DETERMINING COLLEGE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN RELATION TO COLLEGE SUCCESS   

Bianca Boyd

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

UCLA Spirituality Study on Life & Times

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

College Experience and Life Transition The college experience place many social and

emotional demands on students and requires a variety of coping responses or adjustments.

Research suggest that college students are interested in developing their spirituality. Their findings indicated that college students

“desire deeper meaning but they do not know how or where to find it” (Muller & Dennis, 2007, p. 58).

Spirituality and Student Success Students who indicated high levels of spirituality

tend to have better G.P.A., overall well being, sense of self, mature decision making capabilities.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is to determine undergraduate students’ attitudes towards religion and spirituality in relation to four areas of college success (college adjustment, self-awareness, decision making capabilities, and over all well-being).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How do students perceive the relationship between religiosity and spirituality?

Do students perceive themselves as being religious, spiritual or both?

How do students perceive their overall well-being?

How do students perceive their college experience thus far?

How do students perceive their sense of self?

RESEARCH DESIGN

Survey Design A survey design will be used to determine

undergraduate students attitudes towards religion and spirituality in relation to college success. This design is the most appropriate because it is aimed at revealing perceptions or attitudes towards a phenomenon or area of study.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Site of the Study Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. The racial makeup of the city is composed

mostly of Caucasian Americans. Springfield residents are also known for their

socially conservative views and Evangelical Protestant denominations.

The physical location of the university as well as the demographics of undergraduate students may play a role in the type of data received from participants.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Participants Participants for this study includes the entire

undergraduate population of Missouri State University. Participants must be degree seeking students and must carry 12 credit hours or more. In total, surveys will be distributed to 16,835 students (n= 16,835).

RESEARCH DESIGN

Ethical Considerations Missouri State University Institutional Review

Board Confidentiality

randomly generate identification numbers for each participant so that they will not have to provide their names or other identifying information. Information about participants’ rights and confidentiality will be explained before starting the survey. Also, students will have the options of exiting the survey at any point.

Informed consent An electronic consent form will accompany the survey

link. To ensure that students understand the consent form they must check that they have read the form and understand their rights.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Data Collection Procedures Quantitative method of data collection will be used

(i.e. survey). Instrumentation

Intrinsic Spirituality Scale by David Hodges. The questions use a sentence completion format to measure

attributes associated with spirituality. An incomplete sentence is provided followed directly below by two phrases that are linked to a scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Religiousness Measurement Scale by Sheena Sethi Iyengar. This scale determines religious involvement, religious

influence in daily life and religious hope. Spiritual Well Being Scale (SWB) by Paloutzain &

Ellison Measures an individual’s well being and overall life

satisfaction.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Role of the Researcher Though my role does not extend beyond the

period of time it takes to create the instruments and collect numerical data, I am very passionate about student development and the role spirituality plays in that development.

Not just a researcher but I am also a student who is affected by lack resources given to students to cultivate their spirituality.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Data Analysis Descriptive statistics computed by SPSS.

Dispersion graphs (dot plots) Graphical summaries (such as histograms) Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) Data distribution (variance and standard deviation)

Predictions Based on the data collection methods above, I predict

that students will perceived themselves both religious and spiritual and that students will perceived spirituality and religiosity as having positive effects on their college experience, overall well being and sense of self.

ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS

Assumptions People are generally honest. Posses the motivation to complete the survey.

Geographic location

Limitations Number of students that will participate in the

study. Study just examines undergraduate students

from Missouri State University. Therefore findings may not be generalizable outside of this institution.

QUESTIONS