In the Eyes of the Beholder: Students’ Degree of Satisfaction with Traditional versus Suite Style Residence Halls

摘要

This study aims at comparing the degree of students’ satisfaction in relationship with traditional and suite style residence halls. A sample population of 209 students residing in four traditional and suite style residence halls participated in the survey from April to June 2015. The questionnaire consisted of 15 items. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17.0 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe some demographic information of the sample. To test the hypothesis, an independent sample t-test was used to analyze the data. Following the data analysis, a series of interviews were conducted with 20 students. The results of quantitative data showed that suite style residents were less satisfied with their housing. Analyzing the interviews revealed that even though the suit style residents had enjoyed a better design, physical condition and maintenance compared to their counterparts from the traditional residence halls, they held higher expectations about the hall environments and felt that reality were short of their expectations.