Blog #4 Research Proposal

Ashley Shanley

Research Proposal

Working Title: Academic Achievement Between Traditional Students Versus Commuter Students

Topic:

               I am going to explore the topic of students living on campus versus students who commute to school every day.  This paper will talk about the positive and negative effects of both living on campus and commuting and how they affect a students’ academic achievement.

Research Question:

               Does the living situation of college students affect their academic achievement throughout the 4 years of college? Once I have discussed and answered the question, my next question will ask if there is there a way for colleges to include commuter students more in the social environment of the everyday college life.

Theoretical Frame or Approach:

        In Vincent Tinto’s, Building Community, he raises the question if commuting is reflected on a student’s academic achievement.  He uses a sample of first-year college students and compares their experiences of college life.  Being a commuter student is a hard task, especially when wanting to be involved in student life.  Tinto states that for the commuter student, attending college is “but one of a number of tasks to be completed during the course of a day.” Because the student does not live on campus, they may have a job, home responsibilities, all on top of schoolwork they must do to be successful. My question is whether or not commuting does actually affect the academic achievement of college students. I am curious to find out if gender plays a role in the life of a commuter student and success.  Males and females have different roles at home and at school, which may become an interference with their school work.

Research Plan, Case, or Additional Questions

        Vincent Tinto’s article talks about first year college students and how they are involved in the every day lifestyle of a college student.  He speaks about how commuting is only one of the many tasks a college student must do in a day.  The article, "Predictors of the Adjustment of First-Year Students to College: The Role of Early Involvement and Type of Residence,” by Mickey Fenzel, has students complete a survey that indicated the number of extra curricular activities they participated in.  These students were first-year students and were examined about their college lifestyle.  Students were also asked if they lived on campus or commuted from their parents homes, and which was easier for them to become more actively involved in the school’s extra-curricular activities. There were both commuter students and on campus residential students involved in this study.  This article shows that commuter students who lived at home are less able to become involved in drinking and drug use, allowing them to focus more on their academic studies.  However, they have trouble fitting in and getting involved in their social activities at their school.

        Armstrong and Hamilton discuss the downsides of living on campus in their article, “Paying for the Party.”  Although commuting may be a difficult task for students to manage, it is also difficult for students to achieve their academic goals when their on campus housing is full of unnecessary distractions.

Bibliography:

·         Armstrong, Elizabeth and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

·   Chickering, Arthur W. Commuting Versus Resident Students:. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1974. Print.

·         Fenzel, Mickey L. “Predictors of the Adjustment of First-Year Students to College: The Role of Early Involvement and Type Residence”. (2001). N. pag. Web.

·         Tinto, Vincent, and Anne Goodsell-Love. "Building Community." Liberal Education 79.4 (1993): 16. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.