EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Over half of the students reported going home four or more times last semester and about the same proportion had overnight guests in the Amherst area on three or more occasions. The most popular weekend activity among students was to attend a party in a house or apartment in the Amherst area; almost three-quarters of the respondents said that they attended such a party on at least three occasions last semester. The on-campus weekend activities in which students would be most likely to participate are concerts and movies; nine out of ten said they would attend concerts and eight out of ten said they would attend movies if they were offered on the weekend. Most students living with roommates do not report being annoyed by their roommates' overnight guests; however, those living on campus are more often annoyed by the overnight guests of floormates. Only eleven percent of students with roommates said they are often annoyed by their roommates' overnight guests, while twenty-three percent of students living in the residence halls said they are often annoyed by the overnight guests of floormates. Nine out of ten students use friends to help them figure out what to do on the weekends.
On Tuesday, October 10, 1995, Project Pulse conducted a telephone survey for the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. The survey was designed to investigate what activities students engage in on weekends and what currently unavailable weekend activities they would like to see offered. Interviewers utilized a sample of 1459 undergraduates who were randomly selected from the entire population of sophomores, juniors and seniors. Interviewers successfully contacted 645 students, and 521 (80.7%) agreed to be interviewed. The final disposition of the sample is presented in Table 1 and the demographic characteristics of the sample are displayed in Table 2. Sampling error for the survey is plus or minus approximately 4% at the 95% level of confidence.
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Table 1: Final Disposition
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|
|
N
|
% of Total
|
% of Contacted
|
| In & Cooperated |
521
|
35.7
|
80.7
|
| Contacted, but refused |
124
|
8.5
|
19.3
|
| Not contacted |
538
|
36.9
|
|
| Unobtainable phone Number |
270
|
18.5
|
|
| Ineligible |
6
|
0.4
|
|
| Totals |
1,459
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
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Table 2: Sample Demographics
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|
N
|
%
|
|
| Female |
273
|
52.5
|
| Male |
247
|
47.5
|
| Sophomore |
169
|
32.5
|
| Junior |
187
|
36.0
|
| Senior |
158
|
30.4
|
| Off-campus resident |
213
|
41.0
|
| On-campus resident |
308
|
59.0
|
| Average age = 20.9 years | ||
The survey contained three batteries of questions. In the first battery, students who attended UMass last semester were read a list of weekend activities and asked how many weekends last semester they engaged in each activity (out of a total of 13 weekends). Over half of the students (52.6%, n=231) went home four or more times last semester and about the same proportion (50.8%, n=223) had overnight guests in the Amherst area on three or more occasions. Figure 1 displays the responses to these two questions.
Four out of ten students (42.7%, n=227) attended at least one weekend event in the Student Union/Campus Center Complex last semester; however, only 5.5% (n=24) attended weekend events in the Complex on more than five occasions. Only thirty-three percent of the students (n=145) went to the Bluewall at least once on the weekend last semester. A little over a quarter of the students (27.8%, n=122) played racquetball or went ice skating on the weekend at the Mullins Center last semester.
Three-quarters of the students (75.2%, n=330) went to a weekend UMass sporting event last semester; about one quarter (23.5%, n=103) went on more than five occations. Fewer than a quarter of the students (23.2%, n=102) went to a health club in the Amherst area last semester. Eighty-seven percent of the students (n=381) went to an off-campus movie last semester and 23% (n=101) went five times or more.
Respondents were asked about their visitation of Amherst area bars or clubs as well as their attendance at parties in a variety of locations. Forty percent of the students (n=173) said they never went to an off-campus bar or club on a weekend last semester, 17% (n=74) said they went once or twice, and another 23% (n=101) said they went between three and six times. Over one-third of the students (36.4%, n=160) did not attend a party in a UMass residence hall last semester, however, one quarter (24.4%, n=107) said they attended parties in the halls on at least six weekends. More than half of the students (52.4%, n=230) said they did not attend a weekend party in a fraternity or sorority last semester. Two-thirds of the students (66.5%, n=292) did not attend an on-campus party at Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, or Mt. Holyoke College last semester. Sixteen percent of the students (n=68) did not attend a party in a house or apartment in the Amherst area last semester, while 42.6% (n=187) said they attended Amherst area parties on at least six weekends.
All respondents (whether they were at UMass last semester or not) were asked the questions in the second battery. In this battery, respondents were read a list of activities not currently available on weekends and asked how likely they would be to attend or participate in each of them if they were made available. Figure 3 presents the proportion of students who would be "very" or "somewhat likely" to attend or participate in various activities if they were available on campus on weekends.
Most students living with roommates do not report being annoyed by their roommate's overnight guests. Only eleven percent of students with roommates (n=46) said they were annoyed "very" or "somewhat often" by their roommate's overnight guests. Those living with roommates in the residence halls are more often annoyed by the overnight guest of their floormates. Twenty-three percent of students living with roommates in the residence halls (n=65) reported being annoyed "very" or "somewhat often" by the overnight guests of floormates.
The final battery in the survey contained questions about the sources of information students use to find out what there is to do on the weekends. Students rely almost entirely on their friends for this information. Responses to these questions are presented in Figure 4.