The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2 - 21

Development, Validity, and Reliability of the Campus Residential Experience Survey

With the results of this study
providing evidence to validate
the instrument on a national
level, the survey can now be
used with a small committee, a
large group, or an entire campus.

to understand perspectives on the current
status of these variables, the desired status of
these variables, and the gaps between the two.
Although this instrument was validated with
student affairs professionals, we also believe
it can be used with faculty, other administrators, and students. Further research is needed
to confirm that hypothesis, however. For
example, if an institution was in a strategic
planning phase of residential life, a committee
could be formed of various constituents (e.g.,
faculty, student affairs administrators, other
administrators, and student leaders) to guide
the development and implementation of the
vision of on-campus living. The Campus Residential Experience Survey could be administered
to everyone on the committee, drawing out
their implicit beliefs about the current status
and desired goals related to students living on
campus, the role of residence life professionals
as educators, faculty engagement, and facility
design. A facilitator could examine the results
and determine the amount of harmony (or
disagreement) between different committee
members, as well as the closeness (or distance)
between the current status of residential life
in comparison to people's desires. The result

could be a rich, engaging conversation about
the four areas measured by the instrument.
Only when paradigms are made explicit can
discussion occur that has the potential to shape
and change them. For this study, we administered the Campus Residential Experience Survey
to a nationwide sample of student affairs professionals from multiple campuses. With the
results of this study providing evidence to
validate the instrument on a national level, the
survey can now be used with a small committee, a large group, or an entire campus. This
instrument could be administered to a single
person to begin a robust conversation. For
example, a dean of residence life could ask her
or his vice president of student affairs to take
the instrument. After reviewing the results,
the dean and vice president could then discuss
residence life in a manner that includes both
depth and breadth. Or perhaps a vice president
of student affairs could ask the vice president
for finance to take the survey. The questions
could help the vice president of finance to
think about matters pertaining to residence life
that she or he had never thought of before. In
other words, this instrument does not need to
be administered to large groups of people followed by sophisticated statistical analyses to be
helpful.

Implications For Future Research
This instrument also may be used in future
research to gauge student affairs administrators' current evaluation of and desired hope for
the importance of students living on campus,
as well as the role of residence life professionals as educators, faculty engagement, and
residential facility design. Additional quantitative analyses using this new instrument may
continue to provide inferential statistics for
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2