Seminar instructors In Spring ’06 by The Office of Survey Research.

New Transfer Focus Group Summary, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark, Ryan Dickson, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

A sample of transfer students participated in a focus group on the issues faced by in-coming transfers.

Refocusing On Qualitative Methods: Problems And Prospects For Research In A Specific Asian Context, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A recent issue of Area (1996, Volume 28.2) devoted space to six papers on focus groups, attesting to their increasing importance as a means of obtaining qualitative data. The papers provided interesting insights into the use of focus groups in specific research and cultural contexts, and raised three main issues in my mind. The first is a continuing misunderstanding as to the nature of knowledge, which surfaces in discussions of, and approaches to, the use of qualitative methods such as focus groups. The second is the range of related techniques that are actually involved in the qualitative method, known as …

The Use Of Interactive Focus Groups To Aid In The Identification Of Perceived Service And Support Delivery Needs Of Persons With Developmental Disabilities And Their Families, John J. Wheeler

John J. Wheeler