Student Experiences During Trying Times in Academia: Mixed Methods Survey Design and Administration

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Students’ Experiences, Struggles, and Motivation in Turbulent Academic Times

Abstract

As the first step preceding survey design, research literature was thoroughly examined, to determine which aspects of students’ academic performance, motivation, and mental health have been studied and how. Relying on existing surveys of student experiences, self-determination theory, and such aspects of mental health as perceived stress, sleep deprivation, and cell phone addiction, our research team has designed and pilot-tested a survey of students, making some changes and scale-of-measurement adjustments where appropriate. This anonymous survey was administered to students at a mid-size university in the Northeast. Thanks to a reasonably high response rate and demographic diversity, the survey responses are representative of a wide variety of student sociodemographic categories in this area of the United States. The findings illuminate several important aspects of current students’ experiences and struggles in the turbulent academic times: the post-COVID carryover of learning and social losses from a few years before and now studying amidst the generative AI disruption of normal academic processes.

Author

• Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo, University of New Haven