Can Surveys Be Used to Develop University Residence Life Plans?

University administrators implemented a "Residence Life" program to identify factors likely to enrich the academic and social experiences of on-campus students. The main goals were to ensure the university offered high-quality on-campus living experiences with facilities and programs for attracting new students to the university, increasing on-campus housing occupancy rates, and improving retention levels of students, thus increasing the likelihood that students would renew their on-campus housing contracts for multiple years.

MPC Consulting Group Inc., a national firm specializing in on-campus housing programs, was retained to oversee the project. The firm had an excellent reputation but seldom conducted primary marketing research

After clarifying the objectives of the project, MPC determined that a self-administered survey instrument would be used to obtain students' information, attitudes, and feelings regarding on-campus living experiences. An online self-administered survey will be distributed using the university's "Canvas" electronic learning management system. The rationale for using this method was that all 46.000 students could access the survey on their PCs or mobile phones, saving time and reducing the cost. MPC's consulting team brainstormed a list of 59 questions to be asked of both on-campus and off-campus students currently enrolled at the university. The questionnaire began by asking about personal demographie characteristics followed by some questions concerning students current housing situations and an evaluation of those conditions. Next, questions were asked about the importance of a list of preselected housing characteristics, then questions about students' intentions of living on-campus versus off-campus and reasons for those intentions. After asking about marital status and children, questions were asked on the desirability of types of housing structures and amenities. The survey ended with personal thoughts about the need for child care services

When uploaded to the "Canvas" system, the questionnaire took 24 screens with six different "screener" questions requiring respondents to skip back and forth between screens depending on how they responded to the screening questions. Three weeks after the notice was sent asking students to participate in the survey. only 17 students had responded, and eight of those surveys were incomplete. University officials were disappointed in the response rate and asked MPC three simple but critical questions: (1) "Why such a low response rate

(2) "Was the survey a good or bad instrument for capturing the needed information?" and (3) "What was the value of the data for addressing the given goals?"

Based on your knowledge and understanding of research practices to this point, answer the three questions. What are the potential problems (weaknesses) created by MPC's process described earlier?