September 22, 2005

Students voice satisfaction with Purdue services

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –Students are reporting improved satisfaction with Purdue University services, according to results of a survey, now in its third year.

The Student Importance and Satisfaction Survey was conducted in March 2005 in an effort to gain a better understanding of what services are important to Purdue students and the satisfaction students have with these services.

Thomas B. Robinson, vice president for student services, said that Purdue is committed to helping students have the best experience possible and that services offered always have room for improvement.

"We were pleased with the results of the 2004 survey because the baseline data indicated we were doing a good job in meeting students' expectations," said Robinson, whose office conducted the survey. "It's promising to see results of the 2005 survey because we continue to see improvements.

"A practice of regular, systemic assessment is important to either confirm that what we're doing is effective or help us to identify areas for improvement, or both."

The survey team took a statistically significant random sample of the Purdue population, said Lee Gordon, assistant vice president for student services technology and assessment. The number of students needed for the survey ended up being 2,262. Of those selected, 1,021 returned the surveys for a response rate of 45.1 percent, Gordon said.

Students were asked to rate the importance and level of satisfaction of Purdue services, on a scale of one to five on 146 items. The measurement comparing the average satisfaction index with the average importance index is referred to as the "gap." The closer the gap is to zero and above, the more successful Purdue is in meeting expectation, said Gordon. The gap for each response in the 2005 survey was compared to the gaps in the 2004 survey.

The comparison of the gaps provided the following information:

• In total, there were 103 areas of improvement from 2004 to 2005, compared to 43 areas that did not show gap improvements.

• All of the services, programs and events can be categorized into 14 major areas. Of these 14 categories, 11 categories showed areas of improvement, three categories remained the same, and none of the categories declined in gap improvements.

The categories are:

The results of the 2005 survey is now a report titled "2005 Student Importance and Satisfaction Survey" online.

Students will be given another opportunity in spring 2006 to participate in a survey about services offered at Purdue.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Sources: Thomas Robinson, (765) 494-5776, trobinson@purdue.edu

Lee Gordon, (765) 494-0246, leegordon@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Related Web site:
Purdue's Vice President for Student Services Web site

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