While attending The University of Tulsa (TU), I collaborated with a team of fellow sociology students to identify specific reasons why TU students were choosing not to study abroad. This research was conducted for, and presented to, the Center for Global Education (CGE) on campus.
Identified student needs with greater accuracy to target university supports and CGE marketing campaigns more effectively
Led to creation of a cross-disciplinary committee to remove identified barriers to studying abroad
Communications Lead - responsible for providing project updates to the CGE and presenting our key takeaways to CGE leadership
Collaborative research team member, providing support and thought leadership at all project stages
Market & User Research
Surveys / Questionnaires
Research Synthesis
Survey Monkey
Previous research had identified a 'fear of missing out' on campus activities as the primary reason why TU students were choosing not to study abroad, but this explanation was too broad to be actionable, leaving the CGE unsure how to increase study abroad rates.
By digging deeper into student motivations and concerns, the CGE was able to bring accurate, actionable insights to university leadership, who were able to change academic policies to remove barriers to studying abroad. Further, the CGE was able to tailor their marketing and communication strategies to address student concerns.
TU students report a 'fear of missing out' on campus activities as the primary reason for not studying abroad. What specific activities are students afraid of missing?
First, we needed to identify a list of potential activities that students fear missing (e.g., sporting events, sorority or fraternity functions, school-sponsored concerts, specific course offerings, etc.). Using a convenience sample* of our own research team, friends, and classmates, suggested items were collected and then culled/combined.
*If I were to redo this project now, I would suggest conducting brief key informant interviews with students from a wide sample of academic programs and SES backgrounds.
Next, we used Survey Monkey to build the survey instrument. The list of activities was turned into a matrix, where students could rate the relative importance of each activity (Very important to Not at all important). A number of open-ended questions were added to give students a chance to elaborate on their concerns.
Although we were interested in motivation (a question that would normally lend itself to qualitative research), for this research question, we were primarily interested in identifying the most prevalent categories of barriers (a frequency question that was best answered with a quantitative survey). The survey was sent out to a random sample of non-freshman TU students who had never studied abroad.
*No personas were created for this project, but retrospectively, I have created the following student personas based on our survey results.
19 years old | Chemical Engineering major
Sam worries about the academic caliber of classes offered abroad, as compared to classes at TU. He doesn't want to risk falling behind academically. His professors have warned him that some classes are only offered once a year, and missing those classes could make it difficult for him to graduate on time.
21 years old | Psychology major
Susan is actively involved in several extracurricular organizations on campus. She attends multiple meetings a week and would never dream of missing a theme party. Seeing pictures of her friends at TU having fun while she is abroad would leave her feeling lonely and homesick.
23 years old | Business Administration major
Frank attends TU on a needs-based scholarship. He has a work study position at the campus library. He never even considered studying abroad because he assumed that there was no way he would be able to afford it.
TU students were using 'fear of missing out' as a broad explanation that covered numerous underlying concerns.
The most-reported barrier to studying abroad was not a fear of missing out on social activities but on academic activities (e.g., pre-requisites that are only offered once a year, research positions with professors, credits abroad that might not transfer back to TU).
With our findings, the CGE was able to change their marketing and communication strategy to address student concerns. Study abroad program materials included information about transferring credits back to TU. CGE staff were trained to discuss how classes abroad could fulfill major requirements.
The CGE brought our findings to university leadership, who decided to form an interdisciplinary committee of department leads to ensure 1) that TU policy was allowing students to fulfill academic requirements abroad, and 2) that professors were not, intentionally or inadvertently, discouraging students from fulfilling academic requirements at foreign universities. Because of my role as Communications Lead on this project, I was asked to serve as the student representative on the committee.