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Press Release from Primary Research Group, Inc.
Primary Research Group has published The Survey of American College Students: Student Library Research Practices & Skills, ISBN #157440-126-2. The report presents data from a
survey of 400+ American college students about how they go about doing research in their
college libraries. The 150+ page report gives extensive data on student use of major search
engines, wikipedia, library databases, book collections and other library resources. The study
also gives detailed information on how their professors advise them to use the library, and how comfortable they feel about their research skills and how helpful librarians have been in
helping them in their research. Data is broken out by more than 16 criteria including gender,
income level, type and size of college, mean SAT acceptance score of the college, and many other variables. Just a few of the report¡¦s many findings are that:
ƒö Only about 47% of students are sure that they have ever been required to turn in a research paper exceeding 10 double spaced typed pages in length for any of their classes.
ƒö More than 86% of students say that they understand the concept of plagiarism
¡§well¡¨ or ¡§very well¡¨.
ƒö 64% of students sampled say that they know how to contact a librarian online.
ƒö 55.2% of the students in the sample had not asked for help from a librarian within the past year.
ƒö Nearly 29% of students say that Google, Yahoo and other major search engine
searches were the most important information source for their last research assignment.
ƒö More than 9% of information needed for research papers was sourced from
Wikipedia or other wickis.
ƒö The higher the grade point average the less information for research papers was
obtained from search engines such as Google or Yahoo.
The study is available directly from Primary Research Group or from major book
distributors. The price is $80.00 for print and PDF versions; site licenses are also
available. For further information contact Primary Research Group at 212-736-2316 or
visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students:
Student Satisfaction with their College. This report presents approximately 250 tables of
data exploring how full time college students in the United States evaluate their college,
and how likely they are to remain and graduate. Students rank their professors in and out
of their major, as well as other many other facet of their educational life, including its
total cost, the quality of the library, college sports facilities, housing, food service, the
availability of internships and job possibilities, the sociability of their peers, and other
facets of college life. The report also presents data on the percentage of students who
would attend their current institution if they had to make the choice over again, and the
percentage who would recommend their college to a friend.
The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time
college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender,
grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size of
college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
For many of the questions in this report we have asked respondents to rate their colleges
on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 signifying great dissatisfaction and 10 signifying great
satisfaction. The higher the score the more satisfied is the student with that particular
feature of the college. Just a few of the reports many results were:
• Overall, most students were relatively highly satisfied with the quality of
professors and other instructors in their selected majors or areas of concentration.
The mean score was 8.26 with a range of 2 to 10. Students over age 25 seemed more satisfied than their younger counterparts.
• Students at colleges whose highest degree awarded was the BA scored the highest
rating for professors and other instructors in a student’s major – 8.78 – significantly
higher than the norm or 8.26, while community college students rated their instructors
the lowest on the 10 point scale – 7.96.
• Students in the fine or performing arts were the least happy with their professors
and other instructors’ level of accessibility, rating them at 7.54. Professors in the
hard sciences came in at the highest level, 8.26.
• In general, students were quite dissatisfied with the overall cost of their education.
In general students over age 25 were happier than were younger students.
• Students raised in suburbs seemed particularly dissatisfied and they gave a
satisfaction rating of only 5.0. Satisfaction seemed to drop as students progressed
through their college careers past the sophomore year, perhaps as the result of a rising
debt load, well chronicled in sources other than this one.
• Community college students were the happiest with their college cost structure,
reporting a 7.18 rating.
• Students also seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the opportunities provided on
campus for paid work. Their satisfaction rating was only 6.64.
• Student satisfaction with the college library was quite high, registering a mean
rating of 8.03.
• Student views of the sociability of their peers was inversely related to school
enrollment size. The smaller the college the higher students rated the sociability of their peers.
• More than 64% of the students in the sample say that they are sure that they will
graduate from their current college.
• Among the various academic majors, students in English, communications and
related language oriented majors were the most likely to stick with their current
college – close to 91% of them would do so given a new choice.
The study is available from Primary Research Group at a special introductory price of
$98.50 valid through May 7, 2009. To order or to view a table of contents call 212-736-
2316 or visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students: Who
Goes to the College Library and Why (ISBN 1-57440-121-1). .
This report presents approximately 165 tables of data exploring how often full time
college students in the United States go to their college library, what they do when they
are there, and how they rate their library’s accessibility and comfort.
The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time
college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender,
grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size of
college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
Just a few of the report’s many conclusions are that:
• Business and economics students reported the highest rates of taking library
instruction courses; 12.27% of them had take such a class within the past month
• Students from families with annual incomes of greater than $150,000 were
somewhat more likely to have used the library than others.
• The higher a student’s grades the more likely was that student to have visited the
library within the past month.
• More than 69% of private college students visited the library while only 56.66%
of public college students did so.
• Approximately twice as many females (9.34%) as males (4.73%) report taking a
library instruction class within the past year.
• Close to 55% of the students in the sample have used a public computer
workstation at their college library within the past month.
• Only 43.9% of students raised in families with annual incomes of greater than
$150,000 have used a library workstation within the past month while 55.7% of
students raised in families with incomes of less than $40,000 and 57.03% of students
from families with incomes of between $40,000 and $75,000 have used a library
workstation within the past month.
• Close to 47% of students raised in major cities have held meetings with other
students in the library within the past month; only 27.3% of students raised in suburbs have done so.
• 8.71% of the students in the sample say that they virtually never go to the library
and don’t really like being there.
• We asked the students in the sample whether they use the library more often, less
often, or about the same as their fellow students at their college. Only 37.72% felt that
they used the library about the same extent as most other students.
The study is available from Primary Research Group for $75.00. To order or to view a
table of contents call 212-736-2316 or visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students: Use of
Distance Learning. This report presents more than 100 tables of data exploring how full time college students in the United States view distance learning, how many courses that they have taken and plan to take, and how they view their level of preparedness for DL courses.
The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time
college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender,
grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size, and
mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables. The report is designed to
give college administrators, educational researchers and others detailed demographic data
on student use and perception of distance learning. Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
• More than 77% of the students in the sample attended colleges that offer online or
other forms of distance learning classes.
• Only a shade more than 52% of the private college students in the sample attend
colleges that offer distance learning while nearly 87% of the public college students attend them.
• Students that grew up in rural areas were more likely to have taken a DL course
than those from cities or suburbs, while those in the Midwest and West were more likely than those in the South and Northeast to have taken a DL course.
• 19.34% of the students in the sample say that they would never take a DL course
in the near future and another 27.74% say that it is unlikely that they would.
• Many students are on the fence; nearly a quarter of all students in colleges with a
mean SAT score of less than 1800 said that they would possibly take a DL course in
the future, forming a large block of potential DL students.
• Students that grew up in the West averaged 9.85 DL credits while those from the
Northeast, only 0.88.
• Students in the fine and performing arts and Education were more likely than
those in other subject areas to feel that they needed some tech help to get up to speed
to take a DL course.
The 50 page report is available for $98.00. For further information view our website at
www.PrimaryResearch.com.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students: Use of
the Library Cafe. This report presents approximately 70 tables of data
exploring how full time college students in the United States view and use their college
library’s cafe. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more
than 400 full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria
including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and
type, size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
The report presents data on the number of students who attend colleges with library cafes,
how often they visit the café, how much money they spend in them and what they think
of some of the products in the café.
Just a few of the many hundreds of data points in the study are:
• Slightly more than half, or about 52.4% of the students in the sample, believe that
their college library has a café’.
• Students from major cities were more likely than other students to go to colleges
whose library has a café, or at least to be aware of the cafes in their college libraries.
• The more sophisticated the degree offered by the college, the more likely it was to
offer a library café.
• City dwellers were the most likely to have ever made a purchase at the library
café. 42.57% of them have purchased something in their college library café.
• Students on the political left and on the political right are more likely than those
in the political center to be found slurping a coffee in the library café.
• Women and men spend about the same amount in the library café.
• Men, in general, were somewhat more pleased than women by the coffee served
in the library café.
The study is available from Primary Research Group for $64.50. To order or to view a
table of contents call 212-736-2316 or visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students:
Student Use of Academic Library Reference Department Services, ISBN #: 1-57440-123-
8. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time
college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender,
grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size of
college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
The 90-page study gives data on the use of web forms for reference, email reference,
instant message reference, telephone reference, in-person reference, and overall
awareness of and use of reference librarians and subject specialists.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
• 21.36% of the students in the sample say that they have sought assistance from a
reference librarian within the past month. Students raised in cities were significantly
more likely than others, especially those raised in suburbs, to have sought help from a
reference librarian within the past month.
• 50% of students at research universities (most of which surely have subject
specialists for most majors or concentrations) do not believe that their college library
has a subject specialist for their chosen or planned major.
• Close to 19% of students in the fine or performing arts have ever asked reference
questions via email, the highest percentage among all types of majors or
concentrations.
• 9.87% of the students in the sample said that asking the reference librarian a
question was a little embarrassing and that consequently they tried to figure it out for
themselves and another 10.38% said that the reference librarians seem busy and that
is seems that they would be pestering them by asking them for assistance.
The study is available from Primary Research Group for $68.50. To order or to view a
table of contents call 212-736-2316 or visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students: Use of
and Satisfaction with College Tutoring Services. This report presents 85 tables of data
exploring how full time college students in the United States view and use their college’s
tutoring programs. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more
than 400 full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria
including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and
type, size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
The report is designed to give college administrators, educational researchers and others
benchmarks on the use of college tutoring service against which to compare their own
programs or data. Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
• More than 97% of the students in the sample go to a college that offers tutoring
services of some kind.
• 29.35% of the students in the sample have ever used their college’s tutoring
services.
• Half of students with a full time job have used the college tutoring services while
less than 27% of those that do not work at all have done so.
• Nearly 95% of the students who have been in tutoring found the experience helpful to some degree.
• Close to 15% of all students said that they were highly unlikely to use the
college’s tutoring services in the future, while about 20.8% said that it would be unlikely.
• Students in the hard sciences and business were the most likely to consider using
tutoring services in the future
• Students majoring in language arts such as English, communications, languages
or journalism were the least likely to perceive their college’s tutoring programs as excellent,
The report is available from Primary Research Group; the price is $98.00. To order or to
see a table of contents, view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College
Students: Student Evaluation of the College Library, ISBN 1-57440-118-1.
This report presents approximately 175 tables of data exploring how full
time college students in the United States evaluate their college library.
The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400
full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16
criteria including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income
level of students, type and size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score
of colleges, among other variables.
The report includes data on student satisfaction with electronic reserves,
the range of databases and periodicals supplied, library supplied database
use training, similar training on library workstations and software,
reference services, photocopiers and printing services and other college
library services.
Just a few of the report’s many conclusions are that:
Satisfaction with library electronic reserve was much greater among students from the higher income groups: more to 80% of students from homes with annual incomes of more than $150,000 per year said that they were either satisfied or greatly satisfied.
Students in the fine and performing arts seem the least satisfied with the provision of items on electronic reserve. Less than 40% of them expressed either satisfaction or great satisfaction.
We asked the students in the sample how satisfied were they with the
availability of reference staff at their library. 1.54% said that they were
greatly dissatisfied, while 5.8% termed themselves a dissatisfied; another
30% said that the situation was acceptable. 43.33% said that they were
satisfied, while 19.74% said that they were greatly satisfied
Students who grew up in the West of the United States seemed the most
skeptical of the help that they were receiving from their college library in
using computers and software. Less than half of these students described
themselves as satisfied or greatly satisfied.
Business and economic students were relatively happy, with more than
63% deeming themselves either satisfied or greatly satisfied while only
about 52% of fine and performing arts students said the same. There is not a big difference between public and private college students in this area.
Overall more than 65% of students were either satisfied or greatly satisfied
with their library’s printing facilities. Students in the fine or performing arts
were the happiest overall with library printing facilities, and more than 75%
were either satisfied or greatly satisfied and none were greatly dissatisfied,
This 88-page report is available from Primary Research Group for only
$75.00. For a table of contents and further information, or to order, visit
our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com, or call 212-736-2316.
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students:
Student Evaluation of Information Literacy Instruction, ISBN 1-57440-116-5.
This report presents approximately 125 tables of data exploring how full time college
students in the United States view and use and evaluate their college library’s information
literacy training. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than
400 full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria
including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students,
type and size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
The report presents data on the percentage of students who have received information
literacy training, how they evaluate the effectiveness of that training, how they perceive
their need for additional training, whether they believe that an information literacy course
should be required, if they have ever used online tutorials provided by the library, and
how they evaluate their own information literacy skills.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
• More than 67% of the students in the sample say that they have received
instruction on how to use their college’s library. Older students are much more likely
than younger ones to say that they have not received library or information literacy instruction.
• Nearly 82% of students at colleges with a mean SAT acceptance score of greater
than 1950 say that they have received library or information literacy instruction.
• Most students find library instruction helpful. About 18.5% of students found the
instruction that they received useless or largely useless while 31.72% considered it
somewhat helpful and close to half considered it helpful or very helpful.
• Students in the hard sciences, social sciences and business/economics were the
most likely to say that the training benefited them
• 55% of the students in the sample felt that they were reasonably competent in
using the various online databases offered by their college
• The youngest students, those aged 19 and younger, were somewhat more likely to
consider themselves not very competent in library skills, but even then only about 9% of
them characterized themselves this way.
• Suburbanites were the most likely to consider themselves highly competent while
those who grew up in rural areas were the least likely to consider themselves the same
• 20.3% of students majoring in the social sciences thought of themselves as highly
competent but only 4.17% of students majoring in education thought of themselves this
way, a particularly frightening statistic, given that many of these students will become the next generation of primary school teachers.
• Students who consider themselves religious were far more likely to support a
required information literacy course than students who did not think of themselves as
particularly religious or who were not at all religious.
• More than 21.4% of students in colleges that offered PHD’s but that were not full
research universities noted that they needed additional information literacy training.
For further information view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com
Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College Students: Use of
the College Bookstore (ISBN 157440-114-9). This report presents 240 tables of data
exploring how full time college students in the United States view and use their college’s
bookstore. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400
full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including
gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size
of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables. More
than 400 full time college students responded to queries about how often they visit and
how much they spend at the college bookstore. Other questions probed their satisfaction
with various aspects of college bookstore services such as prices, breadth of offerings, in-
bookstore comforts, hours of bookstore operation, effectiveness of bookstore staff, and
other issues. Survey takers compared and rated their experience at the college bookstore
vs. similar experiences at local bookstores, Amazon.com and other book retailers.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
• Students in the sample visited the college bookstore a mean of 2.31 times per
month with a median of 1 visit per month.
• Students in English, Communications, Languages or Journalism visited by far the
most among students divided by major or area of concentration, a mean of 3.64 times per month.
• Liberals spent far more than conservatives in the college bookstore, by a factor of
nearly 3:2.
• A quarter of one percent of the students in the sample thought that the college
bookstores prices were low and only 12.15% thought that they were reasonable, while more than 43% thought they somewhat high and 44.56% thought them very high.
• About a third of respondents thought that the bookstore returns policy was good
or excellent while more than 43% thought it acceptable and nearly 24% thought it very poor or poor.
• Most students were relatively satisfied with the hours of operation and general
accessibility of the college bookstore. Only 4.33% termed access very poor and 15.8% considered it poor while more than 42% thought is acceptable and close to
38% believed it to be good or excellent.
The 128-page report is available from Primary Research Group; the price is $139.00 To
order or to see a table of contents, view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com
Primary Research Group has published The Survey of American College Students: Use of Academic Library Workstations, ISBN # 1-57440-125-4. The data in the report is
based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time college students in the
United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size of college, and mean SAT
acceptance score of colleges, among other variables.
The study presents more than 170 tables of data describing how American college
students use their library workstations, how long they wait for them, how they view their
availability and whether they prefer Macs or PC¡¦s. The report also covers use of laptops
in the college library, both students own and those provided by the college library. Other
issues covered include use of the library¡¦s online catalog and out of library access to the
library home page.
Just a few of the report's many findings are that:
More than 21% of students sampled say that they almost always or often have to wait to get a workstation in the library. Only 35.2% say that they never
have to wait and close to 44% say that they generally don¡¦t have to often wait for a workstation at their library.
About a third of students sampled don¡¦t care whether or not they use a MAC or a PC in their college library. 13.53% prefer to use MACS while 52.63% prefer PC¡¦s.
A shade more than 71% of the students in the sample have ever used their library¡¦s online catalog.
Students who grew up in major cities were much more likely than those who grew up in other locales to use their own laptops in the college library.
Close to 60% of community college students said that they would use laptops occasionally or often in the library if the library supplied them on loan.
The study is available from major book distributors or from Primary Research Group directly. The price is $75.00 for a PDF and $69.50 for a print version.
To view a table of contents, or to order, call 212-736-2316 or view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
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