Qualitative Analysis of Student Preferences Modalities

Context & Background

For the past two years, college courses have been primarily online. As the option to return to classrooms becomes more realistic, my colleagues and I wanted to learn about student preferences for online versus in-person teaching.

I entered this project as a professor of vocational communication, and I wanted to get a sense of students' preferences for in-person versus online classes. I also wanted to understand students’ perceptions of which modes they found the most effective.

I helped create the Qualtrics survey and analyzed the data we gathered, specifically the open-ended questions where students expressed their thoughts.

The goal of this research was to get a sense of which modes stakeholders prefer, with hopes that our analysis will catalyze the university to offer students the modalities that students prefer.

Reflections & Recommendations

Students have a strong affinity for online courses, especially ones with prerecorded lectures.
Students with established careers prefer the flexibility of online courses.
Commutes and work schedules were the largest factors impacting students' choice of modality
Younger students prefer in-person classes.
We understand what factors of all class modalities lead to student satisfaction and student perception of effectiveness. Subsequently, we can hopefully integrate these qualities into our classes.
The university should continue to offer classes in various modalities (in-person, online, hybrid) to accommodate all students' needs.

Timeline

The survey was available for two weeks
We spent two weeks analyzing the data

Research Goals

Get a sense of student preferences for class formats (in-person, online, hybrid, etc.)
Learn about the factors that influence these preferences
Get a sense of which formats students perceive to be the most effective

Methodology

For this project, we utilized several forms of qualitative research

Qualtrics Survey: Our survey contained a Likert scale for scoring their preferences and perceptions

Qualitative Analysis:
After students responded, we conducted a qualitative analysis on the correlations between format preference, mentions of professional obligations, fear of Covid, etc.

Recruitment

All of the students surveyed were business majors and enrolled in the department’s communication course. The Business Communication course is the class with the most variability in the available formats. Students were offered a small amount of extra credit as an incentive.

Sample Questions and Tasks

We issued a Qualtrics survey, and students were asked about their desired class formats, demographic info, and the reasons behind their preferences. Additionally, I performed a qualitative analysis on question 33, which read:

“Please tell us anything else you would like us to know about your online and/or in-person learning experiences.”

Impact

We have presented our findings to the college administration in hopes that they will schedule classes accordingly and based on student needs. These findings have already impacted how the college of business will schedule its communication courses. We hope the other departments on campus will also consider our results as they facilitate future classes.

While unilateral scheduling is out of our control, our data has given us insight into the pain points of online education and as instructors, we can use this data to attend to these points of friction:

Having a robust presence beyond recorded lectures (e.g., office hours, facilitating study groups)
Implementing instructor presence across platforms, such as Teams, Discord, etc.
Connecting students with campus resources such as tutoring, financial aid, health services