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MSU Outreach
Program Evaluation

presented by

Cheri L. Medendorp

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MSU OUTREACH
PROGRAM EVALUATION

BY
Cheri L. Medendorp

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Communication

1994

ABSTRACT

MSU OUTREACH
PROGRAM EVALUATION

BY
Cheri L. Medendorp

This thesis analyzes a volunteer program developed by the
Office of Admissions at Michigan State University, MSU
Outreach, to determine what inspires individuals to volunteer
for this ‘university ‘wide attempt to recruit. prospective
students, in addition to developing new avenues to pursue in
order to increase participation in the future.

As competition for incoming freshman to universities and
colleges increases due to a drop in the number of graduating
high school seniors, it is important that every effort is made
to attempt to stand-out in a student's mind when they are

faced with the decision of where to attend college.

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents,
Larry and Joan Medendorp. I cannot begin to express the
extent to which they have guided and supported me throughout
my entire life. They serve as a continual reminder of the

type of person I would like to become.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to thank Dr.'s Charles Atkin and
Lou Hekhuis for taking time out of their busy schedule in
order to serve on my committee. I would also like to thank
Tracy Walla and Jan Butler for their help on coding and
testing my data. Most importantly, I would like to extend
my deepest and most sincere gratitude to Dr. Sandi Smith.
In addition to all of her guidance on my thesis, she served
as a continual inspiration throughout all of my years at
Michigan State University and will always be a special part

of my life.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Overview of MSU Outreach

Literature Review

2. Gimmicks to Attract
3. Volunteerism

4. Program Evaluation
5. Purpose

6. Research Questions

Methodology

7. Respondents
8. Questionnaire
9. Focus Group

10.Unitizing and Coding Data

Results
Discussion
Conclusion

Future Research

VIII.List of References

IX.

X.

Appendix 1
Appendix 2

vi

11

12

13

16

17

18

19

20

24

29

30

32

35

37

-—‘-'

\\
\

“\Moll (1994) declares that ”Many undergraduate admissions

INTRODUCTION

It would be feasible to make the analogy that Colleges
and Universities need students (and in return money) to
survive much like humans need food. In order to continue to
be competitive and recognized institutions of higher

learning, it is necessary that institutions continue to

Ireceive in-coming funds for the upkeep of its programs. If

' the number of enrollments does not continue to remain at a

higher level than the number of individuals graduating or

leaving the university or college every year, there will in
turn be problems with funding and keeping the institution at
a competitive level. This feat is the cause of a great deal

of competition among universities and colleges. Richard

counselors and financial aid directors are losing sleep over
'meeting enrollment goals,’ a smooth academic term that
means delivering bottom-line revenue from new students after
the discounts to lure them and the attrition within last
year's student body have been taken into account (p. 11)."
It is important to realize that the number of
enrollments is the important factor, not the number of
applicants. Although the application numbers may be
increasing by as much as 27 percent at some institutions,
"admissions deans say high school counselors have told them
that much of the jump may be attributed to the fact that

1

2
students are applying to more colleges, (Collison, 1993, p.
A27)." Among Big Ten Universities, only two did not
experience a decrease in their enrollment during the last
year with mere .3 and.5 increases (Riggle, 1994).
Prospective students are looking for the most appealing
packages available to them and are applying to as many
schools as possible.

According to a hand out distributed by Michigan State
University Students Admissions Committee to their new
members (1993), 19,000 students will apply for Michigan
State University and of those, 14,000 will be accepted.

Only approximately 6,000, however, will end up attending the
University. This is due to many factors including the fact
that there are as many as 130 colleges and universities in
Michigan alone, and the number of students in the 12th grade
graduating class has decreased 38.6% from 1975 to 1993

(Simon, 1993).

ve ew o S Out each

In response to this overwhelming difference between the
number of individuals that Michigan State University admits
and the number of individuals that actually enroll in the
University, in 1983 Mary Beth Heeder, an MSU Admissions
Counselor, founded a group called the Student Admissions

Committee (SAC). SAC was established to assist the Office of

3
Admissions and Scholarships with recruitment activities and
make MSU stand out in a prospective student's mind when they
are faced with the decision of choosing a college. This
group consists of undergraduate students, a graduate
advisor, and a faculty advisor.

One specific group within the Student Admissions
Committee, that focuses their efforts in telemarketing, is
referred to as "MSU Outreach". The MSU Outreach division is
concerned with providing every high school senior who has
been accepted to MSU an opportunity to talk with a current
MSU student, staff, or faculty member. Volunteers contact
prospective students by telephone during the fall and winter
semester to congratulate them on being accepted, provide
information, and answer questions about Michigan State or
the entire college experience.

When an individual, or a group, decide to take part in
the volunteer activity they will be given a specified time
to arrive at the Administration building for a brief
overview and a five minute session of training. Volunteers
are then given a small packet of information which will help
them answer some of the common questions individuals may
ask, in addition to the list of prospective students they
are supposed to reach. At the end of the session
individuals are notified that they may make their free long

distance phone call and upon completion of the call they can

4
come to the specified area for pizza and pop before they
leave.

MSU Outreach runs both in the fall and the spring for
approximately three months each time. In addition, both the
programs are separated into two sessions (approximately 6
weeks each), making four sessions available throughout the
school year in which MSU students and personnel are able to
participate. The recruitment of volunteers is focused both
on an individual and group basis. In other words,
advertising and reinforcements for taking part in the
activity are targeted at both the individual level and also
at campus organizations and groups to increase involvement.

In addition to the pop, pizza, t-shirt, and free five
(5) minute long distance phone call given to each
participant, MSU Outreach gives money to the three groups
that elicit the most involvement from their members. The
Office of Admissions developed a budget of $600 per session
to reward high producing groups which is to be distributed
as follows: $300, $200, and $100 to the groups that receive
first, second and third, respectively for participation.
Because the program is separated each semester into two
separate sessions it provides participants additional
opportunities to win/earn participation money for their
group or organization. This type of reinforcement was
chosen by the Office of Admissions in order to encourage

large groups of people take part in the program, and

5
therefore increase their numbers of volunteers. Also, as of
this year (1994) individuals from the Greek System who
participate in the program are able to receive points for
charity events such as Greek Week.

Due to the fact that volunteers are a crucial part of
making this "outreach" project a success, it is critical to
examine the recruiting and retention of individuals taking
part in the program. The focus of this thesis is to examine
the MSU Outreach program and to determine which aspects of
the program could be altered or improved to help reach the

main goal of an increase in involvement among volunteers.
Literature Review

The following literature is divided by subject. The
initial section consists of background information
pertaining to recruiting tactics used at the many
universities and colleges. Specifically, the literature
examines the telemarketing scheme as a means of recruiting
at low cost and what benefits it may offer the institution.

The next section discusses the idea of volunteerism.
Specifically, the literature analyzes what volunteerism is
and why individuals actually take part in certain types of
activities or programs.

The final section provides a broad overview of the

aspects of a program evaluation. It specifically describes

6
the main goal of an evaluation and tips for delivering an
evaluation that will prove useful to the organization or

program.

'0 s trac Students

In order to compete in the intense fight to recruit a
large freshman class, many schools and universities have
turned to very lavish strategies in order to attract their
student population. These gimmicks have ranged from
inviting high school seniors to a party on a 90 foot sailing
yacht to arranging personalized videotapes for certain
prospective in-coming freshman. Last spring, Stanford
University invited 750 students to campus to view the campus
and go on a treasure hunt in order to get the "feel" for the
university and ended up spending more than $20,000 to help
pay the transportation bills of about 100 of the visitors
(Wilson, 1990). Additionally, some colleges have been able
to attract students by putting to together new financial aid
packets in the hopes of persuading the students as well as
their parents that their college or university is the
perfect place for the new student to spend the next four
years. (Collison, 1992).

Although becoming more common than in the past, the
tactics mentioned above continue to be very expensive means

of "selling" individual universities or colleges. A much

7
more common and less expensive approach used by many
university admissions offices has been.the use of
telemarketing strategies to reach the pool of prospective
in-coming freshman. I

Mark O'Meara (1990) believes that phonathons are an
integral part of any advancement program. In felation to
effectiveness, phonathons are second only to face-to-face
solicitation. In addition, Lee Young (1991) dehlares that
"the development of an effective telemarketingfprogram can
address many of the issues that have a direct/effect on the
enrollment plans of the institution (p. 28).fi Unlike direct
mail marketing, which has been shown to get lost in the
shuffle and not receive attention from the receiver (Esteban
& Apel, 1991), telemarketing affords the individual the
opportunity to instantaneously address specific questions
that are of interest to both the telemarketers and the
person called.

"In our society, a medium is a communication form gone
public. Print ads are handbills multiplied by the million.
Radio and television commercials are either stand-up
declarations or small dramas of daily life, played in a
nation wide theater where products rather than tickets are
sold...Now the telephone is the latest of our basic
communication forms to be converted to a medium of

commercial persuasion. It retains its unique quality of

long distance person-to-person dialogue despite the new

8
volume-media it has begun to play (Roman, 1976, p6)."
Telemarketing is a popular and cost-effective means of
marketing a college or university, however, the need for a
large amount of volunteer involvement still exists in order

to have a successful and cost-effective campaign.

Mm

According to Ellis and Noyes (1978), to volunteer is
"To choose to act in recognition of need, with an attitude
of social responsibility and without concern for monetary
profit, going beyond what is necessary to one's physical
well being (p. 10)." Thus, according to this definition,
the average volunteer would need to volunteer in response to
a majority of altruistic or purely unselfish motives. But
how realistic is this assumption?

The eighties were classified as a time when an
individual's main concern was to make money and spend it,
however, now, in the nineties, many believe that the money
society of the 80's may be dead. "Flashy spending is out,
saving and family are in, and helping has become hip,"
declares Ronald Henkoff (1998, p. 40). It would seem as
though people are beginning to have a sense of affiliation
with others and are becoming a society that is willing to
help for the sake of making someone else's life a little

better.

9

In addition to helping others the decision to do any
type of helpful service is also believed to have the
potential of providing the specific volunteer with a sense
of internal satisfaction and accomplishment (Park, 1983).

In the large and complex society that we live in
volunteerism provides many individuals the chance to combat
something in their own lives as well as help others with
aspects of their lives.

In a study on students and volunteerism by Robert Serow
(1991), he determined that research in volunteerism "has a
long-standing tradition of discounting idealistic motives in
favor of explanations that also take into account the
personal advantages realized by the participants (p. 544)."
Through his own study with college students the most
consistent theme throughout the entire set of interviews,
was the idea that the voluntary service could compensate
students for missed opportunities or lost relationships.
Serow found that individuals felt that when they took part
in a volunteer activity it could make up for some part of
their life that might be lacking at the moment (ie. meeting
people, get their mind off other things, etc.) In addition,
Dr. John Candy (1977) parallels volunteerism with the idea
of restitution. He believes that many times individuals
take part in volunteer projects in order to make-up or amend
for something that has gone wrong in their life, much like a

people that must do the activities due to orders from the

10
criminal justice system.

Stinson and Stam (1976) developed an economic utility
model of volunteering in which satisfaction derives from
both intrinsic rewards (some of which may be altruistic) and
from extrinsic rewards (none of which are altruistic). The
point of interest here is that they make a case that there
is a sense of indirect renumeration for those who volunteer.
They specifically examine what they referred to as the
"shadow wage". This is similar to a case in which local
government officials or volunteer firemen will experience a
sense of indirect renumeration in the form of tax savings.

Park (1983) also believes that individuals may choose
volunteer activities for reasons other than just the sense
of helping others. "Organizations which rely on volunteers
need to give careful attention to the dollar costs to
volunteers and the organization for the work being performed
(p. 154)." In other words, many scholars believe that the
sole reasoning behind individuals taking part in volunteer
activities cannot be perceived as purely altruistic or
unselfish.

In addition, it is important to realize that due to the
fact that men and women are socialized differently they may
choose to volunteer for very different reasons. According
to Haslett (1983), very early on in a child's life, through
language, females are being reinforced for being nurturing

or other directed while a male is being reinforced for being

11
aggressive and self directed. A man may take part in a
volunteer activity in order to fulfill his competitive
nature while a woman may participate in order to help

another individual or the host organization.

Program Evaluation

In order for any organization, group, activity, etc. to
run smoothly there is the constant need for evaluation.
According to Merriam-Webster (1985), to evaluate means to
"determine or fix the value; to determine the significance
or worth by careful appraisal or study (p. 429)." In the
case of designing program evaluations, often evaluations are
designed so that the process and outcomes of a program are
compared with the original goals of the program.

Jim Dearing (1993) believes that a goal can be
described as a condition toward which effort is directed,
and a process is the means by which a desired condition is
achieved over time. An outcome is a measurable end-state
result. In other words, an evaluation is often a type of
research in which we are centrally concerned with
determining and then improving the effectiveness of planned
communication. Carol Weiss (1972) developed a similar
definition of evaluation research. She believes it is "the
measuring of effectiveness of a program against the goals it

set out to accomplish as a means of contributing to

12
subsequent decision-making about the program and improving
future programming (p. 4)."

Evaluation is not only feared to be expensive in time
and money, but it also may be feared for its potential
impact on volunteer program development and delivery (Kenny,
1977). Many times evaluations are compiled in a manner
which is either too unrealistic for the organization due to
the amount of time needed for changes or may not take into
account the best interest of the organization.

Additionally, evaluation results do not always point to
clear directions for program improvement. Nevertheless,
Kenny believes that they can serve as continual guides for
making decisions regarding program retention, modification,

expansion, or elimination.

ose

Because it is becoming more and more difficult and
competitive to recruit individuals into higher education due
to a decrease in high school graduates and the intense need
for financial aid, it is imperative that Michigan State
University get the maximum use out of the recruiting
programs they presently have. If Michigan State University,
specifically the Office of Admissions, wants to reach the
program's maximum potential, it is essential to determine

what is important to the volunteers that take part in the

13
program and therefore which aspects that make the program a
success. Different groups of people will be persuaded by
different stimuli and will be driven by different forces,
therefore variations must be determined in order to cater to
groups that are needed for this specific task. It is
essential to determine factors contributing to volunteerism
and ultimately those factors that make the program a

SUCCESS .

Research Questions

Research has shown that people volunteer for different
reasons. Given that MSU Outreach has begun to give
reinforcements such as Greek Week points, money, t-shirts,
phone calls, food and beverages, it is important to
determine which specific reinforcements are actually having
an effect on the audience. To investigate this, the

following research question is asked:

R01: What specifically inspires individuals to take part in
this volunteer activity? In addition, do different things

inspire different groups of people?

Efforts are continually being made to attempt to get
the word out about the program such as newspaper and

television advertisements, but such efforts tend to be very

14
expensive. In order to lower the costs and save time
associated with advertising, it is helpful to determine what
channels are actually being accessed so that efforts can be
made to utilize successful channels. To investigate this,

the following research question is asked:
RQ2: How does the community "hear" about the program?

The title that is given to a project plays an integral
part in the attitude that individuals will form regarding
it. Therefore this year the project was referred to as "MSU
Outreach", rather than telemarketing as it has been in the
past. Due to the fact that individuals have a tendency to
develop negative connotations toward the idea of
"telemarketing," a title with less emphasis on the idea of
selling something and more on the idea of helping people out
should prove more persuasive. To investigate this, the

following research question is asked:

RQ3: What are the different titles individuals find

appealing?

Although by asking RQ1 we are able to determine what parts
of the program already in place inspired the individuals to
take part in the program, it is also helpful to determine

what changes should be made or what aspects should be added

15
in order to get the volunteer to participate in the future.
To investigate if this, the following research question is

asked:

RQ4: What are factors that would motivate the audience to

participate in this program in the future?

Now that the individuals have taken part in the program, if
they are satisfied with the experience they are likely to
not only come back in the future, but also they will spread
the positive words to their friends, class mates, etc. about
the program, thus increasing participation in the future. On
the other hand, if individuals are not satisfied, or happy,
with a specific aspect of the program it is likely that
other individuals will experience these same negative
feelings thus leading to a great deal of negative
advertisement in reference to the program. By determining
the positive and negative experiences that the individuals
experienced, alterations in the program can be made and this
will lead to an increase in participation in the future and
a more pleasurable experience for all involved. To
determine whether alterations are needed, the following

research questions were asked:

RQS: What did individuals determine to be the best part of

the experience?

16
R06: What did individuals who participated in the program

determine to be the worst part of the experience?

Aside from the fact that groups receive money for having the
highest participation, after the individual takes part in
the program there is a limited amount of, if any, persuasive
strategies used to encourage that specific individual to
come back and make calls to prospective students in the
future. If the individuals are willing to come back it
would benefit the program due to the fact that all of the
training has already been done. To investigate the
likelihood of individuals returning the following research

questions were asked:

R07: Is this the first time that the individual participated

in the program?

R08: When individuals take part in the program are they

likely to come back in the future?

Methodology

Respondents

Respondents were one hundred and forty nine (149)

students volunteering to take part in MSU Outreach in

l7
addition to this survey. Seventy six (76) of the
respondents were female and seventy three (73) were male.
The mean rank of their college standing was 2.62 with 2
assigned to sophomore status and 3 assigned to junior
status. Individuals came from 14 different majors in the
University. Additionally, a focus groups was performed in
order to expand on areas of the program that could be
modified or changed in order to increase participation. The
group consisted of 10 individuals coming from 4 different
majors. 8 of the individuals were female and 2 were male.
2 were in a graduate program, 4 were seniors, 2 were juniors

and 2 were sophomores.

Questionnaire

All respondents taking part in MSU Outreach were asked
to fill out a questionnaire after they took part in a 1 1/2
hour to 2 hour program. The questions first asked for the
demographic data discussed above and then assessed
evaluations of preferences of certain aspects of MSU
Outreach. The first question asked the individual to
indicate how they heard about the program; whether it was
from a flyer, an advertisement on the television, an
advertisement in the paper, a friend, or other. Question
two attempted to determine what it was that inspired the

individual to take part in MSU Outreach. The choices given

18
were: will look good on resume, help the University, free
pizza/pop, free t-shirt, help in-coming students, free five
minute long distance phone call, or other. Question three
asked the volunteers to indicate which title for the program
that they would find as most appealing: telemarketing, MSU
Outreach, phon-a-thon, or any other additional suggestions
that they had. Questions four, five, six and seven followed
an open-ended format and allowed the individuals complete
freedom with their answers. The questions read as follows:
Are there other rewards/incentives that you think would have
been more persuasive in getting you to make the calls? If
so, what would these be?; What would make you come back in
the future?; What was your favorite thing about the
experience?; and What was the worst thing about the
experience? Question eight determined whether the
individual was with a group and also identified which one.
Finally, the last question, number nine, determined whether
this was the first time making the calls and also whether
they would be willing to come back in the future? (See

Appendix 1 for entire questionnaire).

I QQUS GIQUQ

A week after individuals took part in the actual‘
volunteer activity, a focus group was conducted in order to
expand on some of the issues that were conveyed in the

survey responses. The ten participants of the focus group

19
met in a small room which was conducive to small group
interaction for approximately an hour discussion some of the
problems and concerns they had after taking part in the
program. 10 questions were developed prior to the focus
group and were extended verbally to the participants by a
neutral source (see Appendix 2 for entire set of questions).
Once the question was verbalized the individuals were free
to give opinions and concerns at any time throughout the
discussion. The session was audio taped in order to make
sure that all of the information was received and

documented.

flpipizipg and deing Data

Due to the fact that questions four, five, six, and
seven left room for open ended responses, two coders
unitized and coded them separately, determined the
percentage of agreement and Cohen's Kappa. (Cohen, 1960)
Responses to what would have been more persuasive in getting
them to make the calls, were coded into six separate
categories. They are: d'scount cou ons, longer cgiis, rrpe
grips, recruiting for owp program, e tr c ed't, and
grispipg perks. The two coders achieved 96% agreement when
coding these rewards and incentives and Cohen's Kappa was
.96. Five categories emerged in regard to what would make

individuals come back in the future. They are: mo e

20
information, greekzgroup affiliation, existing perks, pimp
gopmirment, and ipvoking emotion. The two coders achieved
94.3% agreement, and Cohen's Kappa was .92. The factors
that emerged as the "favorite" aspect of the experience for
individuals taking part in the experience were categorized
and coded into five categories. They are: rap, aitruism,
internal satisfaction, existing perks, and environment. The
two coders achieved 95% agreement when coding into these
five categories and Cohen's Kappa was .95. Finally, three
categories emerged out of individuals response to the worst
thing about the experience. They are: rob s w't th
program, problems with the caller, and problems girp the
recipient. The two coders achieved 91.8% agreement when
coding into these three categories and Cohen's Kappa was

.907.

Results

R01: What specifically inspires people to take part in
volunteer activities? In addition, do different things
inspire different groups of people? Results show that the
top three reasons individuals give are to: help their own
organization (mean rank 6.70); Help university (6.60); and
help in-coming students (6.47). The proportions of female

and male means were submitted to the SPSSX Mann-Whitney test

21
to determine if significant differences in ranking occurred

for males and females.

Males Females
help org. 6.82 help student 7.05
help univ. 6.41 help univ. 6.78
free food 5.93 help org. 6.59
help student 5.86 free phone 5.66
free phone 5.45 good on resume 5.27
free t-shirt 5.38 free food 5.20
good on resume 5.25 free t-shirt 4.88
altruism 4.70 altruism 4.68
money 4.56 money 4.48

R02: How does the community "hear" about the program? 50%
of the individuals that took part in MSU Outreach found out
about the program through their fraternity or sorority while
28% declared that it was through their college organization.
10% heard about the program from a friend, 7% saw a flyer
and decided to take part, 3% were persuaded to get involved
due to a certain individual (ie. presentation in class,
teacher, etc.), and finally, a mere 1% received notice of

the program through a personal letter.

R03: What are the different titles individuals find
appealing? MSU Outreach was determined to be the most

appealing name with 71% of the individuals choosing it. 15%

22
of the individuals chose the name phon-a—thon, while 5%
determined that the title telemarketing was most appealing

to them.

R04: What are factors that would motivate the audience to
participate in this program in the future? 30% of the
individuals surveyed determined that the existing perks (ie.
pizza, pop, etc) would be enough of an incentive to come
back in the future, followed by 10% of individuals declared
that they would be motivated to come if they felt as though
they were really making a difference or felt like they
helped. 10% believed they would come back in the future if
the group they were affiliated with was asked to come, 6%
conveyed they would just need to be given information
regarding the time and date it would take place, and 4%
.believed they would take place if they had the time. The

remaining 40% were left blank.

R05: What did the individuals determine to be the best part
of the experience? 51% of the participants in the program
and the study determined that the internal satisfaction that
they received after taking part in the program was the best,
while 17% declared that just the fact that they were helping
others (altruism) was the best. 6% determined that the
existing perks and the fact that it was fun were the best

parts of the experience, and the remaining individuals

23
determined that the environment (nice chairs, desk, etc.)

stood out as the best part of the experience.

R06: What did individuals who participated in the program
determine to be the worst part of the experience? More than
30% of the individuals that took part in the survey and
program declared that the worst part of the experience was
due to problems with the receiver (ie. people didn't talk or
ask questions, angry/rude parent, or the fact that people
were gone), 13% believed that there were problems with the
program (ie. lack of training, repeats in calls, didn't
like the paperwork, no drinks at the desk, pizza ran out,
too long, or they were all alone), and 12% determined the
worst part of the experience was a result of problems with
themselves as callers (ie. didn't like asking why they chose
another college, calling people in general, hurt body parts,
and language problems). The remaining 40% was due to

missing data.

R07: Is this the first time the individual participated in

the program? For more than 80% of the individuals this was
their first time taking part in the program while only 12%

reported that they had been participants in this program

before.

24
R08: When an individual comes to take part in the program,
are they likely to come back in the future? Results showed
that after taking part in the program, whether it was the
individuals first time or not, 67.8% declared that they

would be likely to come back in the future.
Discussion

This study empirically supports the fact that, although
the program MSU Outreach has been accomplishing 6,100-9,000
calls to prospective students due to volunteer involvement
in the past, there are aspects of the program that should be
altered in order to reach the main goal of increases the
number of volunteers/calls to prospective students.

Although there is nothing that the program can do in
order to fix the problems associated with the fact that the
receiver is not home, or the fact that the person calling
generally feels uncomfortable calling people, there are
changes regarding the program itself that would be
beneficial. According to the surveys and also personal
communication with individuals, it is apparent that they
feel a lack of training prior to making the calls. Many
individuals felt as though they were not prepared, either
with printed materials or verbal instruction to answer the
questions that they were receiving from the individuals they

were calling. They felt that the packet of information they

25
received was lacking some information that they needed
during their talk with prospective students. Some of the
information they were lacking related to the srata News,
theater department, and information on the greek system. In
his article regarding handbooks for volunteers, Peter
Butterheim (1990) stresses the fact that quick reference to
materials is of the utmost importance when doing any type of
telemarketing campaign.

In addition, individuals in a focus group interview
determined that the phone calls would have been more
beneficial and persuasive if they were able to call specific
individuals within their major or area of study. This would
not only allow them to be more knowledgeable when answering
questions, but similarity to an individual has been proven
to be an incredibly persuasive tool (Cialdini, 1988).

Additionally, the program should capitalize on the fact
that individuals, once they take part in the program, are
willing to come back in the future. Individuals should fill
out a form at the end of the program in which they write
their name and whether they would be willing to take part in
the program in the future. A log of these names should be
compiled every session and the individuals should be
contacted (either by personal letter or phone call) inviting
them to take part in the program again. According to
consistency theories, this informal type of commitment is

the key to persuading individuals to take part in the

26
future. When the individuals are contacted again, they will
not want to seem inconsistent with their commitment only a
few short months ago (Cialdini, 1988).

Perhaps the most interesting discovery focuses on the
fact that the different sexes were inspired by separate
reasons for taking part in the program. Due to the fact
that males determined that the most inspirational reason
they had for being a part of MSU Outreach was to help their
organization they would need to be approached in a different
manner than the female population which saw helping the
students as the most important inspiration of the program.
Therefore, when individuals go to the fraternities and
sororities in order to encourage participation, different
aspects of the program should be stressed.

In addition to the $1,200 that is given as
reinforcement for participation, the budget of $3,000 per
semester that the MSU Outreach receives is also used on
advertisement of the program. The results depicted the fact
that the most valuable sources of advertisement are through
the greek system and through college organizations (a
combined amount of 78%). Most importantly, however, is the
fact that not a single individual proclaimed that he/she had
been notified about the program through an advertisement in
the State News or on the University Network Cable Channel
while only 7% heard about the program from a flyer. These

are avenues of advertisement that can be deleted and the

27
money can be used elsewhere. Marketing for this event
should be focused upon groups and not on individuals.

Other than greek or university organizations which were
very well represented in the sample tested, additional
groups that should be targeted are residence halls. Taking
part in this program would allow a certain floor of a
residence hall a chance to compete with the other floor for
the prize money.

In regard to the title of the program, it was an
overwhelming landslide for the program to remain MSU
Outreach. As has become apparent through the statistics
from the individuals that participated in the program, the
majority of these volunteers are inspired to take part in
the program in order to "help" (whether that be the
organization, the university, etc.). The phrase MSU
Outreach portrays a sense of assisting of others, or doing
good for other;

An interesting finding is that 51% of the individuals
determined that the best part of the experience was the
internal satisfaction that they received after taking part
in the program, however 30% of the individuals determined
that in order to come back they would still require the free
pizza, pop, long distance phone call, t-shirt, and the
possibility to win money for their group or organization.
This illustrates the fact that although individuals may

believe that they are doing something for somewhat

28
altruistic reasons, it helps to feel as though they are
getting something in return rather than just intrinsic
rewards.

The existing perks made available through the program
seem to be reinforcing the individuals adequately, however,
through personal contact with individuals it became apparent
that there were some additional reinforcements that would
increase their likelihood of returning in the future. These
included: extra credit points, more information about the
program and also feeling as though they really made a
difference.

Due to the fact that the second highest reason
individuals had for taking part in the program in the future
was determined to be if they felt as though they really made
a difference, it would be helpful for the Outreach program
to do some sort of recognition of the individuals that take
part in the program, reminding them of the important role
they played in making Michigan State University a better
University and for helping out the individuals that will be
attending in the fall. This could be in the form of a
letter from the President of the University or an
advertisement in the campus newspaper. "No matter how
modestly people give a gift or perform a service, everyone
enjoys to be recognized (Masse, 1990, p 203)." This

recognition could go in conjunction with inviting the

29
individual to come and take part in the program in the

future.

Conclusion

Through this research it has become clear that the
individuals that take part in MSU Outreach are volunteering
for very different reasons. It is important that the sex of
the targeted individual (or individuals) be taken into
consideration in order to fully utilize the advertising and
recruiting tactics for promoting involvement.

The most important aspect that has become apparent
through this study is the fact that something needs to be
done in regard to the training that individuals receive
before they take part in the program. The individuals
consistently pointed out that they feel insecure or
unprepared to handle all of the questions and concerns that
the prospective students have. Due to the fact that,
through this program, Michigan State University is reaching
almost 75% of the in-coming freshman class through telephone
calls it is imperative that this process be seen as positive
as possible by the individuals being called. If the
volunteer is not well trained, or well prepared, the phone
call may do more harm than good. Additionally, volunteers
should be warned that they may get some parents that are

rude, and should be instructed as to how such situations are

3O
handled. Aside from the chance that the prospective student
gets a chance to visit MSU, or if a counselor happens to
visit his/her high school, this could be one of the only
contacts this prospective student has with Michigan State
University.

Finally, a way in which the program could be even more
effective would be to accommodate the alumni groups that are
working on recruitment of individuals. This is a new
process in which alumni groups are engaged in the same
process of outreach to prospective students (Bao, 1994),
however it is being coordinated through the office of the
Director of Alumni Relations. If the individuals of the two
groups would work in conjunction with each other the process

would be more effective and efficient.
Future Research

This study has established important conclusions with
regard to MSU Outreach and the aspects of the program that
are deemed useful and inspirational to the individuals that
participate in the program, however, this study has by no
means exhausted all of the research possibilities for this
area.

First of all, further research should be performed in
order to conquer the problems individuals experience I

relating the packet of information that they have available

31
to them. Due to the fact that individuals have determined
that they are being asked questions they are unable to
answer with the limited amount of information they have
available to them a survey of individuals and the questions
they were asked would allow a packet to be devised that
would be clear, concise, and much more efficient.

Further research regarding the Outreach Program should
be conducted to determine what effect the calls have had on
the receiver's decision to choose Michigan State University.
Due to the fact that the major goal or objective of the MSU
Outreach program is to be a type of "aggressive" recruiting
tactic, this would be serve as the most apparent predictor
of evaluating the program from the receiver's perceptions.
This research could be accomplished through follow-up with
the individuals that were part of the sample, either through
written or verbal communication.

Additionally, a problem of the program that surfaced
during a focus group interview had to do with the sex of the
caller in relation to the sex of the receiver. One
participant claimed that he had experienced trouble with
parents when he was calling female prospective students.
Research in the future should focus on the effect that the

sex of the volunteer has on the marketing strategy.

32

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Appendix 1

In order to continually improve this program it is helpful

to receive feedback from the individuals that take part in

it. Please take a couple of minutes and fill this out, then
give it to your supervisor.

Name:
Phone #:

 

 

Sex:
M
F

Year in School:
fresh
soph
junior
senior

graduate

Major:

 

1. How did you hear about this program?
(check appropriate selection)
A flyer
Ad on television
Ad in the paper
A friend
Other (please specify)

 

 

 

 

 

2. What inspired you to come?
(check appropriate selection)
Will look good on resume
Help the University
Free Pizza/Pop
Free t-shirt
Help in-coming students
Free 5 min. phone call
Other (please specify)
3. Which of the following titles of this program is most
appealing to you?
Telemarketing
MSU Outreach
phon-a-thon

 

 

 

 

any additional suggestions

 

36

4. Are there any rewards/incentives that you think would
have been more persuasive in getting you to make the calls?
If so, what would these be?

5. What would make you come back in the future?

6. What was your favorite thing about the experience?

7. What did you least like about the experience?

8. Are you here with a group?

yes which one?
no

 

9. Is this your first time making the calls to prospective
MSU student this semester?

Yes will you come back again?
No how many times have you been here?

 

Thank you very much for your time!!

37

Appendix 2
FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What was the worst thing about the experience?

2. What was the best thing?

3. Do you think it would have been harder first semester?

4. Is there anything, in addition to what they already
have as incentives, that would make you more likely to
return in the future?

5. Do you think that the training was sufficient?

6. How would you evaluate the time committment?

Was it too long? Rather have weekends/weekdays?

7. Are there any materials you wish would have had at your
desk while you were making the calls?

8. How do you think that we could eliminate the parents
apprehension to talk to us?

9. How do you think, in general, the program could be
improved?

10. Would you participate next year?

"liiiiiliiMilli/1'3