Dorm or Non-Dorm

That is the question

Introduction

• Many different living choices for Dartmouth students

• Most prevalent choice is college owned and maintained dormitories

• Non-dorm housing available– (Examples are Off-campus, Greek and other

societies, and affinity housing)– However, less plentiful and often more expensive

• Dormitory housing is easily obtained and often cheaper

We wondered

• Do students live in dorms…– Because they are not always able to obtain

other housing?– Or because they are satisfied with the living

conditions in dorm housing?

Our Feelings

• We think most students are dissatisfied with dorm living conditions

• If so, the college should make dormitories more pleasing to students

• The college should try to make dorms as desirable as alternatives

Our Survey

• Survey was easy to understand and quick to fill out– We hoped this would maximize our responses

• Conducted via blitz• We each sent to at least 15 people who had

already lived in non dorm housing while taking classes– Classes important because this strongly affects a

student’s experience, and therefore their opinion of that type of housing

Survey cont.d

• We did not know each other before this project – we felt the lists we each chose would be

different– This would provide for a more diverse

sampling

The Questions

• We asked everyone the same questions– What is your year?– Can you confirm that you have lived in non

dorm housing at least 1 term while taking classes at Dartmouth?

– Which housing do you prefer: Dorms or Non-dorm (Greek, affiliated, off campus etc.)?

Respondents from Each Class

Year Distribution

0

5

10

15

20

25

06 05 04 03 02

Year

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Series1

Results

• Every class with the option to live in non dorm housing was included

• 36 of our respondents preferred non-dorm housing, 80 %

• 9 people (20%) preferred dorm housing

Preferences

Preferences

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Dorm Non Dorm

Housing Preference

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Series1

Confounding Factors

• Most of the people surveyed were ’05s– Test results might be more representative of

this class’s opinions than of the student body as a whole

– In future tests we should try to include an equal number of participants from each class

• It wasn’t a blind distribution since we surveyed only people we knew

Confounding (cont.d)

• We also sent the survey to more than 15 people in order to get 15 responses

• Large difference in quality of living depending on which dorm or non-dorm location you choose.– Off-campus houses and apartments can differ

dramatically from fraternities

Confounding (cont.d)

– The Choates is not the same quality as East Wheelock

Confounding (cont.d)

• We did not offer the choice of “no preference”

• Our sample was limited as we had to find people who had sampled both types of housing– This did not consider how many terms of each

housing they had tried, which housing etc

Proposal for Action

• We hypothesized that 70% would prefer non-dorm housing– We were surprised to see that 80% felt

this way

• This supports the claim that dorm housing at Dartmouth is not satisfactory

• Therefore, the college should move to improve dorm conditions or offer more non dorm options

Follow Up

• A follow up to this survey should involve the entire campus (excluding freshmen)

• If similar results occur, further steps should be taken, such as a questionnaire asking how dorms could be improved to make them a more desirable housing option