Abstract:
The present study was used to compare the Honors College related expectations of students to their resulting satisfaction levels. The study collected data based on incoming freshmen's expectations of and satisfaction with general honors experience, honors residence life, honors program, and academic life. Surveying incoming students and collecting self-report information at the time of their experience are beneficial methods when trying to determine expectations without elapsed time biasing the reports. A pretest - posttest design with a six-month time period between questionnaire responses was used in this type of comparison to reduce error and increase internal validity. Based on the established connection of first-year student expectation to satisfaction levels (Athiyaman, 1997), it was hypothesized that the Subjective Disconfirmation Theory (Oliver, 1977) would interact with the relationship between expectation and satisfaction. Results indicated that only one of the four categories evaluated displayed the hypothesized relationship. Further research is needed to explore additional theoretical connections, discern more specific categories to be evaluated, and collect from multiple orientation formats.
