Research project

Defining Success at WWU Grace Kirkey and Aidan Thain
Project Overview
We are studying how often students that attend WWU feel like they’re successful, and how much their major plays a role in attending WWU. We want to find out why students come to Western. We think this is important for our readers to understand so that people can have more of an open mind when attending college and realizing that success is not just determined by the job you get post-graduation. We can start learning more about this by looking at which majors are most popular, and why they are the most popular. We will also look at different groups of people here at WWU, such as athletes and people on scholarship. We can also look at first generation students, and why they choose to attend WWU.
Summary of Research
Annotated Citation 1
1.
Education
MILLEA, MEGHAN, et al. “What Matters in College Student Success? Determinants of
College Retention and Graduation Rates.”
EBSCOhost,
2. “This review categorizes the research into three broad categories: institutional factors,
student attributes, and financial considerations”
“students who feel connected to their academic endeavors are more likely to succeed. Attention to the quality of the classroom experience for students is one academic condition that promotes student engagement”
“The practical implications of this work suggest that universities should invest in smaller class sizes and focus on students’ financial constraints to improve student success…two factors typically considered important for freshmen retention and eventual graduation, absenteeism and on-campus residence were not found to be significant in our models”
3. This article talks about incoming freshmen, and also the transfer from freshman to sophomore year. They begin by saying that three things influence student’s success: institutional factors, student attributes, and financial considerations. They did studies based on what they think affect student success. They realized that the most important things are engagement in the classroom and getting into things within the school that they feel connected to. Being able to provide a quality experience in class is important to students. This relates to our project because we are trying to figure out how students at WWU define success. One thing in particular about Western that I think will stand out is that the classes are mostly engaging, and the teachers are passionate about what they are teaching. That is really important to me because it makes me feel more involved in the class.
309–322.
, vol. 138, no. 4, Summer 2018, pp.
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=130165011&site=ehost-live.
Annotated Citation 2
MEYER, STEFANIE, and MARY LARSON. “Physical Activity, Stress, and Academic Performance in
College: Does Exposure to Stress Reduction Information Make a Difference?”
vol. 52, no. 4, Winter 2018, pp. 452–457.
EBSCOhost,
College Student Journal,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134341753&site=ehost-live.

“Additionally, research indicates there is a negative relationship between students’ perceived stress and academic performance”
“Important aspects of the social environment to study include convenience of healthy choices; institutional culture around health behaviors; and modifying the food and fitness environment” This article is about the correlation between physical health/activity and academic success. This study shows that universities should focus on providing places where students can eat healthy food and have access to areas that are healthy. Often times students become more stressed when they do not have the necessary resources; therefore, struggling in school. This relates to our research because we want to know what people define as success at Western. To me, Western is a place where there are plenty of resources available to reduce stress. I also think that Western is a place where everyone is welcome, and there is a very diverse community. I would be curious to find out if students appreciate the fact that Western offers many of these resources. This article will also be beneficial because it clearly shows us that physical and mental health are extremely important when defining success.
Annotated Citation 3
This article looks into what statistically leaded to an individual being successful in college when success is bring defined as academic achievement and obtaining a degree.

The article looks at what backgrounds people come from that meet this definition of success, proving that typically those who come from a higher income families produce a higher rate of individuals that reach this idea of success opposed to those who come from a lower socioeconomic class. This idea of socioeconomic class supposed their hypothesis that these students would have a higher rate of success. Then the researchers looked at how students with more self-discipline compared to students with less discipline but higher test score compared and found that those who are more disciple achieve this ideal of success at a higher rate than those who had higher test scores. This article helps with our research as it gives us a jumping off point to define success and gives us new ideas about how ones background may guide their success. It also helps us formulate research questions as it gives us factors that could be asked on our survey to gather data on different groups of students.
“Retention was most likely influenced by strong relationships between socioeconomic status, high school GPA, college assessment entry scores when combined with institutional
commitment, academic goals, social support, and academic self-confidence.”
“Students who were able to integrate socially to the campus climate have an increased sense of commitment to the institute which leads to increased graduation rates.”
“The correlation between self-discipline and achievement were twice the size of the correlation between IQ and achievement.”
BARCLAY, TIMOTHY H., et al. “Academic Retention: Predictors of College Success.” Education, vol. 139, no. 2, Winter 2018, pp. 59–70. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134289377&site=ehost-live.
Annotated Citation 4
This article poses a three part question about the reasoning behind a fist generation student choosing to continue to a postsecondary education and looks at the statistics of how they compare to their colleagues who’s parent(s) have some college experience or that obtained a degree. The first part of their research was to study how first generation students did in high school compared to the students who’s parent(s) had at least some college experience and studies the institutes that first generation students got accepted to and enrolled in. The second part of their research was to look the ratio first generation students who after enrolling graduate and obtain a degree. Finally they looked at how first generation students fare compared to those students with parent(s) who have some college experience post graduation in labor force. The first and second research question both came back with similar results showing that first generation students tested lower than continued education peers on standardized tests as well as having a much higher rate of not graduating or obtaining a degree. But when it came to the first generation graduates and continuing education graduates in the labor force statistics showed they make the same average salary. This article also discussed the incentives to get first generation students into a postsecondary education with many scholarships available, as it talks about the advantage having a degree when it comes to entering the labor force. This article is relevant to our research question as it looks at how and why a student who’s parents did not attend college are seeking a postsecondary education. It looks at one group we will be surveying when it comes to how a student ended up at Western, why they choose this school, and how it affected what they are planning to major in.

“The percentage of U.S adults age 25 and over who held a bachelors degree increased from 21 percent in 1990 to 33 percent in 2015”
“The lack of cultural capitol negatively affects even the first generation students who are academically prepared for college”
“Median annualized salary showed no statistical difference between first generation graduates and continuing generation graduates both making an average of $45,000 per year”
Cataldi, Emily Forrest, et al. “First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes. Stats in Brief. NCES 2018-421.” National Center for Education Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, 1 Feb. 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED580935&site=ehost-live.
Appendix
Informed Consent
How do different student habits correlate to success at WWU?
INTRODUCTION
You are invited to join a research study about student habits at WWU. We are studying how often students that attend WWU feel like they’re successful, and how much their major plays a role in attending WWU. We want to find out why students come to Western.
WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THE STUDY?
If you decide to participate you will be asked to fill out a survey of 29 questions. We think this will take you 10-15 minutes.
You can stop participating at any time. If you stop you will not lose any benefits for participating.
RISKS
There are no known risks for participating in this study. There may also be other risks that we cannot predict.
BENEFITS TO TAKING PART IN THE STUDY?
There are no known benefits for participating in this study.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We will take the following steps to keep information about you confidential, and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure, tampering, or damage: we will remove W# before reading the data. We want to make sure that there are no duplicate surveys; therefore, we will ask that you provide your W#. Grace Kirkey and Aidan Thain will be the only ones with access to the data.
YOUR RIGHTS AS A RESEARCH PARTICIPANT?
Participation in this study is voluntary. You have the right not to participate at all or to leave the study at any time.

CONTACTS FOR QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS?
Email Aidan Thain or Grace Kirkey at thaina@wwu.edu and kirkeyg@wwu.edu if you have questions about the study, any problems, unexpected physical or psychological discomforts, any injuries, or think that something unusual or unexpected is happening.
Contact Jo Hurt at hurtj2@wwu.edu for any further questions about this study.

Project Expectations
We believe that our project will show us the correlation between students habits and how they rate their success. It depends on what student habits/trends are most common, and we compare that with how happy they are at Western. We hope to find something that students think are important here at WWU, which contributes to their success. If our results show no correlations, then really we’re not answering our question to the project. It could also mean that everyone defines success completely differently, and there is no way to put a set definition of success. We don’t think there can be, unless no one fills out our survey. All results will be exciting, because we get to answer the question that we posed. We think it would be really weird if there was no trend to what made people happy at Western. Our community is really diverse, and we know that people have different definitions of success. Although, people in this community are generally well accepted, so we expect to see some trends because of how diverse our community is. I think our only expectation is that our question gets answered and we find some trends. Our expectations will not influence our data because we cannot control the outcome of the survey, which will help us prove what we are trying to study: How do you define success at WWU?