And Discussion - Research Paper Example

86 (95.6%) of these attended class on campus, and 4 (4.4%) studied off campus. 67 (74.4%) students travelled to the campus using a personal vehicle while 23 (25.6%) used public transport. Of the students recruited to the study, 32 (35.5%) belonged to the Christian faith, 23 (25.5%) were Atheists, 20 (22.2%) were Agnostic, 3(3.3%) followed Hinduism, 2 (2.2%) followed Buddhism, 1 (1.1%) was Wiccan and 9 (10%) chose not to respond. 82 (91.1%) students responded that they did enjoy being at the University; while 7 (7.8%) said that they did not. 1 (1.1%) chose not to respond.

When asked to respond to how much they enjoyed University, 32 (35.6%) said that they only enjoyed it somewhat; 48 (53.3%) said Quite a lot, and 10 (11.1%) responded that they enjoyed it totally. When asked how important they found having a sense of community 4 (4.4%) found it not important at all, 3 (3.3%) found it not very important; 31 (34.4%) found it somewhat important, 37 (41.1%) found it important, 12 (13.3%) found it very important and 3 (3.3%) chose not to respond. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 57 years, with a mean age of 27.

58 years and an SD of 9.3 years. The SES ranking ranged from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 98; the mean ranking was 64.93 with an SD of 24.37. The subjects were found to spend from 3 to 40 hours on campus; the mean time spent on campus being 13.43 hours with an SD of 8.06 hours. The students were found to have a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 50 friends on campus; the mean being 9.16 with an SD of 8.17. Statistical tests were conducted to understand the relationships between these variables. A correlation conducted to test the relationship between the number of friends a person had and the importance they attached to having a sense of community was found to be significant at the 0.

01 level [ r (85) = 0.348; p < 0.01 two-tailed]. The relationship between the age of the participants and the extent to which they enjoyed University was also found to be significant [p (88) = 0.289; p < 0.01 two tailed]. The correlation computed to test the relationship between the primary location of study and the importance associated with a sense of community was not significant [p (85) = 0.041; NS]. The relationship between the number of friends and the extent to which the subject enjoyed University was also not significant [p (88) = -0.031; NS]. The relationship between the time spent in Australia and the extent to which the subject enjoyed University was also not significant [p (88) = 0.173; NS]. The independent t – test conducted to test if gender did affect the extent to which students enjoyed University was found to be not significant [t (88) = 1.548; NS]. On the other hand, the independent t-test that checked if gender did affect the extent of importance attached to the sense of community was slightly significant, missing the 0.

05 level of significance marginally [t (85) = - 1.785; p < 0.07 two tailed]. The t-test conducted to verify if location of study affected the sense of importance of community were insignificant [t (85) = -0.382; NS]; as was the t-test to verify if the location of study affected the extent to which the student enjoyed University [t (88) = 0.018; NS]. The data collected from the focus group interviews was recorded verbatim and then analysed using the Leximancer profile; and the data thus gleaned was interpreted according to the context in which the verbatim reports were collected –