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Dorm or Non-Dorm . That is the question. Introduction. Many different living choices for Dartmouth students Most prevalent choice is college owned and maintained dormitories Non-dorm housing available (Examples are Off-campus, Greek and other societies, and affinity housing)
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Dorm or Non-Dorm That is the question
Introduction • Many different living choices for Dartmouth students • Most prevalent choice is college owned and maintained dormitories • Non-dorm housing available • (Examples are Off-campus, Greek and other societies, and affinity housing) • However, less plentiful and often more expensive • Dormitory housing is easily obtained and often cheaper
We wondered • Do students live in dorms… • Because they are not always able to obtain other housing? • Or because they are satisfied with the living conditions in dorm housing?
Our Feelings • We think most students are dissatisfied with dorm living conditions • If so, the college should make dormitories more pleasing to students • The college should try to make dorms as desirable as alternatives
Our Survey • Survey was easy to understand and quick to fill out • We hoped this would maximize our responses • Conducted via blitz • We each sent to at least 15 people who had already lived in non dorm housing while taking classes • Classes important because this strongly affects a student’s experience, and therefore their opinion of that type of housing
Survey cont.d • We did not know each other before this project • we felt the lists we each chose would be different • This would provide for a more diverse sampling
The Questions • We asked everyone the same questions • What is your year? • Can you confirm that you have lived in non dorm housing at least 1 term while taking classes at Dartmouth? • Which housing do you prefer: Dorms or Non-dorm (Greek, affiliated, off campus etc.)?
Results • Every class with the option to live in non dorm housing was included • 36 of our respondents preferred non-dorm housing, 80 % • 9 people (20%) preferred dorm housing
Confounding Factors • Most of the people surveyed were ’05s • Test results might be more representative of this class’s opinions than of the student body as a whole • In future tests we should try to include an equal number of participants from each class • It wasn’t a blind distribution since we surveyed only people we knew
Confounding (cont.d) • We also sent the survey to more than 15 people in order to get 15 responses • Large difference in quality of living depending on which dorm or non-dorm location you choose. • Off-campus houses and apartments can differ dramatically from fraternities
Confounding (cont.d) • The Choates is not the same quality as East Wheelock
Confounding (cont.d) • We did not offer the choice of “no preference” • Our sample was limited as we had to find people who had sampled both types of housing • This did not consider how many terms of each housing they had tried, which housing etc
Proposal for Action • We hypothesized that 70% would prefer non-dorm housing • We were surprised to see that 80% felt this way • This supports the claim that dorm housing at Dartmouth is not satisfactory • Therefore, the college should move to improve dorm conditions or offer more non dorm options
Follow Up • A follow up to this survey should involve the entire campus (excluding freshmen) • If similar results occur, further steps should be taken, such as a questionnaire asking how dorms could be improved to make them a more desirable housing option