Understanding the Relationship Between Students’ Sense of Belonging in High School and College

My project is a focus on the relationship regarding sense of belonging as someone moves to College from High School. So in other words, what affects the sense of belonging in college students and what affects the sense of belonging in high school students and is there a correlation? I focused on this topic because there was some research on college sense of belonging, less research done on high school sense of belonging, and almost no research done on correlating this information. So I began with gathering information on each survey participant and moved on to asking them questions related to their sense of belonging in college, sense of belonging in high school, and asking them to compare their sense of belonging between these 2 time periods. Creating a collection of responses based on varying factors found in the demographic questions.

[Title] Hello there, my name is Dhruv Dewan and this is a video regarding an OSCAR funded research project that I am currently in the process of concluding. A quick little introduction about me, I am a junior in the Honors college studying finance. So now that’s over let’s get into what the project is about.

[Next Slide] My project is a focus on the relationship regarding sense of belonging as someone moves to College from High School. So in other words, what affects the sense of belonging in college students and what affects the sense of belonging in high school students and is there a correlation? I focused on this topic because I realized that I had a decrease in my sense of belonging as I came to college but other people had an increase. Trying to see if there was a correlation, I realized that there was some research on college sense of belonging, less research done on high school sense of belonging, and almost no research done on correlating this information. As such, I wanted to be the first one to do such research.

[Next Slide] So I began with gathering information on each survey participant and moved on to asking them questions related to their sense of belonging in college, sense of belonging in high school, and asking them to compare their sense of belonging between these 2 time periods. Creating a collection of responses based on varying factors found in the demographic questions. Sadly because I am still concluding the survey, there is little to no analysis done at the moment.

[Next Slide] Now, what can we do with this information? Hopefully later down the line this information can be transmitted into a test for High School students that will be able to inform students what college may be best for their sense of belonging. However, of course, this is if we can find a correlation and do a lot more research. I hope that this research can be done in multiple countries and we can compare if there is a difference among borders.

[Next Slide] This research project couldn’t have been completed without some help. So thank you to Dr. Blake Silver, Dr. Karen T Lee, URSP, and finally OSCAR for funding this project. Thank you for listening!