BGSU
Home News Academics Athletics Admissions Libraries Technology
institutional research
Report of the Results of the 2004 New Student Transition Questionnaire

BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

The BGSU New Student Transition Questionnaire was developed in Fall 1997 as a means of gathering information about how well first year first time students were becoming acclimated to college life within their first six weeks at BGSU. This report describes the results of the eighth administration of the survey in Fall 2004.

The 2004 survey was administered to all new freshmen at BGSU main campus who enrolled in English 110, 111, and 112H classes in early October. Two thousand nine hundred and twenty surveys were returned, resulting in a response rate of 76% (2920/3865). Of the 2,920 respondents, 1,726 provided PID numbers, which allowed us to identify respondents' gender, ethnicity, college, as well as the first year program in which some of them are participating (see Table 1 and Table 2 below).

Table 1. Student Characteristics (Overall, and by Gender, Race and College)
  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority White A&S ACE BA EDHD HHS MUS TEC
Population of New Full-Time Fall 2004
Main Campus First Year Students		 3865 2211 1654 497 3228 996 761 497 931 345 126 209
Percentage in Overall Population 100% 57% 43% 13% 84% 26% 20% 13% 24% 9% 3% 5%
Survey Respondents 2920* 1001 725 229 1447 430 349 230 407 163 47 100
Percentage in Survey Sample 100% 58% 42% 14% 86% 25% 20% 13% 24% 9% 3% 6%
*Survey respondents included those who reported PID numbers and those who didn't.

Table 2. Student Characteristics (by First Year Program*)
  BATCH
_MUS		 BA
 150   		BGX CHAP-
MAN		 HSRC HONORS  LSL    MAI   Q_
COURSE		 SPRING_
BOARD		 UNIV
100		 UNIV
131		 UPAS
Population of New Full-Time Fall 2004
Main Campus First Year Students		 85 242 1386 154 139 299 142 301 2074 291 1000 79 242
Survey Respondents 37 139 627 60 70 79 75 130 976 130 455 34 100
* First year programs with fewer than 20 respondents were excluded.

The survey results were analyzed by noting the percentages of participants who provided various responses to each questionnaire item. Percentages may not always sum to 100 due to rounding. In addition, group differences were investigated and significant differences are noted where they occurred.

RESULTS

Results 1: Overall and Differences by Gender, Race, and College

  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority White A&S ACE BA EDHD HHS MUS TEC
% % % % % % % % % % % %
I am finding it easy to adjust to the University

Strongly Disagree

 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 0
Somewhat Disagree 4 5 4 3 5 6 5 4 4 3 0 4
Neutral 11 10 10 15 9 11 12 11 7 9 13 6
Somewhat Agree 41 41 42 40 42 36 42 47 45 41 43 38
Strongly Agree 43 44 42 40 44 46 41 36 43 46 41 52
                         
I have figured out how to study effectively

Strongly Disagree

 2 2 2 4 2 3 3 2 1 1 7 4
Somewhat Disagree 14 13 13 17 12 11 17 15 13 12 11 7
Neutral 34 33 37 35 35 32 38 34 32 44 41 36
Somewhat Agree 41 42 39 33 42 46 35 39 44 35 30 43
Strongly Agree 9 10 8 11 9 9 7 11 11 8 11 10
                         
I am satisfied with my roommate

Strongly Disagree

 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 9 3
Somewhat Disagree 7 8 6 10 6 8 6 4 9 6 4 6
Neutral 18 14 18 16 16 17 15 19 14 8 20 23
Somewhat Agree 21 20 22 20 21 25 21 20 19 21 20 17
Strongly Agree 51 55 51 50 54 47 56 54 55 62 48 52
                         
I am satisfied with my living accommodations

Strongly Disagree

 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 0 2
Somewhat Disagree 9 9 8 8 9 10 6 9 9 8 7 11
Neutral 21 18 20 23 18 20 20 20 18 15 26 18
Somewhat Agree 37 39 36 29 39 36 38 38 39 41 41 33
Strongly Agree 30 32 34 38 32 31 34 31 33 36 26 36
                         
I am making friends easily

Strongly Disagree

 2 2 1 2 2 3 2 3 1 0 0 4
Somewhat Disagree 6 6 5 4 6 9 4 4 4 4 7 3
Neutral 13 12 12 15 11 12 16 11 10 11 7 13
Somewhat Agree 37 35 39 32 37 35 34 41 39 37 37 34
Strongly Agree 43 44 44 48 44 42 44 41 46 47 50 46
                         
I am not concerned about alcohol use among students

Strongly Disagree

 6 6 5 10 5 7 5 6 5 6 13 4
Somewhat Disagree 9 10 9 8 10 13 6 8 11 7 9 9
Neutral 28 30 25 30 27 28 22 27 28 32 35 34
Somewhat Agree 25 27 24 21 27 24 32 30 27 20 15 18
Strongly Agree 32 27 37 30 31 29 35 29 29 35 28 35
                         
I feel lonely, left out, or isolated

Strongly Disagree

 55 57 59 62 58 55 58 59 59 57 48 68
Somewhat Disagree 24 22 23 17 23 23 22 22 23 25 24 15
Neutral 12 11 11 10 11 12 10 11 11 9 15 10
Somewhat Agree 8 9 6 9 7 9 10 7 6 7 11 4
Strongly Agree 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 3
                         
I find my classes challenging

Strongly Disagree

 2 2 3 4 2 2 2 2 3 3 0 1
Somewhat Disagree 8 7 9 10 7 9 5 8 10 5 2 11
Neutral 32 31 32 34 31 29 32 31 33 29 30 35
Somewhat Agree 44 45 45 36 46 45 45 46 43 47 54 44
Strongly Agree 14 15 12 15 14 15 16 13 12 17 13 8
                         
I miss home and my friends who are not at BGSU

Strongly Disagree

 6 5 7 8 5 6 6 7 3 7 11 6
Somewhat Disagree 10 7 13 9 10 10 13 9 7 10 9 11
Neutral 24 20 26 22 23 21 24 22 23 21 18 32
Somewhat Agree 35 36 36 28