Campos often partners with higher education marketers who are focused on understanding the evolving behaviors, wants, and needs of high school students intent on pursuing a 4-year degree after college graduation. Through countless quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies we’ve helped marketers at colleges, universities, and other training institutions throughout the country keep a pulse on this critical audience.
But what about high school students who aren’t quite sure yet what they plan to do after graduation? How does their decision making journey differ from high schoolers who are already on the path to a 4-year degree and how can post-secondary education and job training organizations better engage them to drive enrollment?
We recently decided to dig into this question with a mixed-methods diary study.
What’s a Mixed-Methods Diary Study & Why Did We Choose this Methodology?
A diary study is a qualitative research method in which participants record their thoughts and behaviors over time. Unlike many other qualitative methods, such as focus groups or moderated usability tests, diary studies are typically conducted asynchronously, meaning insights can be gathered in various contexts without a researcher present.
Why a diary study? When it comes to a momentous life choice, like pursuing higher education, other research methodologies can feel limiting, since they give you a “point in time” snapshot of how a respondent is thinking and feeling. Deciding on an educational path and selecting an institution is an unfolding journey, often spanning months or even years. This complex process involves numerous variables, shifting emotions, and evolving considerations that a single engagement simply cannot capture.
To capture the full breadth and complexity of such a decision-making process, we settled on a mixed-methods diary study because it would allow us to transcend these isolated interactions, unlocking a truly 360-degree understanding.
How Do You Field a Mixed-Methods Diary Study?
First, we recruited a sample of high school students from our proprietary panel—half intended to enroll in a 4-year college or university, and the other half were considering some other kind of training, education, or certification after high school. Once recruited, these students were then asked to complete five different engagements, each consisting of an array of different questions and activities, over a course of several weeks.
The activities in each engagement incorporated a variety of question types:
- Quantitative Polls for Tracking Change: We integrated basic multiple-choice questions to provide quantitative, directional data points and track shifts in sentiment over time.
- Open-Ended Responses for Authentic Voices: Both text and video responses allowed students to share their unvarnished, top-of-mind thoughts and feelings. This direct, qualitative input revealed nuanced perspectives that traditional surveys can miss.
- Projective Imagery for Deeper Emotions: We also used projective imagery exercises to tap into students’ subconscious desires, aspirations, and emotional associations—revealing profound insights that mere words might not convey. The visual nature of these responses often provided powerful “aha!” moments, showcasing not just what they wanted, but how they envisioned their future and what feelings those visions evoked.
We used a special qualitative research platform to field the study, and closely managed our recruits to ensure they kept up with the assignments. We also reviewed activity submissions as they were submitted, so we could follow up on certain topics of interest and probe deeper, where necessary.
What Can You Learn in a Mixed-Methods Diary Study?
One of the things we love about diary studies is they produce an enormous amount of rich quantitative and qualitative data. (So much so that we have developed special tools to help us organize and query the data!) Also, this iterative approach enables us to penetrate to deeper levels of insight than standard research methods could. In this study in particular, our understanding of these two student groups grew with each engagement, layering onto previous learnings and reinforcing or challenging them.
For instance, in one activity, we found that high school students considering a path other than a four-year college after high school have a fairly high level of certainty about their current career choice—higher than traditional college-bound students. A common, perhaps cynical, assumption might be that these students are simply driven by financial stress, seeking the quickest route to a steady income.
However, in a later engagement, we found that passion for their intended career path was also a major driver of their educational choices. Affordability of schooling does play a larger role for them than for traditional college-bound students, but that doesn’t mean they care less about doing what they love. As one student put it:
“I am tired of hearing it is not as expensive as a 4-year college program. That is not my reason for venturing into this field—I am driven by passion and I hate to feel less.”
This speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding that many schools have when targeting nontraditional students. These students aren’t pursuing a different path just because it’s cheaper or quicker to do—but that is often how these types of programs are marketed, with all of the emphasis on cost and convenience. Marketers for sub-baccalaureate programs need to delve deeper into their audiences’ mindsets, to understand how to make prospective students feel their programs are the best place to pursue their passions.
What More Can Higher Ed Marketers Learn About High School Students?
This was a small-scale internal project we pursued, in part, to test our hypothesis that high schoolers who are unsure of their post-grad journey deserve special attention, from a research perspective.
That said, we are using similar methodologies to do research on how other specific target populations or segments are thinking about and making decisions about particular educational paths and schools.
To take the next step and learn more about how tomorrow’s students are making their decisions about your school and its programs today, reach out to Campos and set up a conversation. We’re happy to talk through different research approaches to find the one that’s best for you.
