The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2 - 12

Rishi Sriram * Frank Shushok, Jr. * Laine Scales

The instrument developed in this study is a
mechanism for bringing unconscious assumptions to consciousness, and the discussion that
follows. Scholars consistently highlight the
educational benefits of residential communities to enhance student learning, but empirical research does not examine to what extent
student affairs administrators believe these
findings. In fact, there is some evidence that

If there is a disconnect between
what scholars find as important
and what administrators believe is
important, then there is little hope
to improve practice on campuses.

student affairs professionals do not actively
seek to implement the findings of scholars
(Sriram & Oster, 2012). If there is a disconnect between what scholars find as important
and what administrators believe is important,
then there is little hope to improve practice on
campuses (Riker & DeCoster, 2008). A survey
instrument may bring awareness of these
gaps so that campus leaders will reflect upon
how to address them. In residential education, programs, policies, and practices focus
primarily on four areas: 1) The importance of
students living on campus, especially beyond
the first year (Pike, 2002; Schudde, 2011;
Stassen, 2003); 2) The role of residence life
professionals as educators (Shushok, Henry,
Blalock, & Sriram, 2009; Dungy & Gordon,
12

2011; Keeling, 2006; Quaye, 2011; Schroeder
& Mable, 1994); 3) Student-faculty interaction outside the classroom (Fuentes, Alvarado,
Berdan, & DeAngelo, 2014; Kuh & Hu, 2001;
Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, & Whitt, 2005; Umbach
& Wawrzynski, 2004); and 4) The design of
facilities (Riker & DeCoster, 2008; Strange &
Banning, 2015).
We developed the Campus Residential Experience Survey to examine the perspectives of
student affairs administrators regarding both
the current status and the desired status of the
importance of students living on campus, the
role of residence life professionals as educators, engagement of faculty, and the design
of residential facilities in forming the educational experience of on-campus residential
environments. We developed items pertaining
to current status to gain an assessment of how
well (or poorly) administrators believe their
campuses perform in these four areas. We also
included counterpart items designed to capture
desired status of these four areas to examine
how close (or far) the status quo is to desired
goals. Gaps between current status and desired
status may reveal competing visions and paradigms on campus, and addressing those gaps
may lead to the emergence of campus dialogue
that potentially results in positive change.
Specifically, this research study addressed the
following questions:
1 Is there evidence of theoretical/content
validity and construct validity (leading to
the measurement of unique latent variables)
for a survey instrument designed to collect
data on the perceptions of student
affairs administrators on the residential
educational experience?
2. Is there evidence of reliability in the
measuring of these constructs?

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2

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