Peer Interaction and Learning in Compositionally Diverse Residence Halls
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ABSTRACT Title of Document: PEER INTERACTION AND LEARNING IN COMPOSITIONALLY DIVERSE RESIDENCE HALLS Nancy Diane Young, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed By: Dr. Jeffrey F. Milem, Professor, University of Arizona This collective case study investigated how peer interactions occurred in two racially and ethnically diverse, first year residential communities at a mid sized public research university. For each case, minority students from two or more racial or ethnic identities composed at least 40% of the floor’s population. The study provides descriptions of diverse peer interactions and subsequent learning outcomes as described by residents. Characteristics and conditions which support or impede diverse peer interactions and impact learning are suggested. Anxious to make friends and seeking support to reach academic goals, first year students developed relationships with other residents in close proximity to them regardless of perceived differences before later branching out to form relationships outside of the floor. The strategies residents used to interact with diverse peers and included: 1) participating in neutral activities, 2) finding similarities, and 3) joking. By observing the living environments and actions of diverse others and by participating in neutral activity residents discovered hidden similarities. Residents in these diverse environments avoided serious conversations about race and ethnicity instead navigating diverse peer relationships by joking about differences. Prior diversity experiences, heightened emotions and desire for friends influenced students’ initial comfort with diverse peer interaction, but over time students with and without prior diversity experience engaged in diverse peer interaction due to diverse composition of floor and expectations of sustained contact. By living in close or intimate quarters with others different from themselves, residents encountered simple cultural differences. Observations of similarities and simple differences stimulated questions and conversations. Curiosity, proximity and increased comfort allowed students to encounter new values and beliefs creating both confusion and excitement. Diverse peer observations and interactions facilitated a variety of desirable learning outcomes including increased openness to diversity, willingness to consider new ideas, reduction of prejudice and stereotyping, increased perspective taking, better listening and communication skills and an increased willingness to compromise and act with polite consideration of others. Interacting with diverse peers in a compositionally diverse residence community provided the challenges necessary to prompt new ways of seeing the world. PEER INTERACTIONS AND LEARNING IN COMPOSITIONALLY DIVERSE RESIDENCE HALLS By Nancy D. Young Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2007 Advisory Committee: Professor Jeffrey F. Milem, Chair Professor Sharon L. Fries-Britt Professor Karen K. Inkelas Professor Susan R. Komives Professor Diane M. Lee © 2007 Nancy Diane Young To Angela Ora Massey Kim Wisner ii Acknowledgements Many people supported me while I pursued my education and conducted this research. Donna and Harry Young were my first teachers. I thank them for creating my insatiable thirst for learning and books, for modeling community involvement, and for understanding each time I postponed a visit in order to write. It is wonderful to have supportive family. I am grateful to Wayne, Angie, Mandy, Michael and Amy for feigning interest in my work, making me laugh, understanding when I missed birthdays and football games and still coming out to celebrate when I was done. Michael, thank you for understanding each time a task took longer than expected, for quick visits and for refusing to play until I was done. You know better than most how challenging it was for me to focus and your encouragement helped me to stay on track. From the trail in West Virginia to the day of my defense, I appreciate your willingness to travel this path with me. Kim, thank you for holding down the fort both the first and second time I attempted this task. Your postcards and words of wisdom meant much. Few people get to share their life’s work with a friend and colleague who is at once both intellectually challenging and playful. Thanks for knowing what I needed. Thanks also to Kim, the AVP for Residential Education, for approving and supporting this research. Thanks to Suzanne, Mary Jo, and Frankie (and Lily, Sydney and Julia) for dealing with my MIA behavior and for listening to my never ending tales of dissertation woe. Thank you for asking about my work without asking why it took so long. You are my second family and I am grateful for your support. Few people have better neighbors than I do. Heartfelt thanks go to Joe and Janet for asking about my progress, cutting my lawn and sending me food. Your cards and support meant much and your gifts of chores and dinners allowed me to focus on work. Sue, your careful transcription of data and timely turn around of interview tapes kept me moving when the typing became overwhelming. As when we worked together, your professionalism and care made my life much easier during this process. It was comforting to have an old friend along. Thanks to the Jazz crew, Dick, Karla, Ehren, Mark and Steve for your flexibility with the race schedule and for the Thursday night sailing breaks. Yes, Captain Dick, I’m finished. Thanks for your good humor, support and laughter even when you were certain I’d never finish. iii Mark, Yvette and Dale for lunch time laughs and the encouragement to make it down the home stretch. Particular thanks to Dale for his assistance with case and participant selection. Lorenzo, thanks for sharing your dissertation and for helping me to process along the way. Your insights gave me greater confidence in these findings. Thank you to the Residential Life family. I appreciate your patience with my stress and distraction. Many of you provided support day in and day out, before, after and during this process. The sad part of finishing is moving across the field to a new space. I’m glad you’re not too far away. There are many teachers, colleagues and mentors who helped me to define my scholarly interests and to refine my administrative and leadership skills. Linda Clement and Dru Bagwell showed me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would not have chosen an academic career without their models of what an educator could and should be. I am appreciative of Anne Pruitt, Bob Rodgers and Bob Silverman for their early influence and guidance. Lee Kneflkamp and Dick Chait helped me to see what I wasn’t yet able to see in myself and inspired me to remain in higher education during difficult transitions. Bob Birnbaum Tot Woolston taught me that being patient and kind is as important as being quick to action. Freeman Hrabowski gave me the opportunities necessary to synthesize a lifetime of lessons. Without his supportive push, I doubt this dissertation would be done. More importantly, he helped me to see both who I already am and what I could become. Most importantly, Jeff Milem welcomed me back to the EDPL program and took me on as his advisee when there was no one else able or willing to do so. In hindsight, it was a fortunate accident of timing and luck. In the beginning, he challenged me to learn more than I wanted to and in the end I still wanted to learn more. Thank you for helping me to start over, for listening and adapting. I am also appreciative of my committee, Diane Lee, Sharon Fries-Britt, Karen Inkelas and Susan Komives for their contributions to my intellectual growth. I am indebted to each of them. Finally, heart felt thanks to the participants who shared their time, thoughts and experiences with me. I am a better practitioner because you took the time to help me understand your world. I came to admire each of you for different reasons – you each have something very special to offer to the world. Together you make me optimistic about the future. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication. .ii Acknowledgements . iii Chapter One: Introduction Introduction to the Problem. 1 Purpose of the Study . 5 Importance of the Problem and Need for Study . 6 Implications for Theory and Practice . 12 Overview of Research Methodology. 16 Definition of Key Terms . 18 Chapter Two: Literature Review on Diverse Peer Interactions and Learning Introduction to the Literature Review . 22 Personal and Historical Context: Development, Learning, Peer Interaction and Diversity . 24 Foundational Frameworks: Peer Influence, Peer Interaction and College Outcomes . 28 Feldman and Newcomb . 28 Pascarella and Terenzini. 31 Astin . 34 Post-1990's Research: Diverse Peer Interactions and Learning Focus of Recent Research . 36 Out-of-Class Experiences, Peer Interaction and Learning. 37 Diverse Peer Interaction and Learning Outcomes . 44 Residential Role in Facilitating Diverse Peer Interaction and Learning . 62 Conditions Facilitating Diverse Peer Interactions and Learning . 67 Institutional and residential culture . 70 Institutional and residential climate. 73 Cross racial contact . 76 Learning and cognitive dissonance . 79 Conceptual Model: Summary and Overview . 84 Chapter Three: Methods Introduction and Research Questions . 88 Design and Methodology. 89 Sample and Cases. 92 Data Collection. 96 Data Analysis . 104 Trustworthiness . 107 v Chapter Four: Institutional Context and Case Descriptions Introduction to the Case Context . 112 Institutional Context. 112 Residential Context. 128 Case Context. 136 Summary. 141 Chapter Five: Findings Introduction to Interview Findings. 143 Participant Background Information . 143 Findings: Research Question One. 168 Findings: Research Question Two. 211 Findings: Research Question Three. 254 Summary. 280 Chapter Six: Discussion and Implications Introduction. .. 283 Implications for Theory . 283 Implications for Practice. 306 Implications for Future Research . 313 Limitations . 317 List of Tables . vii List of Figures . .viii Appendices Appendix A: Solicitation. 321 Appendix B: Demographic Data.