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UMI
A Bell & Howell Information Company
Trang 3APPLYING A CONSUMPTION VALUE MODEL TO COLLEGE CHOICE
by
Jeanne M Simmons, B.S., M.B.A
Trang 4
UMI Microform 9811406
Copyright 1997, by UMI Company All rights reserved
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
Trang 5
What drives a person’s decision of where to go to college? This is a question I have always found
interesting With competition heating up in the area of higher education, college and university administrators are beginning to ask that same question There has been a lot of research in the area of college choice but I felt that a more comprehensive model was needed With that, I began to read the material that was already available and look for
additional models that could be examined What follows is
an article length synopsis of this research project
Marketing Higher Education:
Applying a Consumption Value Model to College Choice Introduction
Over the last 40 years there has been much published in the higher education literature dealing with the college selection process There are many reasons for this growing interest such as, the federal government's financial support of higher education, a push to enhance the diversity of
Trang 6students makes it crucial to understand the college
selection process in order for colleges and universities to develop better recruitment strategies [Kotler and Fox 1985] Colleges and universities have an obvious vested interest in understanding this decision process Those institutions that best understand the process will have the greatest chance to attract the most qualified students, increase their enrollment and decrease their transfer or drop out rate To this end, researchers have attempted to enlighten university administrators about the determinants of college selection
One way to organize this body of general research is in two main categories The first involves a distinction
between macro and micro research Another organizing
mechanism for college choice research is "by stage" in the college selection process The “stage” refers to the point a student is at in the decision process
Macro vs Micro Studies
Macro research has to do with studies that utilize aggregate student groups and focus on the environmental effects associated with the total enrollment for all
institutions within a state, region, nation or other
designated area Universities often use environmental
Trang 7by tracking developments such as demographics, federal
funding policies, and average salaries of college graduates
Micro studies focus on individual students and how
environmental factors affect their enrollment behavior The
motivation for undertaking this research lies with
university administrators who are looking to determine the
probability that a given student will attend a particular institution
Three Stages of College Choice
The other most common way to organize the research on college choice is to break it up into three general stages of the choice process This organizational approach is based on the Hossler and Gallagher model (1987) Hossler and Gallagher (1987) identify three main steps:
predisposition, search, and choice These stages coincide with a long standing research approach utilized in marketing to chart consumer decision making [Engel, Blackwell and
Miniard 1986]
In the context of college choice, the first stage, predisposition, deals with the question of who chooses
higher education the so called "go-no go" stage In the second stage, search, researchers examine what factors
Trang 8issues such as, private vs public, large vs small, urban vs
rural, coed vs single gender, and possibly geographic
boundaries or cost constraints The final stage, choice, is the part of the time line during which the student enrolls at one institution narrowed from the choice set developed in stage two
Much has been published in the area of college choice
focusing on each of the stages Some of the common
variables found to be influential across stages are costs, financial aid, student background characteristics, parental income, educational level and occupation, aspirations and encouragement of others, admissions standards, institutional offerings, overall quality, academic programs, reputation and quality, distance from home, social activities, and size Data on college choice has been collected in a
Trang 9conducted, many questions remain A more complete,
comprehensive model of consumer decision making is needed in the area of college choice This research project centered on a relatively new model that likely has application to the analysis of college choice
The SNG Model
‘The Sheth, Newman and Gross model of consumption values (1990), hereafter referred to as the SNG model, stems from the lifelong work of Jagdish Sheth in consumer behavior and decision making Over time, Sheth felt that some of the research on consumer decision making had gotten too muddled and that an overall, or "big picture" view was needed
Certain streams of research in consumer decision making were becoming lost in the detail Sheth took a step back to see if there were any overriding factors influencing general consumer decision making He, along with fellow academics Newman and Gross, came up with a more universal model that incorporated five general values which they felt drove the entire consumer decision process
Trang 10conditional According to the model, individual consumer choices will be influenced by one or more of these values
Why might one select the SNG model as an appropriate framework to examine college choice?
The SNG model evolved from the scrutiny of various predictive models of consumer
behavior It attempts to distill these
models to their essence
Central to the SNG model is the fact that the determinants of choice are global consumption values, not specific purchase criteria
The SNG model provides operational measures of these values that can be
utilized in a variety of choice
Situations
The SNG model is conceptualized as a Managerial, pragmatic approach to consumer behavior
And finally, the SNG model represents a general theory of market choice
Trang 11All these points fit with and benefit the study of the
college choice decision process Let's briefly examine each of the SNG values with regard to college choice
A product's ability to perform pragmatically,
physically or for its utilitarian purpose is the product's functional value The functional aspect of a product or service may be judged by any salient physical feature In regard to college choice, functional values may consist of the tuition charged, types of programs offered, or the job placement rate of recent graduates These variables can all be measured and compared based on their practical utility to
individual students
Social value consists of the influence consumers place on the purchase decision based upon the reaction of parents,
friends, their peer group, or the general public Consumers develop a social image, based upon the pressures exerted by Surrounding social groups These social groups influence various aspects of their behavior
Thus a potential buyer may first evaluate social
aspects of the purchase before exploring other values or features For instance, with regard to college choice, a potential student may first consider the perceptions their
Trang 12attend) a particular institution before engaging in further evaluation In many cases, such social perceptions may be more important to the potential student-consumer than the actual functional characteristics of the institution
Emotional value deals with the affective reaction of consumers to a specific purchase In other words, what emotions are stirred from a particular purchase or the use of a given product? In terms of college choice, this may include the feeling of safety and security around the
campus, the feeling of "home" felt in the residence halls, or the community of common faith associated with attendance at a college with religious heritage
Epistemic value is the feeling of curiosity that surrounds a product purchase A consumer may purchase a product for its novelty or simply to satisfy one's
curiosity Epistemic value also encompasses the motivation of knowledge-seeking, i.e., the desire to know more about a product or service because of inherent interest
A potential college student may allow factors such as regional weather or geography to influence their college selection For example, a Southern California resident may never have been exposed to snow and therefore becomes
Trang 13the snow belt Alternatively, a non-religious person may attend a sectarian institution to gain knowledge about a religious or value based education
Conditional value deals with market choice decisions made contingent upon particular factors In many cases, the purchase choices people have made may have been very
different had the conditions surrounding their decision been different For example, the decision to attend a particular institution may be contingent upon a conditional factor as basic as whether the institution accepts or rejects the student Had a more prestigious university accepted a particular student, they may have chosen to attend that other college The world holds many Oxford, Harvard and Notre Dame wannabes Other conditional factors might be related to distance from home, financial aid, and
scholarships In today's economic environment it is not
uncommon to hear students opine that if they had received
more financial aid from a particular institution, they would
have matriculated there In summary, the combination of these five independent values as influencers of market
choices make up the SNG model of consumer choice The model routinely covers a greater number of possible variable
categories than normally considered in typical college
Trang 14This research study provides an exploratory test of the Sheth, Newman and Gross (1991) model of consumption values as applied to the area of college choice The essential
thesis of this research is that the SNG model will be able
to more accurately predict the attend/not attend decision of potential students than traditional approaches Therefore,
this study is set in the choice stage of the college selection process In order to conduct this preliminary test, one must select a sample of potential enrollees,
administer the SNG questionnaire, and analyze the data using the SNG and traditional approaches Included in the survey information must be the identification of group membership
(1.e., enroll/not enroll) by the respondent
For this study, 1000 students were contacted 500 who chose to attend Marquette and 500 who had canceled their
application The students were mailed a customized SNG
questionnaire with 88 specific items related to the SNG values and approximately 20 basic questions about
Trang 15exploratory test of the SNG model in a college choice setting
The above research procedure was specifically conducted to test the following five hypotheses:
H,: Market choice is a function of multiple consumption values
That market choice decisions are a function of multiple values is a fundamental premise of the SNG model The SNG
model identifies five different values that influence choice decisions Consumer choices are influenced to different
degrees by these various values depending upon the buying Situation The authors of the SNG model identify the five overriding values that may influence choice as functional, social, conditional, emotional, and epistemic In this research, this hypothesis is supported if the items break into several distinct factors when factor analysis is performed
H,: The SNG values (functional, social, conditional,
emotional and epistemic) exist and are independent of each other
The authors of the SNG model state that market choice
Trang 16The values will influence different choice situations
differently Some choice decisions may be influenced by only one value while most are influenced by two or more values Some choice situations are influenced by all five values [Sheth, Newman and Gross 1991] This hypothesis will test if these values do exist in college choice In this study, this hypothesis is supported if the components of the resulting factors seem to resemble the SNG values
Hạ: Each factor represents a differential contribution to choice determination
Given that market choices are a function of multiple
values, the contribution of each value must be considered
It is hypothesized that the five values of the SNG model make differential contributions to specific choice
decisions In other words, in specific decisions, some
values contribute more than others Collectively, each value provides additional information about the choice decision
Trang 17choice Therefore, for this specific research on the
college choice decision process, it is hypothesized that: H3,: The contribution of SNG functional value factors, to the explanation of variance in the college choice decision process, is greater than the contribution of the conditional value factors which in turn is greater than social value factors which is greater than the emotional value factors which is greater than the epistemic value factors (i.e., functional > conditional > social > emotional > epistemic)
Based upon a comprehensive literature review of the
college choice decision processes (see chapter one), it is hypothesized that functional and conditional values will contribute the most to the understanding of college choice decision behavior; social values will contribute the third greatest amount to the understanding of college choice decisions, followed by emotional and finally epistemic
values This ordering will be determined by the ranking of both discriminant weights and discriminant loadings
Trang 18This hypothesis is perhaps the essential thesis of this Study The rationale for this hypothesis is obvious The purpose of model building in Marketing is explanation and prediction [Hunt 1991] The pragmatic test of the SNG model is to see if it aids in the prediction of college choice decisions Discriminant analysis will be used on a holdout Sample of the data set to see if the SNG variables better Predict institutional choice than a "chance" categorization Hs: In terms of accurately predicting college choice, the SNG model will outperform a traditional model, using the same data set
The SNG model is a novel organizing mechanism This model includes factors (such as emotional and epistemic
values) not extensively examined in college choice research Given this additional information and the unique SNG
Organizing method, it is hypothesized that the SNG model will predict college choice as well as or better than more traditional methods of prediction, when using the same data set The prediction rates of a discriminant analysis using the SNG variables will be compared with a logistical
Trang 19Examination and Discussion of Hypotheses
The first two hypotheses are closely related H, holds that market choice is a function of multiple consumption
values H, states that all the values comprising the SNG model exist in this college choice setting These values
(again) are labeled as functional, social, conditional, emotional, and epistemic Factor analysis is conducted on all 88 variables from the questionnaire and the factors are examined Factors are simply a set of common underlying dimensions that summarize or represent multiple variables
[Hair, Anderson, Tathan and Black 1995] Although 23 factors were derived, it was difficult to interpret the results and label the factors To fully test this
hypothesis, confirmatory factor analysis should be
conducted However, to conduct factor analysis with this research, one would need an unrealistically large sample size of 19,580 Given the practical limitations of
conducting confirmatory factor analysis, the assumption that the values do exist was made, a fundamental premise of the SNG model Factor analysis was then conducted on each
Trang 20As detailed in chapter four, the SNG functional value, as based on this data set and the individual factor analysis results, is made up of six factors: Quality, Friendly,
Activities, Cost, Facilities, and Crime The SNG social value for this Marquette sample is composed of six factors: Achievers, Rich, Religious, Party, Quiet, and City The
conditional value is made up of three factors: Change in cost, Change in family, and Change in expectations There
are just two factors which make up the emotional value: Joy and Fear And finally, the epistemic value is represented by three factors: Curious, Interested, and Bored
With support for H limited and H, inconclusive, one may conclude that the values underlying the SNG model did not breakdown as cleanly as expected However, factor
analysis of the individual sections did produce factors that
were later useful in predicting college choice Thus with some qualification, this procedure gives college choice
researchers a new, comprehensive framework to apply at other institutions
Hypothesis three, H, states that each factor
contributes differentially to college choice More
specifically, H,, suggests the relative contribution of each factor based on the college choice literature It was
Trang 21importance, would be the functional value followed by
conditional, social, emotional, and epistemic value,
respectively Again, the ordering of the values was based
upon past research and the logical deduction of the
researcher
Discriminant analysis was now conducted The dependent variable was the decision to attend Marquette or to cancel
the application The independent variables were the factors
derived in the previously discussed individual factor analysis (20 factors total) Discriminant weights and
loadings were examined to determine the relative
contribution of each factor Discriminant analysis was
conducted on the entire sample (n=471) and on a series of 10 random samples in order to ensure the stability of the
results In other words, multiple holdout samples were selected from the data set to repeatedly test the
consistency of the discriminant analysis prediction Based
upon the discriminant analysis results across all samples, H,, was not supported The actual ordering for this
institutional data showed that emotional and epistemic
values played a much more dominant role than predicted and
Trang 22The fourth hypothesis, H,, holds that the SNG model will be able to predict group membership accurately Again, the overriding goal of this research project was to
determine if the SNG model could more accurately predict the attend/not attend decision of potential college students than traditional approaches
The discriminant analysis mentioned above was conducted
to test H, The results of the discriminant analysis
support the fourth hypothesis (H,) The SNG model was able to predict accurately the attend/not attend decision for Marquette University about 81% on average for the 10 sub- samples and approximately 70-83% of the time across all 10 holdout samples This is significantly better than simply assigning membership by chance which would result in a 62% accuracy of classification because 62% of the total sample actually chose to attend
Next is H, It states that the SNG model will
outperform the more traditional method of analysis The traditional method uses regression and is so designated
because regression is the statistical method so often chosen
to look for associations between assorted variables and
ultimate attendance at a particular college or university The traditional model used for comparison in this research
Trang 23commonly used in past college choice research (i.e., quality of an institution, cost of tuition, availability of
financial aid, etc.) The final logistical regression model included 16 variables The SNG model did in fact outperform the traditional model for this data set The logistical
regression model classified membership correctly 75% of the time on average (compared with 81% for the SNG model) This 1S significantly less (at 95% confidence level) than the SNG
model Hence H, was supported
Using the SNG Model to Help Understand College Choice Based on this exploratory study, the SNG model is a more comprehensive framework for understanding and
predicting college choice than has been previously seen in the higher education choice research The SNG model
encompasses many of the traditionally gathered college choice variables as well as adding new dimensions such as emotional and epistemic values The addition of these values along with the unique SNG approach of using social and conditional values, provides a more complete and
comprehensive look at college choice decisions
In addition, the pre-specified structure of the
recommended SNG questionnaire allows researchers to gather a lot of information in a way that is fairly easy on the
Trang 24contingency format, allows the researcher to test particular changes in variables such as cost, financial aid, programs, etc For example, the respondent can quickly and easily indicate at what point a change in tuition would cause them to revoke their decision to attend or not attend the
university The SNG format for conditional variables provides one way to judge the impact of tuition changes
without actually having to change the tuition and suffer the possible negative effects This approach could also be
utilized when determining financial aid amounts or possible changes in programs that are offered, etc
The research approach suggested by the SNG model can be conducted at all stages of the college choice process That is, a researcher could utilize this model at the "go-no go" stage to determine what values are most important in shaping whether students choose to go to college at all This model can be utilized at the choice set formation stage of the
decision process as well For example, researchers may be
interested in what values discriminate between groups of students who attend private versus public institutions And, of course, the SNG model can be applied, as it was in
Trang 25The SNG model can also be used within particular
institutions to shed light on other aspects of student choice such as the selection of a college or area of study
(i.e., nursing vs engineering vs business administration,
etc.) In fact, the SNG model could be utilized within each college to examine discipline choices, such as accounting vs
marketing, or electrical vs biomedical engineering And finally, the SNG model can be applied to graduate as well as undergraduate college choice decisions A particular
institution may likely find different values, represented by
different factors, playing different roles for graduate
choice decisions versus undergraduate choice decisions [Webb 1993] Based upon the outcomes of this research, university marketers can adjust their strategies and better meet the
needs of their market
Implications of this Research Study
Based on the results of this analysis of the college choice selection process of 471 students, one might
tentatively make the following observations
® The SNG model may be applicable to college choice The five SNG values were not found to independently exist, and further testing would have required an impractical
sample size However, the factors derived, when analysis of
Trang 26earlier discussion), do seem to be helpful to explaining college choice behavior
@ The SNG model suggests that at the choice stage of the college selection process, the emotional value and epistemic value are more important than choice literature
suggests
@ The statistical analysis of this study suggests
that the SNG model may be a better predictor than regression type analysis using the commonly studied college choice
variables in classifying likelihood to enroll
What does this research tell Marquette University? Are the result practical in nature? In a time of shrinking
resources, both financial and human, universities must
become more efficient and effective in recruiting students Utilizing the SNG model, colleges like Marquette can begin to reformulate its marketing strategies to better target and segment the marketplace by utilizing the evoked SNG values to distinguish it from the other institutions in the
student's choice set Marquette can emphasize the values students are most likely to use as discriminating variables between institutions With the knowledge gained from using the SNG model with their own students, colleges and
Trang 27their educational products, along with their pricing,
distribution, and promotion
For example, given the lack of support for H,,, and the new information that it brings, the university can begin to
utilize the prominence of emotional factors to adjust its
marketing strategies Specifically, Marquette could begin to better leverage the emotional value in its communications with accepted students These communications could stress
the joy or positive feelings surrounding the choice to
attend Marquette, while acknowledging and reducing the fear of making the decision to commit to this institution
Marquette could also reinforce positive emotional feelings once the student accepts and enrolls, in order to minimize the chance of transfer to another university
Although hypothesized to play a minor role, the
epistemic value was also relatively important to the final choice decision concerning attendance at Marquette
University Recall, the epistemic value deals with the "curiosity or novelty” that surrounds a product or service Based upon this information, Marquette University could begin to adjust its marketing strategies to stress the
Trang 28aspects of Marquette such as the faculty, programs, and students
Additionally, Marquette needs to develop creative ways to attract students who have been accepted to come to campus for a visit A campus visit gives prospective students the "taste" of Marquette needed to enhance the epistemic value and helps them internalize the "fit and feel" dimensions of institutional choice
Marquette can begin to enhance its image with accepted students now Emotional and epistemic values may be easier to change or adjust in the short term than say, the
Functional or social values To enhance the quality of an institution or to change the recreational facilities, both functional values, takes time and substantial resources Likewise, most students tend to choose institutions that have students similar to themselves [Kohn et al 1976; Radner and Miller 1970a 1970b], so social change of this variety would be naturally gradual and slow
Because this research suggests functional and social variables are possibly not as important as originally thought at the choice stage, Marquette may want to stress functional, conditional and social value aspects at the early stages of recruiting when students are beginning to
Trang 29applied and is accepted, the Office of Admissions at Marquette, or any similar institution, could begin to
integrate and stress the emotional and epistemic aspects of the university
Also, because the SNG approach is shown to have an encouraging (as compared to the logistical regression approach) prediction rate, this allows Marquette to focus its efforts and resources on those students that are "most
likely to attend" Marquette can drastically reduce
marketing efforts to those classified as "likely to cancel" Not only can this model be used in academic decisions as discussed, it can be applied to non-academic choice Situations as well Some of the choices that may benefit from the use of the SNG model involve housing decisions
(i.e., on campus/off campus; dorms/apartments; selection of
resident hall coed/single gender, etc.), club
participation (i.e., academic/social; athletic/non-athletic; etc.), selection and scheduling of courses, volunteer
activities, use of student services (i.e., counseling
center, advising center, career center, etc.), or choice of social activities (i.e., university sponsored or not;
Trang 30prior to investing time and money into less appreciated activities The SNG model provides information on all
variables in the marketing mix product, price, promotion, and distribution With it, institutions of higher education can better strategically segment and target their markets effectively and efficiently
Limitations of this Research
Like all research studies, this one has limitations While it provides considerable support for applying the SNG model to the analysis of college choice, cautions are in order First, this is a single institution study It is not clear that these results are generalizable to other colleges and universities However, there is reason to think that, while the items composing the SNG factors will
be different across institutions, the SNG model itself is
not applicable and useful
Second, this study was conducted with a sample of students, not 100% of the student applicants Again,
although the sample should provide a representative profile of applicant opinions, it is not entirely certain that these
results are generalizable to the entire Marquette student
Trang 31these results reflect the feelings and attitudes of subsequent incoming classes
Although factor analysis was conducted on all 88
variables and twenty three factors were derived, the results were extremely difficult to interpret Ideally confirmatory factor analysis would be conducted, however, the need for far fewer variables or an unrealistically large sample
(n=19,580), made it impractical for this study Instead, the fundamental premise that the factors do exist was assumed and the analysis progressed
In terms of the data set, there were some missing data in particular respondent files Although the amount of missing data is quite small, it is not clear why the
respondents chose to skip particular questions One wonders, if they had responded, would the results be
different? An additional concern with this research has to
do with low reliabilities of the factors that make up the
values Low reliabilities indicate lack of internal
consistency and may suggest that the items be left as individual items, not grouped into a factor
Trang 32of institutions applied to or accepted at, or quality of
athletic teams, could have been included Such variables
could possibly have strengthened the comparative (i.e., traditional) regression model One wonders, had this stronger model been created, would the SNG model still outperform (i.e., predict college choice better than) the
traditional method?
Conclusion
The SNG model appears to be a strong research tool that could be utilized in higher education choice decisions The data required by the model can be gathered on an annual
basis to ensure changes in the external environment are monitored Adjustments to the marketing strategy can then be made periodically with shifts in choice determinants
monitored over time Also, individual units on campus, such as the College of Business, ought to explore the use of the SNG model for input into their strategic plans For
example, the College of Business could utilize the model to determine what factors students use to select a major once enrolled at Marquette One may find that accounting majors
tend to utilize functional value items to make their
decision of major, while human resource majors rely mainly
on the social value items In conclusion, based on the data
Trang 33considerable promise as a framework for understanding
Trang 34Acknowledgments
Thank you to committee members, Dr Thomas Bausch, Dr David Buckholdt, Fr Michael Kurimay, S.J and particularly
Dr Srinivas Durvasula, who assisted me from various
countries around the world A special and grateful thank you goes to my committee Chair and dissertation advisor, Dr Gene Laczniak who pushed me when I needed it and supported me all the way
I'd also like to thank others in the Marquette
community who provided guidance and support along the way,
such as Dan Gemoll, Dr Jamshid Hosseini and Dr Steve
Crane Thanks to Fr Thaddeus Burch, S.J for his openness to the Interdisciplinary Program and his patience as I
progressed through
Trang 35TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables Chapter One Introduction Macro VS Micro
Macro level studies Micro level studies
Three Stages of College Choice Predisposition Economic Models Sociological Models Search Stage Final Choice Comprehensive Models of College Choice Conclusion Chapter Two Introduction The SNG model Multiple Values Functional Value Social Value Emotional Value Epistemic Value Conditional Value Differential Contribution Independence
Research Methods Applied to
College Choice Decision Making Limitations of the SNG model Utilizing the SNG model
Designing the Questionnaire Data Collection
Data Analysis
Trang 36The Sample Questionnaire Design Focus Groups Strengths and Weaknesses of Focus Groups Pre-testing of Questionnaire Data Set and Mailing Response Rate Data Entry
Testing of the Hypotheses
Data Analysis Specific to the SNG Model Conclusion
Chapter Four
Introduction
Multiple Values Hypothesis
Do the SNG Values Exist in College Choice? Is There a Differential Contribution
of the SNG Values?
Can the SNG Model Predict Group Membership Accurately?
Does the SNG Model Provide a Better Prediction of College Choice than the More Traditional Models?
Comparison of the SNG Model to the Traditional Model Conclusion
Chapter Five
Introduction
Summary of the Research
Examination and Discussion of Hypothesis What does the SNG Model’s Predictive Ability
Imply for Marquette University?
Why Utilize the SNG Model to Help Understand the College Choice Decision Process? Limitations of this Research
Suggestions for Use of the SNG Model at Marquette University and Elsewhere Conclusion
References
Appendix A Questionnaire
Trang 37List Table 1A of Tables Macro Studies in the area of College Choice Table 1B Preferred Information Sources By College Attribute Table 1C
Variables Utilized in Previous College Choice Research Table 1D Integrative Models of College Choice Table 4A Factor Composition for Functional Value Table 4B Factor Composition for Social Value Table 4C Factor Composition for Conditional Value Table 4D Factor Composition for Emotional Value Table 4E Factor Composition for Epistemic Value Table 4F Factor Analysis Results: Hypothesized SNG Values Hypothesized SNG Values Hypothesized SNG Values Hypothesized SNG Values Hypothesized SNG Values Eigenvalues and Percent of Variance Explained Table 4G
Trang 38Table 4I
Standard Canonical Discriminant Weights for Entire Sample & Discriminant Weights Across Samples
(In rank order) 141 Table 4J7 Rankings of the Factors Based on Discriminant Weights 145 Table 4K Discriminant Loadings for Entire Sample 147 Table 4L Rankings of the Factors Based on Discriminant Loadings 151 Table 4M SNG Model Discriminant Analysis Results 154 Table 4N
Is there a significant difference between the prediction rates of discriminant functions
Trang 39Introduction
Over the last 40 years much has been published in the higher education literature concerning the college selection process There are many reasons for this growing interest such as: the federal government's financial support of
higher education, a push to enhance the diversity of college student bodies, a shift in demographics which has changed the pool of college students, as well as a reduced number of college applicants [Paulsen 1990] Most recently, the
increased competition among colleges for potential students makes it crucial for colleges and universities to understand the selection process in order to develop better recruitment strategies [Kotler and Fox 1985] Such understanding will enhance the appropriate academic credentials of
matriculants, better match the student/institution fit and reduce the number of transfer/drop out students Therefore, colleges and universities have an obvious vested interest in understanding this decision process To this end, many
researchers have attempted to enlighten university
Trang 40Specifically, this review lays the groundwork for the
application of a consumer consumption model to the area of college selection
This general research review is organized in two main categories The first involves a distinction between macro and micro research Macro research deals with larger
environmental issues affecting college choice and micro research is geared toward variables affecting individual institutions The second distinction or organizing
mechanism is "by stage" in the college choice process This
refers to the point a student is at in the decision process The stages are first, deciding whether or not to attend an
institution of higher education; second, building a choice set of suitable institutions; and finally, the decision of which institution to attend
Macro VS Micro
The first distinction regarding the college choice
literature is between macro and micro studies of enrollment
Macro level studies
Such research pertains to studies that utilize aggregate student groups and focus on the environmental effects associated with the total enrollment for all