experience working as an RA, over 50% did not feel as if they did. The things RA's like most about their jobs is the relationship they build and the interaction with people Recommendations a survey should be created that gets at the heart of the problem as to why RA'S are not returning and examines more specific aspects of the job. The survey needs to be administered during a neutral time in the semester. Consider that the data may have to be recoded when you create your questionnaire and design it accordingly. The Department needs to examine training and try and open up communication within the department They need to try and recognize the RA's more and try build upon that relationship they have with their peers
Resident Assistant Survey Results Introduction The New Mexico State University Department of Housing and Residence Life (the Department)is charged with the enormous responsibility of providing housing for the over 3, 000 students that choose to reside on campus. More than just providing a room to stay in, the Department strives to provide students with a well-rounded living experience by encouraging them to get involved in a community, take responsibility for their actions, and challenges them mentally by supplementing the students'education through the availability of quality educational, social, and informational programs The Departments main resource in implementing their goals is the Resident Assistant(RA). The RAs responsibilities are broad and range from enforcing Universit and Housing policies to serving as a mentor and a counselor to the residents in their hall Each RA is responsible for a floor or building in their hall and can have anywhere from 35 to 75 residents. There are seven different residence halls on campus. Alumni, Garcia, and Vista del monte are the biggest, Greek Complex and the Women's Residence center are medium sized facilities and Regents row and Rhodes-Garrett-Hamiel are the smallest facilities. The ra is in charge of the rooms on his or her floor and the residents /ho reside in those rooms. The ra is encouraged to get to know each and every resident and to foster a sense of community among them Having been an Ra for nearly three years, one of the biggest complaints I have heard from my supervisors is that the retention rate for RA's is very low. The department
spends a lot of time training and developing their RA's and a returning RA can be considered a very valuable commodity by the Department. The turnover rate being so high forces the department to almost literally start from scratch at the beginning of each Fall semester The purpose of this project was to survey current RA's and try to determine why the retention rate is so low. In order to ensure that I had the most information possible and that i did not bias the results I surveyed all the RAs employed by the Department This project aimed to discover how satisfied RAs are with their job correlated with different aspects of their job and why or why not ra's would choose to leave the Department as an employee. I feel this project was worth doing because the information it provided can be a useful tool for the Department in trying to increase the ra retention rate and become a stronger, more marketable employer Objectives The objectives of this project were broken down into several key factors that set the scene for the purpose of this study. In order to answer the research question, the following objectives were established To determine if RA's felt comfortable with the scope of their job and their responsibilities To determine how RA's perceive they are being treated To determine how ras feel about training
To determine positive and negative aspects of the Ra job as they perceived them To determine how satisfied RAs are with their job To determine why RA's leave their job Methodology This project consisted of exploratory research conducted through a survey of all 60 RA's currently employed by the NMSU Department of Housing and Residence Life A structured questionnaire survey design was used because it was a convenient and inexpensive way to collect the data that was needed. The questionnaire contained 35 questions, four of which were open-ended. The questions on the survey were formulated after an interview with a small group of former RA's and current RA's. The small group was asked what aspects of the job they did/didn't like, what they thought were strengths/weaknesses of the department, and why they quit their job or why they decided to stay The survey was distributed in person at the weekly staff meeting of the individual hall. Respondents were instructed to completely fill out each questionnaire and to take their time in answering the questions. There was a 100% response rate making this project a complete census of the target group. Each question on a returned survey was verified to be answered completely and correctly. The statistical methods used to analyze the data were obtained through the SPSS Statistical Analysis Computer Program Through the use of the SPSS program, frequency and cross tabulation data was generated reflecting the results of the survey