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The Culture Between DPS and Bryant Students

What defines how Bryants students interact with DPS?

Lindsey Carman, Kaitlyn Graham, Loren Torres

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Disclaimer
This material is based upon work supported by Bryant University. Any opinions, findings,
conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bryant
University, its employees, or its administration.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION 4
Thesis 4
Purpose of the study 4
SECTION 2: PROCEDURES TOWARDS DATA
4
Theoretical framework 4
Key Terms and Variables 5
SECTION 3: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
6
SECTION 4: DATA
8
Research Methods 8
Data Collection 8
Our sample 8
Analysis 9
SECTION 5: CONCLUSION 13
Surprising Results 13
Internal and External Validity 14
Final conclusion 15
Possible Errors 15
Why does this matter? 16
Appendices and Bibliography:
Bibliography 17
Codebook
IRB Proposal
Consent Form
Interviews
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Introduction:

The Bryant University Department of Public Safety, DPS, is a set of twenty five men and

women who work as a part of the services-oriented branch of the universitys Student Affairs

Division. The 3,500 students of Bryant University relate to this Department in different ways,

ranging from admiration to extremely negative perceptions.

Our ethnographic team has investigated the relationship between the students and DPS

Unit through a series of interviews, surveys, and fieldwork observation sessions. After collecting

data, there were clear correlations between what types of students we interviewed, and their

perceptions of DPS.

Thesis:

Students that participate more in the campus community have more positive perceptions

of Bryants Department of Public Safety.

Purpose of Study:

Through conducting the study, our ethnographic research team aspired to understand the

cause of the wide range of students perceptions of DPS. On one end, students view DPS with

gratitude and respect, conversely, other students see DPS as a useless entity that negatively

impacts Bryants campus. The purpose was to determine what leads to such a disparity between

the students perceptions of DPS.

Theoretical Framework:

The study of The Culture between Bryant Students and DPS initially began as an

exploratory study. Our idea to work on the students perceptions of DPS stemmed from the

previous class project involving Brown and Bryant, where two of our group members compared

the public safety on both campuses. Out of that project we created the idea of studying DPS on
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Bryants campus. There was no definite goal; but it was aspired to gain a more indepth

understanding. Shortly, a series of interrelated concepts formed into a theory that could be

studied. We formed a theoretical framework to guide our research and determine what to

measure, what relationships to look for, and how to conduct our interviews and jot-notes.

Key Terms and Variables:

The case for our study was mainly the student body and their opinions on DPS, but there

was also an in-depth interview with DPS to gain a deeper understanding of their department.

The independent variable is the students participation levels on campus. This could

include being academically motivated, club involvement, greek life, sports, or academic clubs

etc. The dependent variable is how students perceive DPS. The independent variable is

predictive of the students perception of DPS.

Definitions:

Involvement: the investment of physical and psychological investment that a student puts

into the collegiate environment

DPS: The Department of Public Safety is a branch of Bryant University Student Affairs

Division that is service oriented. DPS is a group of 25 men and women that assist the

community campus with a variety of services including enforcement of local, state, and

federal laws, as well as campus rules and regulations.

Student organization: a group of students that are registered with Bryant to be a

sanctioned extracurricular activity

GPA: grade point average. An assumed indicator of academic success

Written up: a frequent occurrence on campus. When an officer reports a students

misconduct
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Review of Literature:

No studies were found that specifically looked at how students campus involvement

affected their social construct of DPS. However, several articles were found that related Student

participation in college and their growth and development.

In a Purdue University Study, the relationship between Undergraduate student activity

and academic performance was compared. Through their research, Purdue University concluded

that student involvement on campus enhances the overall college experience and the

development of transferable skills for undergraduate students (7 Purdue). These skills include

better social skills, higher retention rates, more confidence, and overall more success. Not only

that, but the study was able to show that although students may put in more hours to campus

involvement, they usually have higher GPAs. This study was conducted in the fall of the Purdue

2009 Semester. Additionally, more community involvement can lessen the chance of being

disciplined for misconduct. In fact, a study from 2002 confirmed that students who performed

more community involvement activities actually spent less time in detention or the principals

office. What is clear is that being connected to the community has many positive effects.

An article written by the Journal of the Indiana university Student Personnel Association

was especially relevant to our study. This study dove into the outcomes of Student Organization

Participation, especially on education. This study found that individuals who were involved in

student organizations had greater feelings of satisfaction toward their institution when compared

to students who were not as involved. Organization members tend to have more positive feelings

about their current environment and would be more enthusiastic about their college. This article
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emphasizes the idea that college student organization membership influenced campus life

perceptions (Journal of Indiana University).

A student of University of North Carolina conducted a research in which he tried to find a

correlation between campus crimes and time of day or month. He began his research because he

had witnessed some of the effects crimes can have on students, faculty, and even visitors to the

university. This student also examined the safety services on campus, learning how they function

and what their policies are. It was something similar to what we were working on in our research

project. He, on the other hand, was more concerned on what was not being done to prevent these

crimes. The students end goals was to assist in the analysis of the crime trends on campus over

the last few months. We found this article similar to our project, due to the fact that it was

evaluating the safety of a campus and how that has an impact on the student body and other

members of the university. This article emphasizes the concern of a student who values being

safe in its campus and wants to do everything in their power to create a change for the better.

Marshall University conducted a research about The Effects of Students Perceptions of

Campus Safety and Security on Student Enrollment. This article talked more about what our

initial goal for the research was; to talk about how students feel about the focus on campus

security. The purpose of the research was to determine whether student enrollment is affected

by the student perception of campus safety and security when choosing a college. The study

targeted a sample of freshmen from a regional university in the mid-eastern states who are

enrolled in new student seminar classes. The research was designed to ask these students about

their perceptions of safety and security on a college campus and how it affects their enrollment

process. Marshall University wanted to correlate the importance of how people value campus

security once they are applying to college to how good security really works in their campus. In
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one of our interviews, an interviewee talked about how security in small campuses is it much of a

big deal than if your are in a big university.

Research Methods:

In order to research any correlations between independent variables of the students and their

deceptions of DPS, several rounds of observations, surveys, and interviews were conducted.

Data Collection: Surveys, Interviews, Jot-notes

Firstly, 30 surveys were handed out to the students. This was when we were in the

exploratory phase of our research and hadnt yet defined a purpose of the study. Our survey

covered students previous interactions with DPS, their preexisting knowledge of DPS, and their

opinions. This survey, conducted in the exploratory process, did not collect data on campus

involvement.

After this, we conducted interviews and jot notes to get data that was more in depth to our

purpose.

Our Sample

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between participation on

campus and the students perceptions of DPS. Therefore, our study only includes undergraduate

students enrolled in Bryant. To create our samples of students, there was the intention to have an

even amount of male and female students. It was also a precaution to get a variety of different

types of students, including athletes, greek life members, students who work on campus, and etc.

The final data set for the surveys collected yields a size of 30 surveys. Check our appendix for

the survey results.

Analysis and Results

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Based on our information from our surveys and interviews, there is a definite connection

between the amount someone is involved on campus and their perceptions of DPS. In interviews

conducted with students on campus, those who were more involved (in clubs, organizations,

jobs, and teams) had more positive experiences with DPS; and if they hadnt had many, or any,

experiences with them at all, they were more likely to think of them in a positive light if they

were more involved on campus. One student, as shown in the interviews attached, works on

campus in the Fisher Student Center, and expressed his positive thoughts of DPS and their

relationship with students because of his experience being trained to handle active shooters on

campus. His experiences with the officers involved a different side of their personalities than

other students may see, which shows how being involved on campus in different ways can give
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students different reasons for interacting with DPS.

Ticketing cars that are parked illegally is one of the many roles DPS has on campus, and is something we

observed frequently during our project.

In a set of jot notes taken in our observation time, we observed how athletes interact with

DPS. At a womens club rugby practice, DPS was called to the field when a girl passed out.

Most players on the team expressed confusion and surprise realizing members of DPS were the

ones called to the scene. When DPS arrived, many girls on the team acted quiet and were more
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likely to let the coach speak up instead of trying to take control. When asking the players later

why they change so much because of the presence of DPS, many of them said they werent

scared or hesitant to talk, they just wanted to see what DPS would do in the situation because

they never expected them to be the ones that were called and they wanted to see how reliable

DPS really was. This again shows how by being involved more on campus, students saw DPS

outside of their stereotypical discipline roles, and instead saw them helping students and

performing in a different role on campus.

Besides our interviews, the surveys that we conduct were handed out to students around

campus, both students we knew and didnt know, in an effort to cover all age groups and types of

students (residents vs. commuters, all grade levels, international, domestic, athletes, those

involved in clubs, etc). Through our surveys, we find a lot of data that supports the idea that

when people are involved on campus, and when they have had less negative encounters with

DPS, the more likely they are to see DPS as credible and a valid source of power. The majority

of our survey takers had never been in trouble with DPS, or had only stated that theyd been in

trouble 1-2 times. Out of the students who had never been in trouble with DPS, 21 respondents,

14 of them stated that they disagreed with the statement that DPS is intimidating. Those who

didnt disagree stated they were indifferent towards the statement, and one student that has never

been in trouble with DPS said they agreed DPS intimidating. This supports our idea that those

who have been in trouble more, who may not have to worry about staying out of trouble because

they arent involved, are those who think more negatively of DPS, whereas the students who

have never been in trouble may not think of DPS in a negative light. We did not ask on our

survey what the level of commitment was among the respondents, and even though this may be a

fault of our study it can be deduced from the people we know that took our survey how involved
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the respondents are.

When asked what they thought DPS officers roles are on campus, many students answered with front gate

attendents which shows how students only really know the roles they see themselves

It is also interesting to note the trends among surveys thought show generally how

students feel about DPS, regardless of their level of involvement or the amount of times theyve

been in trouble with DPS. Out of our 28 surveys given out, 22 of the respondents said they agree

that DPS makes them feel safe. This shows a trend of even when students may not think of DPS

in a positive light, they still feel comforted by their presence on campus. Another part of the

survey that showed a general trend in student beliefs about DPS is the students perceptions that

DPS has a family at Bryant. One of the questions we asked, do you imagine them [DPS] as

having a close and personal relationship with one another? The results we got were very similar
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in the sense that all but four of our respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed that DPS has

a mini family on Bryants campus. It was interesting to see how some of the questions produced

similar results across all types of students who are involved in many different ways.

Surprising Results

There were a few outliers among the survey results that are interesting and important to

note. A couple students, both junior males, made it a point to say that they believe DPS ultimate

goal is to get students in trouble or treat us like children. This signifies a potentially negative

experience in the past, which can show how past experiences affect the future perceptions of

DPS. Two other surveys mentioned DPS as being overbearing or intrusive, which were

outliers in the responses. These students were both seniors, which can potentially show how DPS

reacts differently or treats students differently depending on their age. Another common theme,

but not something that was dependent on the level of activities done by students or the previous

experiences a student has with DPS, is the nicknames students give to officers. Many of the

students mentioned nicknames for officers, both appropriate and not, which shows the students

different member categories for the DPS officers. Multiple students, at least five or six

respondents, mentioned the DPS officer Bruce by his first name. Students had nothing but nice

things to say about Bruce, which shows another member category between students and DPS.

Bruce seems to be an outlier for DPS students perceptions by students, but also seems to help
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other officers feel more comfortable around students when hes with them.

One student poses for a selfie with DPS Officer Bruce on spring weekend on campus.

Internal and External Validity

The internal validity of the DPS study is somewhat confident. While there was a very

strong association between involvement and DPS perceptions, it cannot be fully confirmed that

the campus involvement levels are the sole causation of DPS perception. It cannot be claimed

that our dependent variable was impacted solely by our independent variable. With a more in-

depth study, we would hope to increase the internal validity.

External validity is the extent to which our studys results can be applied to the general

population. We presume that our research has high external validity. This is because involvement

isnt only applicable to campus, it can also apply to neighborhoods, high schools, towns and

etcetera.

Final conclusion
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The results of this study supports that students that are more involved on campus have

more positive perceptions of DPS. This implies that both students and DPS would benefit from

more student participation in what our campus has to offer.

DPS officers (left in gold sweatshirt and right in white uniform) volunteering at the Special Olympics event on

campus. Officers are involved with many large events on campus, but not many students know.

Possible errors

Through examination of our ethnographic exploration, several errors have been

identified. Firstly, there was a flawed study design. The study did not begin with a clearly

defined purpose, and it was defined at the latter end of the process. By changing course, the

study became much less efficient and concise.

Another possible error is selection bias. Selection bias is induced by the selection of

people for analysis that are not properly randomized. This ensures that the sample is not

representative of the population as a whole. As each interview was conducted, it was challenging
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not to reach out to friends and acquaintances as opposed to strangers, due to its convenience. It is

likely that the students we gravitated

toward interviewing had certain

commonalities.

It is also highly likely that

students had a bias when providing their

responses. This is shown in the surveys

when out of the 14 total write-ups that

occurred, over 75% of the writeups were

from the youngest half of the school. This doesnt make sense and is highly unlikely, so we

predict this was from a mixture of a poor sample and selective responses.

Why does this matter?

The results of this study can help provide an initiative for improving more relationships

on campus. As discussed, students are greatly impacted by their involvement on campus.

Through the guidance of professors and campus resources, students can be guided to place

themselves in more clubs and organizations. This will help for future relations between the

student body and DPS. College students need to understand that their relationships on campus, or

lack thereof, will have a significant impact on how they experience their college life.
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Bibliography:

Abell, Patricia. "Demographic Risk Factors, Study Patterns, and Campus Involvement as Related
to Student Success Among Guilford Technical Community College Students." Community
College Review: NC State University, 2003.Hawkins, Amy. "Relationship B Et Wee N U Nde

Astin A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. In:
(1999). Journal of College Student Development, 40(5), 518529.

Brian Andrew Carrico (2016). Marshall University. Marshall Digital Scholar. The Effects of
Students Perceptions of Campus Safety and Security on Student Enrollment.

Graduate STudy Activity and Academic Performance." Purdue University. Purdue E-pubs, 23
Apr. 2010. Web. 7 May 2017.

Joyce, Steven. "Improving Student Behavior and School Discipline with Family and Community
Involvement." Education and Urban Society, 1 Nov. 2002.

Montelongo, Ricardo. "Student Participation in College Student Organizations." Journal of

Indiana University Student Personnel Association, n.d. Web.

"UNC Campus Crime Analysis: Working to Recognize and Reduce." UNC Campus Crime
Analysis: Working to Recognize and Reduce | The People, Ideas, and Things (PIT) Journal. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 May 2017.
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Consent to Participate in Research

The Culture of DPS Compared to Students Perceptions

Introduction and Purpose

We, Loren Torres, Kaitlyn Graham, and Lindsey Carman, are undergraduates at Bryant
University. We would like to invite you to take part in our research study, which concerns the
culture of Bryants Department of Public Safety, and students opinions.

Procedures
If you agree to participate in my research, I will conduct an interview with you at a time and
location of your choice. The interview will involve questions about your DPS roles, experiences
and reflections. It should last less than one hour. With your permission, I will audiotape and take
notes during the interview. The recording is to accurately record the information you provide,
and will be used for transcription purposes only. If you choose not to be audiotaped, I will take
notes instead. If you agree to being audiotaped but feel uncomfortable at any time during the
interview, I can turn off the recorder at your request. Or if you don't wish to continue, you can
stop the interview at any time.

Benefits
It is hoped that the research will illuminate what DPS experiences on our campus, and how they
have a unique culture within Bryant. We want to align this with students knowledge and
opinions on DPS.

Risks/Discomforts
As with all research, there is a chance that confidentiality could be compromised; however, we
are taking precautions to minimize this risk.

Confidentiality
Your study data will be handled as confidentially as possible. If results of this study are
published or presented, individual names and other personally identifiable information will not
be used unless you give explicit permission.

To minimize the risks to confidentiality, we will take data security measures. For example
storage, coding, encryption, and limited access to study records.

Compensation
You will not be paid for taking part in this study. But if you would like to receive a copy of our
final research product, please indicate below by checking the box:
Rights
Participation in research is completely voluntary. You are free to decline to take part in the
project. You can decline to answer any questions and are free to stop taking part in the project at
any time. Whether or not you choose to participate in the research and whether or not you
choose to answer a question or continue participating in the project, there will be no penalty to
you or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
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Questions
If you have any questions about this research, please feel free to contact.

************************************************************
CONSENT
You will be given a copy of this consent form to keep for your own records.
If you wish to participate in this study, please sign and date below.

_____________________________
Participant's Name (please print)

_____________________________ _______________
Participant's Signature Date

If you agree to allow your name or other identifying information to be included in all final
reports, publications, and/or presentations resulting from this research, please sign and date
below.

_____________________________ _______________
Participant's Signature Date