Why Won't You Stay? A Quantitative Sociological Analysis of Factors Influencing Retention at IU South Bend

Abstract

In a society where going to college increasingly is becoming a minimum educational requirement, colleges and universities are constantly looking for clues as to how to engage their students in such a way as to keep them attending and progressing steadily towards graduation. The following paper is the result of a survey I did on first-year, first-semester students at IU South Bend. The goal of the survey was to try to identify particular experiences students may have had that have a statistically significant correlative effect on their confidence that they will continue at the university beyond their first semester, their first year, and through to graduation. After assessing the recent literature on the topic, I decided to model my study after a survey done in Australia that focused on these types of experiences and their effect on retention. Using a Spearman rho correlation analysis, I was able to identify many common experiences that students reported as having either a positive or negative effect on their desire to continue at this institution. By considering the results of this analysis, educators and administrators may be able to determine where to focus their efforts in their attempts to increase both retention and graduation rates at this and in similar university settings.