Date
2-28-2025
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Jeremiah Sullins
Keywords
college tours, college selection methodology, virtual tours, sense of belongingness, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, gen z, first-year college student, Glasser’s choice theory, Strayhorn, motivational theory
Disciplines
Counseling | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
Recommended Citation
Reese, Tamara, "A Quantitative Study: The Association between College Selection Methodology and Sense of Belongingness among First-Year, Full-Time Residential College Students" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6539.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6539
Abstract
College selection methodology can be traced back to the 1920s when colleges had to rely on their to travel through word of mouth, catalogs, pictures, and brochures. Although virtual tours can be dated back to 1994, COVID-19 catapulted the popularity of traveling through virtual reality. While many studies have sought to measure the impact of visitation on student enrollment propensities, none have made a noteworthy effort to account for a potential endogenous link between the student's college choice methodology and a student's sense of belongingness at their college or university campus. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study is to explore if and to what extent there is a difference in students’ sense of belongingness based on the different college tours. A sample size of 164 first-year, full-time residential college student participants will be needed for this study, with 54-55 participants in group (1) in-person tours, 54-55 participants in group (2) virtual tours without an in-person tour, and 54-55 participants in group (3) no in-person and no virtual tours. A 15-item questionnaire with Likert-style measures will be shared on various social media platforms for first-year, full-time residential college students to assess their sense of belongingness.
