FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS (need 6-10 people)

Managerial question: How do we better inform people of our services? How do we avoid the stigma of “mental health” and “counseling”, making our services more attractive to students?

Research objective: Find out whether a change in wording will affect student perceptions of our organization and services.Hypothesis: Using wording that emphasizes comfort and familiarity will positively affect students’ perceptions of our organization.Research question: Determine how can we better promote the services UCCS has to offer to increase awareness and eliminate the counseling stigma?

Focus Group:

Opening questions

Tell us your name, one thing that makes you happy, and one thing that makes you stressed.

Introductory questions

What is the first thing you think of when you hear:o “counseling”?

Psychology, boring talking, couch, job, scary, help, o How about “mental health”?

Asylums, stigma, nothing positive What is mental health to you?

o Disturbances; good mental health, automatic negative connotations, state of mind

What does it mean to be mentally healthy?o Balanced, happy, stress-free, no worries

Transition questions

What are some reasons that you think people may go to counseling?o Need help, planning class and work and schedules, personal issues, finding a

career Describe the type of person who would go to counseling.

o Anyone, sad person, Finish this sentence- I don’t understand why counseling...

o is viewed negatively, looked down on, Have you heard of UCCS - University Counseling & Consulting Services?

o Two have heard of it because they work there/know people who work there, otherwise none

From the title, what type of services do you think they offer?o Academic, personal, career

Key questions

(Show them the first line on UCCS website: “University Counseling & Consulting Services (UCCS) offers counseling, consultation, instruction, and testing services to the Minnesota educational community at two Twin Cities campus locations.” )

o How do you feel after reading this? Not specific, broad

o How do you feel toward this organization, is this a positive first impression? Neutral, just a statement

o Would you want to go there? Not really, don’t know what they do

o 1,500 students were served by UCCS last year and out of that the most common concerns were anxiety, poor concentration, depression, feeling overwhelmed, and a lack of self-confidence.  What do you think of this information- is it surprising?

Not really surprising, a lot of students feel that way Would’ve thought homesickness would’ve been in the top

If you saw a flyer/ad for UCCS, what would be most important on it?o Free, services offerd, more specific description than in mission statement,

prefer wording- career, aptitude tests, help with personal issues, more detail on specifics (am I really supposed to be here?)

o Would help to know who leads the sessions, who are the counselors, When are some times that you’ve felt stressed and wished you had people to talk to?

o a lot of schoolwork, talk to friends When you’re feeling stressed, who do you talk to? Why do you talk to this person?

What is it about them that makes you want to talk to them?

inviting, comfortable feel, helps that you already know them. would help if counselor was always the same.

Ending questions

If you were looking for a counseling service, where would you look for information?

Websites, internet, academic advisor? newspaper, bathroom, make it the only subject of an email. university emails- no one reads them

Of all of those ways, which one is most relevant to you/most important? If you envision your ideal counseling appointment, what would it be like?

o Build a relationship with counselor first, develop objectives for the appointment, track progress.

o Relaxing environment in the lobby/front desk Suppose you were trying to encourage a friend to use the University Counseling and

Consulting Services- what would you say?o It takes courage and it’s a positive thing, nothing to be ashamed about

Summary question*Moderator gives brief summary of major points discussed in focus group.

How well does that capture what was said here?

Final question

Is there anything that we should have talked about but didn’t?

Group 2: Lana Hurd, Abby Schoenfeld, Katherine Su, Celess Valk MKTG 3010, Sec 004Stage 1: Problem Formation & Exploratory ResearchOctober 5, 2011

As stated by Matt Hanson, Coordinator of Career Services, the biggest challenges for University Counseling and Career Services (UCCS) are “letting people know UCCS exists and what services we offer, decreasing and eliminating the stigma over seeking counseling, and reaching out to under-served and under-represented college populations.” Through primary and secondary research, questionnaires, data collection and analysis, we will help UCCS understand more about these obstacles and provide recommendations on how to overcome them.

Marketing Problem IdentificationAfter hearing from Matt Hanson, we were able to get a better grasp on the background of UCCS and what issues they face, including the mental health stigma, under-represented groups such as international students, and the female-to-male client ratio.  The most prominent question facing UCCS management is how to make their services more attractive to the student population in general.  

Our research will focus on college students, as UCCS is primarily a service for students on the University campus; therefore, we will be targeting most of our research on the student population. Secondary research shows that there is a negative correlation between perceived public stigma and the willingness to seek counseling, especially for college students.  Research also suggests that students may feel less self-stigma if they are reassured that their problems are not their fault, are reversible, and will improve through treatment.  Counseling services may better reach those students in need by communicating that mental health problems are nothing to be ashamed of and are a normal occurrence.

Lastly, education on mental health can help increase willingness to receive counseling services but does not improve self-stigmatizing beliefs.  Additional information sources could include research on methods for educating students on mental health and other counseling issues in order to increase their willingness to search for help when they need it, as well as research on student expectations and requirements of counseling services.

After conducting our focus group, additional secondary research was completed to gain further insight on our marketing research question, which will focus on the mission statement for UCCS.  It was found that mission statements define an organization's purpose and primary objectives.  In gathering primary research through a focus group, we were able to gather more relevant data and craft a more defined research question focused on the mission statement.  Drawbacks include our inability to question large samples of students as well as the extra time involved in collecting and analyzing the data for primary research. In finding secondary sources, we will be able to save a lot of time; however, the research may not be completely relevant to our research question.

Exploratory Research ResultsOur exploratory research helped clarify what we knew about student perceptions of mental health and counseling, and it also brought up questions that we had not previously considered. The most significant portion of our exploratory research came in conducting primary research through a focus group. Our group included seven participants (3 men and 4 women) ranging in class standing (sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student). Participants also had varying levels of interaction with counseling – many had never been to or ever considered counseling while one participant is currently in training at UCCS.        From our secondary research, we went into this focus group with several assumptions that were confirmed throughout the course of our discussion. The first assumption was that there is generally a negative connotation for the words “mental health” and “counseling”. This was explicitly confirmed during a word association question, where the first thoughts that participants associated with the term “mental health” included quotes such as “sad person”, “insane asylum”, and “absolutely nothing positive”.  The next assumption was that UCCS was relatively unknown, which proved true when five of seven participants said they had never heard of the organization before. The third assumption was that the wording used in marketing materials for UCCS was too vague. To test this, we showed the participants the mission statement from the UCCS website home page. Even after reading the  statement, the participants still didn’t have a clear understanding of what UCCS was as an organization and what specific services they offered.        From the focus group, several research questions emerged that we would be interested in pursuing. The first question was whether a change in wording used on the UCCS website would make their services more accessible and attractive to the general student population. Our next question was whether creating UCCS counselor biographies would increase students’ comfort level with going to counseling, thus making counseling services more accessible and attractive.

Research QuestionOf the two questions, we are choosing to focus on improving the wording used on

the UCCS website, specifically in the mission statement on the home page. Our focus group participants concluded that if they were to seek counseling on the University campus, they would most likely begin with a Google search, leading them to the UCCS website. As the first point of contact with potential clients, the UCCS website must clearly convey their

services and also create a welcoming impression, so students feel comfortable going to counseling in the first place. By changing the mission statement to include more informative and welcoming wording, we believe that students will be more likely to decrease stigma and feel more comfortable with what UCCS can offer; even if they still don’t go there for counseling, students would at least be more informed and comfortable with recommending UCCS counseling services to others.  

Having decided on a specific research question, our next step is to create either a web or paper questionnaire to assess perceptions toward certain wording that will in turn make students feel more informed of and comfortable with the services of UCCS.  The scope for our questionnaire will include a sample from all undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota, varying in class standing from freshmen to seniors. Using an online questionnaire would allow us to reach a wider sample within this huge population, though a paper questionnaire may ensure a higher response rate. With a goal to create a more informative, welcoming mission statement, the questionnaire may include items to assess whether respondents feel positive or negative emotions after reading a word and which aspects of UCCS are most important to include in the mission statement. Once we have set an outline for our questionnaire, we will choose appropriate scales to provide as responses that are as unbiased as possible.

References

"Mission Statements and Vision Statements - Leadership Techniques from MindTools.com." Mind Tools - Management Training, Leadership Training and Career Training. Mind Tools. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_90.htm>.

Perceived public stigma and the willingness to seek counseling: The mediating roles of self-stigma and attitudes toward counseling.  Vogel, David L.; Wade, Nathaniel G.; Hackler, Ashley H.  Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol 54(1), Jan 2007, 40-50.

The Effects of Mental Health Education on Reducing Stigma and Increasing Positive Attitudes Toward Seeking Therapy.  Hobson, Heather L.  Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Psychology: Counseling, 2008

Questionnaire Design:1.   Aspects that make a site useful/ better than others * easy to use* informative*comforting- so have questions regarding wording*intriguing*easy on the eyes??( this section would have questions about wording, and in general what aspects seem better and how we can ask

them in a way that is more general what aspects they like.)

Please read the following description, and then answer the question below.

UCCS promotes student success through- Individual and group counseling- Classes, workshops, and presentations- Consultation to faculty, staff, and students

Established in 1932, our services address a wide range of issues impacting student success, including:

Mental health and life concerns Learning and academic skills challenge

Career uncertainty Faculty/staff-student communication

As a staff we are committed to valuing diversity, honoring students, faculty, and staff from all racial, religious, and ethnic identities, sexual orientations and identities, and disability conditions.

RESEARCH VARIABLESshould there be interactive elements,layout of content, what information is important to

include, wording/ phrasing- old vs. new

What We Offer:Counseling   |   Academic Support   |   Workshops   |   Consulting   |   News & Info

1.  After reading the description above, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement.

The description of UCCS is...EmotionalWelcoming     Comforting      InformativeClearOrganizedPersonalCasual------------------

Whatever your trouble is, UCCS is here to help you. Through free personal, academic and career counseling, our team of counselors will help develop you into a more successful person. If you’re more comfortable talking in a group, we have group counseling. If you want an individualized appointment, we have those too. UCCS welcomes students, staff and faculty of any background.

Personal:                      Learning & Academic:                       Career:Academic stress           Test prep, test anxiety       Job searchRelationship problems          Time management       Career planningFinancial pressures      Reading speed/comprehension           Job

matchingParental conflict           Note-taking skills            Internship adviceDepression               Resume buildingAnxiety         Interviewing techniquesEating concerns

2. After reading the description above, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement.

The description of UCCS is...EmotionalWelcoming     Comforting      InformativeClearOrganizedPersonalCasual

3. After reading both descriptions above, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement.

It is important to me that the description for UCCS is...Emotional            Welcoming     Comforting      InformativeClearOrganizedPersonalCasual

2. Layout Design* where to place stuff- eye movement question* if its easy to see stuff*( this section would have more questions dealing with the layout in general, not information in it. we could ask a color

question here as well as where their eye moves, and what they would generally consider to be a better font in general for a website)

4. Look at the following image of the UCCS introductory page.  What elements did you pay attention to first? Select up to two answers.

a) Titleb) Side barc) Pictures at the top of the paged) Pictures at the bottom of the page

e) Center boxesf) Other  _____________________________________

5. Please look at the following link, then rate your level of agreement with the statements below.

http://uccs.umn.eduStrongly Disagree     Somewhat disagree     Neutral     Somewhat agree     Strongly agree

This website is easy to use.This website is designed professionally.This website looks enticing.The pictures make sense.The tabs lead me to the information I was expecting.The use of colors gain my attention.This website is interactive.

6.Which of the following media would be best to add to the website and why?Video of counselor(s)   video of student(s) who went to counseling  other videos, explainphotos of student(s)   photos of the counselor(s)other photos ,explainnoneother , explain______

7. Did you understand the services that UCCS provides after looking at their website?Yes_____   No______

8. What would have made the website more useful?___________________________________________________

3. What’s in it/ information they want in the webpage or find most necessary for a counseling site to have

* mission statement*basic overview-  Price, Services, Faculty/staff, Availability/convenience/hours*other’s experience- one again for a comfort feeling*interactive things- photos, videos- of what(this section would most likely have fewer questions because the next question would be more specific about each of

the above. We would only compare each of these and single out what are most important on the page itself.)

9. How important is each aspect to you when learning about a new service on a counseling site?

Easy to use website layoutInformative description (includes price, services, staff, hours)Mission statement with organization’s goals

Experiences of people who have used the serviceInteractive videos, polls or photos

10. Please rank these attributes by how important they are when you are selecting a new counseling service, from 1 (most important) to 4 (least important):

__ Price__ Services offered__ Staff__ Availability and hours

4. What our target age would want to get out of a counseling site*importance of whats in it.. so go deeper into why each of the above information techniques is important.( this would have more questions specifically about what the audience would want to find in each of the information

techniques- video/photo questions, and such...) ex. would want a mission statement that would be more personal than formal. …

11. Please rate your level of agreement with the statements below.It is important to me that a counseling website has...The professional background of my counselor.The personal background of my counselor.Stories of other students’ experiences.Quizzes to help me see which kind of counseling I should go to.Places to talk other students going through the same situations.Online appointment sign-ups.Options for online counseling through email or chat.

12. When visiting a new website, please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.

I would be more likely to watch a video on the home page of a counseling site if it included...Strongly Disagree     Somewhat disagree     Neutral     Somewhat agree     Strongly agree

Staff talking about the servicesStaff talking about their background and experience with the serviceStudents talking about the servicesStudents talking about their background and experience with the serviceStaff and students talking about servicesI wouldn’t watch a video on the homepage

DEMOGRAPHICS

14. Please select your gender.__ Male __ Female

15. Please choose which year you are at the University of Minnesota.__ 1st year __ 2nd year __ 3rd year __ 4th year       ___Other

16. Please state your major._________________________

Abby Schoenfeld, Lana Hurd, Celess Valk, Katherine Su, Nancy Elsaba (Group 2)MKTG 3010Stage 3 Report: Data Collection & AnalysisDecember 6, 2011

Stage Three: Data Collection & AnalysisTable of ContentsI. Executive SummaryII. IntroductionIII. Research Design

a. Sampling Techniqueb. Data Collection Methodc. Measurementd. Analysis Procedures

VI. ResultsV. RecommendationsVI. Appendices

a. Appendix 1: Questionnaireb. Appendix 2: Survey Results and Coding

1. Raw survey results2. Coding sheet3. Coded results

c. Appendix 3: Descriptive Stats and Hypothesis Test

Executive SummaryResearch Design

The data was collected from a sample size of 58 respondents who were contacted through Facebook.  The survey was conducted through the web survey system Survey

Gizmo, and over 150 students were asked to fill out our survey.  In order to address the research question of what type of content should be on the UCCS website homepage, to make UCCS more appealing and welcoming to students, we gathered data related to:

1. What students think of the current UCCS homepage2. The characteristics of layout designs that students favor3. What types of content students want on the UCCS website

ResultsAfter analyzing our data, we discovered the following key findings:

o A majority of students thought that the UCCS website homepage looked easy to use, but lacked a professional look.

o Being informative and professional are the most important characteristics students look for in a counseling website.

o Most students first look at the pictures at the bottom of the UCCS homepage when viewing the page for the first time

o Students would be more likely to watch a video on the home page of a counseling site if it included the professional background of the counselors.   

o An informative description of prices, services, staff and hours are of the most importance when learning about a new service on a counselling website, and ease of use is of second importance.

Of the informative description elements, on a counseling website students are most interested in learning about the services offered, and then the price of services.

o Most students think self-diagnosing quizzes are important to have readily available on counseling websites.

RecommendationsAfter reviewing the results, we came to the following recommendations:

o Place quizzes prominently on the homepageo Provide more information on services and priceso Key website features UCCS should on:

– Professionalism– Informative descriptions of services

o Place prominent information by the pictures on the bottom of webpageo If UCCS decides to put videos on the website, it should contain professional

information about counselors

Introduction

Our original research question was specific toward the wording that should be used in the mission statement for UCCS, which was featured on their homepage.  We decided on this research objective after conducting a focus group in which we discovered the UCCS mission statement didn’t further students’ understanding of the services or the functions of UCCS.  Since mission statements define an organization’s purpose and primary objectives, we thought that it is very critical to have a clear and friendly mission statement that will positively affect student’s perceptions of the organization.

Given that there is no longer a mission statement displayed in the new home page of UCCS, we changed our research objective in stage two and focused on what type of content should be on the website in order to make UCCS more appealing and welcoming to students who have had no experience with it before. We focused on this objective because students seeking UCCS will most likely be going through some stressful issues; therefore, it will be most helpful for them to find a friendly, comfortable website rather than one that it is too formal or unfriendly.  Bad impressions will probably lead students to other counseling services without even knowing what UCCS can do to help them.  We used many variables to help us determine what a good website should look like; for example, we asked students to indicate the eye catching elements in the current web page so that we can understand what parts students pay more attention to. Knowing this, we can put important information where students tend to pay attention to first. We also asked whether having interactive elements like photos or videos will affect their interest in the web page or not. Lastly, we wanted to know what students thought about the phrasing of the main description found in the home page, whether there was enough information in it, and whether they liked it or not overall.  We focused mainly on these variables in order to gain more understanding of the students’ preferences and to help create a useful and more appealing website for UCCS.

Research DesignSampling Technique

The sampling technique we used in our research was convenience sampling, which was a non-probability technique. In administering our surveys, we used Facebook to obtain a sample population, sending the survey only to our Facebook friends.  We sent the survey out to over 150 people and were able to collect a total of 58 responses.

By using a convenience sample, we were able to administer and get responses for our survey more quickly than with other methods. It was also a method in which we didn’t need to spend any money. These were both great advantages given our situation as busy college students and with the limited resources we have, it was the most practical option for us.  With this method, there is no way to statistically assess the sampling error or the margin of the sampling error.  Due to the ability to send messages on Facebook, our sample was also biased.  In choosing who we sent our survey out to, we were not giving everyone a non-zero probability of being selected.  In other words, the probability of selecting any single person to take the survey was unknown.

If we were given more time and money, the most reliable method of sampling would be probability random sampling or systematic sampling.  With random sampling we would administer the survey to a completely random sample generated by taking a register of everyone at the University of Minnesota, assigning a number to each subject, and then generating random numbers to choose our sample. This would give everyone a non-zero probability of taking the survey.  With this method, the sample would be representative and the results of the sample could accurately reflect upon and could more likely be generalized to the general population than our current results.  Given the high cost of random sampling,

we more likely would have created a systematic sample by obtaining a register of everyone at the University of Minnesota and choosing every 100th person of the total undergraduate and graduate student population at the U of M.  Either of these methods would have been helpful in our research because of our survey responses, we had very few freshmen, one graduate student, and a greater proportion of female responses than male.

Data Collection MethodTo collect data for this study we used a web survey system, specifically

SurveyGizmo.  A printed copy of our final questionnaire can be found in appendix one.  We chose an online survey because gathering information with this method is cheap, quick, easy, and efficient.  Some other advantages that self-administered surveys offer are anonymity, the potential to obtain a lot of different information such as attitudes, opinions, interests, and behavior, and finally, the opportunity to gather both quantitative and qualitative data.  Guaranteeing anonymity gives us the opportunity to ask sensitive questions, which is important given that many people find counseling to be a personal and sensitive subject.  Some disadvantages to our chosen method is that we could not ask follow-up questions, the questions were limited as far as depth, and we had to send out the survey in hopes that respondents would actually take it versus ignore the request, leading to low response rates.  

As with any survey, we had the possibility of bias and error.  First, our data could contain sample selection error as the respondents of our sample may not represent the whole population.  Second, our data could contain non-response bias as the answers we got could be different than those who didn’t answer.  For example, the students that did not respond to our survey may be under more stress and time constraints than the other respondents and therefore our data on what content would be most comforting and helpful may be biased.  Another possibility is our data could contain social desirability response bias because people may have been dishonest in their answers out of concern of being affiliated with counseling and mental health.

MeasurementSince our research objective was to create a website that better informs students

about UCCS services while simultaneously comforting them, we were seeking information that can help us better understand what students prefer to find in a counseling website.  We specifically wanted to know what students think of the current UCCS homepage, the characteristics of layout designs that students favor, and what types of content students want on the UCCS website, including whether any interactive elements such as videos or photos would be preferred as well as whether or not students would prefer to find additional information on the counseling website such as other students’ experiences, the professional or personal background of the counselor, and online appointment sign-ups.

We took into account two variables that can help us in our research of making the website more attractive and appealing.  The first variable was the placement of content on the web page, to identify the more attractive elements that students look at, despite the fact that this variable is subject to change according to each person.  We also wanted to know the level of professionalism that students felt while looking on the website, so our questions provided different levels of formality in online materials to see if this affects how favorably students view UCCS.

In finding out how to make the website content better, we thought that people differ in defining what elements are considered important information. We decided to focus on

students as the main target market, and as a result we tried to figure out what elements would be useful for them, to include in the homepage. These elements included price, services, hours, and staff.  In addition, we needed to know the characteristics of layout design that students favor, and how we can use this information to help us make changes to the UCCS webpage.  Having these various kinds of information, we can easily address the research objective of our study, and help improve the UCCS website in many different ways.

Coding ProcessIn interpreting our results, the coding process was fairly straightforward because we

only had one completely open-ended question in our entire survey. We did have several multiple choice questions with “Other” responses that were open-ended, but the responses were similar enough to existing categories that it was easy to consolidate them. Our raw survey results, final coding sheet, and coded survey results can be found in the appendix as Figures __, respectively. Any data that was not relevant to answering our main research questions was not included in the coded results.

Our first step was to code all of the questions that were completely multiple choice, without an “Other” response. The number assigned to each category corresponded to the order of the multiple choice answers in the questionnaire. In a question with the answers listed as Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree, for example, Strongly Disagree was coded as 1, Disagree as 2, and so on. Coding these questions was also a quick process as many of our questions were Likert scales and had the same response categories to code.

Next, we consolidated responses for multiple choice questions that were considered “Other”. The responses we got for these questions often fit into the existing response categories. For example, in asking where students would search for information about counseling, the two open-ended “Other” responses we received were “Friends’ recommendations” and “Parents”. The first was easily consolidated into the existing category of “Peers”. The second response of “Parents” didn’t fit into any existing category, so we changed the “Peers” category to “Friends or Family” and coded it in this category.

Our last step was coding the completely open-ended question, of which we only had one. The question was “What could have made the website more useful?”. We first listed all 29 responses, and then began grouping them into relevant categories, which were

o Give more specific descriptions of serviceso Give basic information (price, hours, staff),o Improve technical aspects of website designo Change or add pictureso Change website colorso Different phrasingo Add more content  

From this, we were able to consolidate these into more broad categories, resulting in our final categories of:

o Give more specific description of serviceso Give more basic information (price, hours, staff)

o Improve technical aspects of website designo Change/add visual elementso Change/add content elements

Finally, we were able to assign numbers to each response category and code it into our survey results.

Looking back on our survey design, it was a very good choice for us to use multiple choice questions for the majority of our survey. Doing so made it very easy to assign numerical codes to each multiple choice answer, making coding a fairly simple process that didn’t take up too much time. As a result, we were able to spend more time focusing on the analysis of our results.

Analysis ProceduresThe analysis of our survey data began by first identifying which responses would

help us address our research questions. Any data that was not useful was deleted from the survey responses. The statistical package we used was SPSS, which made it very easy to pull descriptive statistics, perform hypothesis tests, and put our results into appendices.

We began with descriptive statistics for variables we were interested in. As many of our questions were multiple choice interval questions, we were able to easily compare means and then draw conclusions. Our approach was to perform broad comparisons, and then narrow it down and test differences between specific elements. We started with comparisons within broad topics; for example, within the topic of Interactives, we compared the mean ratings of Quizzes, Photos, Videos, and Places to Talk to Others to find out which ones were most important to students on a counseling website.  Then, we performed dependent/paired samples tests to see if there were statistical differences between the most important in each category. We also ran independent samples tests to study differences between preferences of males and females. For all hypothesis tests, we used an alpha of 0.05, meaning any p-values below 0.05 showed statistical significance.

Our first topic for analysis was the importance of interactive elements on the webpage, and we tested the importance of different types of interactive, including quizzes, photos, and videos. We also analyzed the types of content that people would prefer to see in videos if they were displayed on the home page. Next, we focused on website layout, studying which areas of the home page respondents paid attention to first, and overall perceptions of the website’s appearance and usability. Finally, we looked at the website’s content, analyzing what respondents said they would add to the website, their rankings of which types of information are most critical when learning about a new service, comparisons of old and new service descriptions, and how the website’s current content is perceived.

Conclusions & Results1. Interactive Elements

With the first research variable of interactive elements, we wanted to see the importance  of the interactive elements on a website. Specifically, we wanted to find out what type of interactive elements students found most useful in a counseling website. As shown in Appendix 3 Figure 1, we used descriptive statistics to find which interactive element had the highest mean. Quizzes were most important to our respondents, with a mean of 3.63. We also ran an independent samples t-test in Figure 2, so that the UCCS could better target their website videos to certain markets, specifically males and females.

The independent t-test showed if the independent variables, males and females, had a difference in how important they found the quizzes to be on the website. The p-value was .238;  which is higher than our alpha of .05, meaning that we were able to conclude that there was no significant difference between whether or not males or females cared about having a quiz on the website more.

We then wanted to ask more in detail about an interactive element that the website was already missing. Asking about the possibility of an online video allowed us to understand what students would want to get out of one, if there was a video on the website. Descriptive statistics showed us how students felt toward different people and content featured in the videos, and which combinations they tended to be more interested in. In Figure 3, we saw that the students were more interested in two types of videos: the counselor talking about UCCS services, and students talking about the services. The means were 3.48 and 3.57, respectively. This tells us that, in general, our audience finds it more important to see videos about someone explaining the services that UCCS provides, instead of personal experiences that they’ve had with UCCS counseling. This supports later findings where we found that our audience wants more information about the services, and it actually contradicts the research we found in our focus group.

We wanted to run a test of dependent means to see if there was a difference between the two means of counselors or students talking about the services. As in Figure 4, we found that the p-value was .561. Since this is greater than alpha of .05, there is no difference between whether students preferred videos with counselors or students talking about the services. This emphasizes the need for the services on the website to be more visible and descriptive.

2. Layout of ContentWhen looking at the website layout data, we were primarily trying to figure out what

visual aspects were most important to students when looking at the UCCS website homepage.   We first compared what features of the UCCS homepage students looked at first.  Looking at the descriptive statistics in Figure 5, the means closer to 1 indicate a higher rate of viewing; this shows that the pictures at the bottom of the page are the most looked at feature on the home page, with a mean of 1.49, while the title is actually the second most looked at feature with a mean of 1.53.  We expected the title to be the most looked at first, and we were also surprised to see that the bullets and the side bar on the home page was not rated higher because this is where a majority of the informative content is listed. Second, we compared the different attributes the site could have and looked at the means of each.  In Figure 6, we could see that students think the current UCCS homepage looks easy to use with a mean of 4.27 (5 being Strongly agree).  We find in the next section that ease of use is an important aspect to students.  The lowest mean was the page’s professionalism, with a mean of 3.88, which we find in the next section is also an important aspect to students.

3. Website ContentTo begin analyzing our results for website content, we wanted to first look at what

respondents thought would be important to add. In Figure 7, 52% of suggestions for how UCCS could improve their website related to providing more specific descriptions of their services as well as basic information of prices, hours, and staff. Results from Figure 8 then compare the importance of these four elements (price, services, staff, hours), with means closer to 1 meaning they are more important. Services was the most important (with a

ranking of 2.06) and then Price (mean of 2.37). This agrees with our earlier findings that information about services is of high priority to students. However, it was surprising that price was second most important. UCCS currently does not mention price anywhere on its website, so this is an area for improvement.

In our survey, we asked students to compare UCCS’ current description found on the homepage with one that we wrote. As seen in Figure 9, descriptive statistics showed that both descriptions scored similarly in their mean scores of being Welcoming, Informative, Organized, and Professional. However, the two were statistically different in how Emotional they were, with a p-value of 0.028 (greater than alpha of 0.05) showing that our description was significantly more emotional than the current one. This was likely due to the wording and phrasing, which is what we expected and had hoped to achieve. However, we also expected our description to be more welcoming, but there was no statistical difference.

We looked at descriptive stats for what was important for the content in terms of how it was perceived. We found that students found it most important for a counseling website to be Professional (with mean score of 4.14) from Figure 10, and the next highest was Informative at 4.08. Therefore, knowing what services are and presenting a professional look are the most important aspects for students looking at a counseling website. We also wanted to know what content was important for students when learning more about UCCS’ services and staff. Figure 11 compares the importance of knowing a counselor’s professional info, a counselor’s personal info, and student stories and experiences with counseling. Knowing a counselor’s professional info was most important to students, with a mean of 4.10, and then student stories at 3.55. Though both are important, a p-value at 0.004 from Figure 12 shows there is a statistically important difference and confirms that students feel professionalism is an important aspect.

Finally, we looked at descriptive statistics for important elements of the website including service description, usability, and interactive elements. By looking at Figure 13, we see that it is most important to have a good description of services on a website (with mean of 4.68), again confirming previous findings that students desire better descriptions of UCCS services. Next most important was having an easy-to-use website. As we previously saw in Figure 9, we found that students already find the website easy to use, so UCCS is hitting the mark in this aspect.

RecommendationsAfter analyzing our results, we have a few recommendations for UCCS to make their

webpage more appealing and welcoming to students.  The first recommendation we have is in regards to self-diagnosing quizzes.  As seen in Figure 1, it was found that quizzes are important to the respondents; therefore, it would be a strategic move to place them on the front webpage.  There was no difference between genders regarding the importance of these quizzes, so they are equally important to both genders and deserve to be highlighted on the home page.  

The second recommendation we have is about adding more basic information about UCCS.  As seen in Figure 7, a large proportion of the respondents stated they would like more information on services and price; specifically, the most important aspect was services and the second was price when compared to other features, as in Figure 8.  From many of our tests and findings, students are requesting more detailed descriptions of services that UCCS offers.  Also,  UCCS currently does not mention prices on their home page. Therefore, the organization should develop more detailed descriptions of each of their services to help students understand which one is most appropriate for them. They should

also include the fact that they are a free service and display this prominently on the home page.

The third recommendation we have is regarding features of their website in general. As seen in Figure 13, respondents said it is important to have good service descriptions and that the website is easy to use.  When respondents scored the current website, it was found that that ease of use is a strength of UCCS; however, professionalism scored lower than expected (Figure 6).  Based on these results and what respondents said was important, UCCS needs to work on ways to present their web page in a more professional manner. We recommend researching what their target market considers a “professional” website because it can differ between respondents and their perceptions of counseling.  It was also found that an informative and professional website are key features respondents are looking for in a counseling website (Figure 10); therefore, UCCS should focus on these aspects and make sure they maintain their website to fit these standards by striving to have a professional-looking website and offering more details about their specific services.  

The fourth recommendation we have is about the website’s layout.  It was found that most people paid attention to pictures at the bottom of the page, as well as the title (Figure 5).  Title was an obvious result that we were expecting; therefore, we believe UCCS should focus on enhancing the function of the bottom pictures and really utilize them to their full potential.  One solution would be to include more critical information underneath the bottom pictures, so students can learn a little about each service directly from the home page without having to click to other pages.

The final recommendation we have is concerning information about counselors themselves.  Respondents said they would like to know more professional information about the counselors, as well as student stories (Figures 11 and 12).  Since UCCS already has biographies of their counselors’ professional backgrounds, we recommend adding a section to the homepage that features a counselor every week, to bring more awareness to students. Additionally, UCCS should create videos and personal testimonials of students’ past experience with counseling and what to expect. This would be a good promotional tool for UCCS, as well as another way to enhance their website and make it more intriguing for students seeking help.  

ConclusionA large number of students seek out University Counseling and Consulting Services

for their personal, academic, and career counseling services needs. Though they already serve many students and faculty, UCCS should strive to improve its communications with current customers and make its services as accessible as possible to potential customers. By highlighting self-diagnosis quizzes; adding more specific descriptions of services offered; emphasizing that services are free; maintaining a professional, informative website; and featuring their professionally experienced counselors, UCCS can continue to grow as an organization and reach even more of the University community.