As part of an ongoing effort to understand and meet the needs of our clients, Computer Lab Management conducted a student survey on April 6, 2002. The survey was sent to 1000 students who used the computer classrooms during the Winter 2002 quarter. There were 261 respondents. There were several items that were revealed in this survey. These include the following:

• Over 80 percent of the respondents printed fewer than the 200 sheet quota 
• Nearly 30 percent who print need to do so to print online documents 
• Most of the students found the ability to print double-sided helpful 
• Students who found double-sided printing helpful also tended to prefer no-quota/unlimited free printing 
• Students who preferred fast printing also tended to prefer high quality printing

The details from the survey are listed below.

Computer Lab Management began to charge for printing this academic year for
people who use more than 200 sheets per quarter. To offset any financial
impact on students, double-sided printing was provided in all computer
rooms. Please answer the following questions to know what we could adjust in
the future.

  Your name was selected by a random sample of all computer room users
from last quarter.  As a result, your responses to this survey represent
many users.  Please reply to this survey so that your views will be
properly represented.

  The survey contains six questions which are listed below.  To answer
the survey, reply to this message and mark your answers to the questions
below by putting an "x" or text, as appropriate, between the square
brackets provided (eg. [x]). Since a program will automatically tally your
responses for later analysis, please keep your responses between the
square brackets provided. 

Thank you for your time and input.

                        Tim Leamy
                        Computer Lab Management
                        Classroom Technology Services                   
                        tcleamy@ucdavis.edu

*****  Computer Room Printing Survey *****

1. Class Standing: [] Freshman   [] Sophomore   [] Junior    [] Senior
                   [] Masters candidate         [] PhD candidate
                   [] Professional School                       

2.  During the Winter quarter, did you use our printing services?
  [] No. I did not print anything last quarter (Skip to question #6)
  [] Yes but did not print over 200 pages
  [] Yes and printed over 200 pages

3.  You used the printers on campus primarily because ... 
  [] Do not own a printer
  [] Wanted a higher quality print out
  [] Had a class in a computer classroom and had to print
  [] Needed to print document accessed on a high speed network on campus
  [] Needed to print output from specialized software only available on campus

4.  You found that duplex (double-sided) printing...
  [] Did not impact how you would have printed during the quarter
  [] Helpful to allow me to print what you needed without worrying about
     charging too much
  [] Helpful in reducing how much paper you needed to carry
  [] Somewhat helpful because you needed to print single sided documents for
     class
  [] Not at all helpful since you wanted a majority of my print out had to be
     single sided
  [] Helpful mostly because it helps the environment

5.  Emails were sent to students who printed in our computer rooms to make them
aware of our print charging policy. Additional emails were sent to those who
exceeded the print quota.  Did you find these emails...
  [] Not helpful since it was difficult to understand
  [] Helpful in knowing the policy
  [] Helpful in knowing how many sheets you have used so far and how to reduce
     your printing 
  [] Not helpful since you knew the policy and how to check for the number of
     sheets you used
  [] Not helpful since you did not consider it important
  [] Helpful the first time but not after that
  [] Did not care either way if I received or not received the emails

6.  Please rank your preferences (from 7 to 1, with 7 being the most 
important and 1 the least important) for printer access in centralized 
computing facilities.
  [] Fast print out
  [] High quality print out
  [] Higher print quota
  [] No quota - free printing
  [] Option to use other paper such as resume paper
  [] Color printing capability
  [] Real Time information about the number of sheets you used

Thank you for your time and input.

1. Class Standing

2. During the Winter quarter, did you use our printing services?

3. You used the printers on campus primarily because ... 

4. You found that duplex (double-sided) printing...?

5.Emails were sent to students who printed in our computer rooms to make them aware of our print charging policy. Additional emails were sent to those who exceeded the print quota. Did you find these emails...

	Number	Percentage
Not helpful since it was difficult to understand	21	8.0%
Helpful in knowing the policy	37	14.2%
Helpful in knowing how many sheets you have used so far and how to reduce your printing	83	31.8%
Not helpful since you knew the policy and how to check for the number of sheets you used	87	33.3%
Not helpful since you did not consider it important	17	6.5%
Helpful the first time but not after that	20	7.7%
Did not care either way if I received or not received the emails	57	21.8%

6. Please rank your preferences (from 7 to 1, with 7 being the most important and 1 the least important) for printer access in centralized computing facilities.

	Number of 1s	Number of 2s	Number of 3s	Number of 4s	Number of 5s	Number of 6s	Number of 7s
Fast print out	28	19	18	16	28	37	95
High quality print out	13	26	31	39	37	61	34
Higher print quota	21	37	48	41	31	44	16
No quota - free printing	46	28	31	26	22	26	59
Option to use other paper such as resume paper	49	53	26	30	32	27	22
Color printing capability	20	31	37	49	56	27	19
Real Time information about the number of sheets you used	51	30	41	32	42	16	28

 

There does not seem to be a strong single need why students print on campus.  We may need to investigate more to find the underlying reasons.  Duplex printing seems popular overall.

Extended Analysis using correlations

Users who value high-quality printing tend not to care so much about elimination of the quota (-0.290). These people generally print a smaller volume but care more about the presentation.

Users who found the duplex printing valuable because they could print what was needed without being charged also tend not to own their own printers (0.200).

Users who value fast printing also strongly value high print quality (0.465).

Users who value fast printing also prefer free (no-quota) printing (0.234). These are the high-volume, demanding users who were most affected when the print quota went into effect.

Users who prefer an option to use other paper in the printers also value real-time information about number of sheets printed.

Users who do not own their own printers tend to print on one side of the paper, and therefore do not often utilize duplex printing (0.222). This could be because they do not realize (or possibly care) how much printing costs and what resources it requires. In addition, they cannot print small-volume jobs at home the way printer owners can.

The introduction of duplex printing did not impact users who value high print quality (0.140); these are likely the low-volume printers who care more about presentation of the final product than volume. Supporting this reason is the following correlation: users who value fast printing also tend not to value the option of printing on specialty paper (-0.477).

Users who used the lab because the network was faster also tend to use printing services more (0.221).

Responses to the emails informing users about printing policy and volume created a definite division between the recipients. One group found the emails useful in conveying pages printed to date volume and policies also tended to utilize the duplex printing with more regularity and be more environment-conscious. A second group that found the emails unhelpful or did not care whether or not they received the emails at all tended to print only on one side most of the time, and also expressed a preference for increasing the print quota or eliminating it altogether; this is the same group that did not seem to want real-time information regarding number of pages printed. For example, users who prefer a higher print quota also tend not to value the option of printing on specialty paper (-0.217). In comparison, users who value no-quota free printing tend not to care so much about the option to print in color (-0.231); these are the same high-volume users. Users who value fast printing also tend not to value real-time information about number of sheets printed (-0.332). This shows that users who value fast printing either do not come close to the quota or just don't care about how much paper they use, but are instead interested in immediate results, regardless of cost.

An interesting correlation from this survey shows that users who used the printers to print from specialized software also found the duplex printing helpful in reducing paper carried (0.153). While not a strong correlation, it is certainly an interesting one, and is possibly caused by a high volume of output pages required by specialized software (for example, Animal Science diet formulation software such as Pegasus or Molly).

Users who used the computer labs because of the fast network tended to find the emails helpful in informing how many pages had been printed (0.151) and also tended to find the duplex printing option helpful in reducing the amount of paper that needed to be carried around (0.146). These variables may seem unrelated, but they can be explained due to the trend of increased use of course web pages.  The course web pages tend to be large so they require a fast network to view and take many pages to print.  Most clients who print a lot probably prefer duplex and like the emails since they help track their printing.

Users who used the lab because the network was faster also tend to own their own printers (-0.347).

• Student Survey #1 (Winter 2002)
• Student Survey #2 (Winter 2002)
• Faculty Survey (Fall 2001)
• Faculty Survey (Spring 2001)
• Student Survey (Winter 2001)
• Faculty Survey (Fall 2000)
• Duplex Printing Survey (Summer 2000)
• Student Survey (Spring 2000)
• Student Survey (Winter 2000)
• Faculty Survey (Fall 1999)
• Faculty Survey (Spring 1999)
• Student Survey (Spring 1999)
• Student Survey (Fall 1998)
• Faculty Survey (Winter 1998)
• Student Survey (Winter 1998)
• Student Survey (Winter 1997)
• ASUCD Student Computer Survey (Winter 1997)

Comments: tcleamy@ucdavis.edu URL: http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/survey/student_w02-3.html Last reviewed: Thu, 18-Jul-2002 Last updated: July 12, 2002