Student perceptions of safety on the campus of Tennessee State University
Abstract
Purpose. This research attempts to present an analysis of student perceptions of crime safety as it relates to the campus of Tennessee State University. These perceptions were also compared to perceptions of staff and faculty. Research Question: The primary research question for this thesis is do student perceptions differ from those perceptions of staff and faculty? Data and methodology. A survey was administered to the students, staff, and faculty of Tennessee State University with a response rate of 77 percent. The survey data was then entered into SPSS for the analysis. The statistical method employed in this research used Spearman’s rho. Findings. Five null hypotheses were constructed in this research to be tested. Analysis of the data revealed findings that failed to reject four and rejected one of the null hypotheses. The independent variables measured were; gender, participants, classification, hometown residency, and whether a student lived on or off campus, and would they have a statistical significance at the p<.05 level in correlation with the ten dependant variables. The data was submitted to Cronbach’s alpha; however the alpha level did not achieve the standard generally accepted for social science of .70, so each independent variable was individually correlated with the ten dependent variables. A secondary analysis was conducted on statement 10 on the survey which was a summation of the participant’s feelings about the overall safety on the Tennessee State University campus measured on a scale of 1 to 10. The findings revealed a mean level of 5.77, which leaned toward the high crime perception. Limitations. In this study limitations included; research limited to one university, small sample, and convenience sampling which all affected the external validity of the study. Studies. Future studies were recommended in the area of seeking a larger sample, perhaps a comparative study with other universities in the Middle Tennessee area. Also future researchers can seek studies based on gender only, or more concentration on those students who reside on campus.
Subject Area
School administration|Criminology|Higher education
Recommended Citation
Jasper J Beard,
"Student perceptions of safety on the campus of Tennessee State University"
(2010).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI1476477.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI1476477