Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 - (Page 7)

Methodology between personal health and cleanliness. Literature Review There were nine empirical research studies identified that sought to discover whether there was a relationship between the condition of school buildings and student academic achievement. Each study was conducted in a K-12 school environment, and in all cases the academic achievement of students was measured by scores on standardized tests. Most of the studies were motivated to determine how the governing body should allocate funds to maintain and refurbish its schools. (Though other studies were identified, all referenced back to one or several of these nine seminal studies.) No studies were identified that conducted research for institutions of higher education, nor did the literature review identify studies that specifically measured a relationship between the cleanliness of the study environment and student academic achievement. These studies strongly support a positive correlation between school building conditions and student achievement (Berner, 1993; Berry, 2002; Cash, 1993; Earthman, 1995; Hines, 1996; Stevenson, 2001). Other variables, such as building age, student attendance, and teacher retention, were considered by various researchers (McGuffey, 1982; Stevenson et al., 2001; Buckley, 2005). However, the levels of cleanliness and the impact on a student’s ability to learn or performance were not addressed. [Ed. Note: The full research report with all cited references is available at www.appa.org.] APPA has membership from approximately 1,200 institutions of higher education, and there are about 4,500 institutions of higher education in the United States. An alphabetical database of APPA’s institutional members and representatives was initially used by the researchers with every 60th institution selected to participate in the study. The goal was to have 20 institutions participate in the 20-question survey. When an institution did not respond or otherwise declined to participate, researchers went to the next institution on the list. Each institution was asked to obtain clearance for the research from their respective institutional research board (IRB). Each institution was asked to either provide a list of e-mails of a random sample of students or to send the survey to a random sample of students at their institution. SurveyMonkey, an online survey instrument, was used to distribute and collect the surveys. Bigger and Campbell met with BYU students and later with Dianna Bisswurm (ISSA) in early April 2007 to clarify the direction of the project. When Campbell and Bigger met to direct the project, it was determined that the ideal methodology to measure student academic achievement would be to collect grade point averages from students (with the assistance of school registrars) based upon a random selection of students at participating institutions. However, we determined that issues of privacy would preclude this approach and that it would be too cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, it was decided to randomly select institutions, and then send surveys to their student body utilizing lists of e-mail addresses provided by the institution. In most (continued on next page) September 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 7 http://www.appa.org

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Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 Contents Executive Corner 2008 Salary Survey Results Strengthening Worker Safety in a High Throughput Laundry Frugal Housekeeper How CIMS Relates to You Feature Article The Green Scene The Un-Comfort Zone: What's Pushing Your Buttons? Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers’ Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008

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