The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 199

Paraprofessional Staff in Transition

survey. This evidence suggests that items
within each factor are consistent with each
other to a predictable degree.
The survey included 10 questions related to
participant proﬁles and 100 questions related
to perceptions. Responses were self-reported
by the RA completing the survey. The proﬁle
questions were demographic or contextual
items that include gender, ethnicity/nationality, class standing, semesters as an RA, cumulative GPA, number of hours committed
to academics and the RA position, gender of
residence life ﬂoor, number of students the RA
is responsible for, and intentions to return to
the position. All proﬁle questions were multiple choice. Perception questions measuring aspects of satisfaction and perceptions
of effectiveness were developed to measure
15 factors. Satisfaction questions relate to the
RA selection process, expectations of the position, training, supervision, working/living
conditions, impact on resident behavior, hall
policies, facilities, and overall satisfaction.
Questions regarding effectiveness relate to
students' responsibility and cooperation, their
self-management and values, and enhancing
student awareness. All perception questions
use a 7-point Likert type scale with 1 being very
dissatisﬁed and 7 being very satisﬁed. A third
option, NA (not applicable), was also available
for all questions except for the four items used
to measure overall satisfaction.
Institutional proﬁle questions were administered with the RA survey and included
questions about the institutional characteristics (Carnegie class, state, ACUHO-I region,
enrollment), questions speciﬁc to the institution's residence life program (number of residence halls, number of RAs, total residents),

and questions about the availability of auxiliary services (dining services, maintenance,
laundry). Institutional proﬁle questions were
completed by an administrator at the institution rather than the RA.
The RA survey was distributed to the RAs,
who participated without academic or monetary compensation. Participating institutions
had the liberty to distribute their surveys to
resident assistants in the method they preferred. Options could have included, but were
not limited to, campus mail or during a staff
meeting. Personally identiﬁable information
was not requested in the survey, thus maintaining anonymity and conﬁdentiality. Completed surveys were shipped to EBI for scoring.

RA training for a sophomore
RA evolves into preparation to
navigate their transition into and
through their sophomore year.

Electronic scanning equipment was used to
collect the participants' responses; the absence
of individual rater inconsistencies through automated collection is a reliable procedure for
scoring (Cronbach & Furby, 1970).
The current study utilized 10 of 15 available factors in the RA survey, which coincided
with the factors identiﬁed as relevant in the
literature. The composition of the 10 factors
was based on 76 questions on the RA survey.
The remaining three factors of interest-
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1