Allison started as the communication director for student support services at a local university. She oversees the university's online portal that hosts information about the school for current students and faculty. She needs to figure out who uses the services through the online portal and their satisfaction levels. She began a research study to understand and describe ways in which student support services are perceived and supported by those who interact with the online services. Allison asks:

1. In what ways are student support services used by online students?
2. How do students, faculty, and staff interact with student support services beyond the academic curriculum?

Allison decides to gather the information through observations, student and faculty interviews, and surveys, as well as sending a short survey to online students. In her survey, she asks the respondent to indicate their level of agreement with statements about student support services using a 5-point scale, where 5 is strongly agree and 1 is strongly disagree. The statements are:

• The student support services are conveniently located on the website.
• The student support services personnel are friendly.
• The student support services personnel are helpful.

Allison's research purpose is to?