The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 2 - 33

Cultivation of Support Networks by Students of Color

of Color in the residential communities at one
specific PWI.
According to the social capital framework
(Bourdieu, 1980, 1985), social networks must
first be constructed through relationships that
provide resources (such as community and
belonging) to individuals within the context
of larger social structures. The social capital
framework allowed us to examine relationships, social networks, and trust among our
participants (Putnam, 2000; Schuller, Baron,
& Field, 2000). The social capital framework
provides a "conceptual lens through which
social inclusion in education may be investigated and advanced" (O'Brien & Ó Fathaigh,
2005, p. 65) and recognizes the importance of
relationships in belonging.

METHODOLOGY
Researcher Perspectives
For this study, a White faculty member who
had worked in residence life at the study site
coordinated the research team. Additionally,
two residence life professionals coordinated
outreach to students and provided institutional
insight, professional expertise, and space for
the dialogues. Both practitioners identify as
People of Color, and their identities and perspectives helped foster rapport and trust with
participants (Creswell, 2014). Finally, as the
only researcher not currently or previously affiliated with residence life or the PWI, a Whiteidentifying doctoral student asked questions to
provide clarity about data and results.
Since most data analysis was completed by
White-identifying team members and could
have been affected by those identities, themes
and analysis were checked with the practitio-

ners throughout the process. This checking
was done in three stages: debriefing after each
focus group with research team faculty and
staff, review of transcripts by all research team
members, and review of emergent themes by
all research team members.

Trustworthiness
In this study, we addressed the four components of trustworthiness as posited by Lincoln
and Guba (1986): credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. To help ensure
credibility, we employed triangulation by interviewing multiple participants in six different
focus groups. Themes that emerged were consistent regardless of where students lived, which
served as a further source of triangulation based
on data collected from different people with different perspectives (Merriam, 2009). To further
ensure credibility, we used multiple investigators: two who worked at the research site, one
familiar with the site and housing program, and
one with no connection to the site or program
(Denzin, 2017; Merriam, 2009).
To address transferability, we described the
participants and context of the site and made
use of the rich, thick description provided by

Having a sense of connection and
interpersonal bonds with other
residents prepared Students of Color
for what they would experience on
the larger campus.

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 2

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