Perceptions and expectations as measures of satisfaction with the freshman advising program at the College of William and Mary

The purposes of this study were (1) to gather information on advisor and advisee perceptions, (2) to gather information on advisor and advisee expectations, and (3) to analyze the satisfaction level of the participants. This research was conducted at the College of William and Mary during the 1980-1981 academic year. Questionnaires were used to survey both freshman students and their advisors.;The results indicated that in general advisees had lower perceptions of the Freshman Advising Program, had higher expectations for advising, and were less satisfied with the advising system than the advisors. These results were significant for the analysis of perceptions for the dimensions of Academic Planning, Knowledge, Personal Development, Developmental Advising, and Advising Style and for the Total Perception Score. In the analysis of expectations, these results were significant for the dimensions of Academic Planning, Career Planning, Knowledge, and Developmental Advising and for the Total Expectation Score. When satisfaction with advising was considered, the results were significant for all six of the dimensions and for the Total Satisfaction Score.;Female advisees had greater expectations for advising on Career Planning than male advisees. They also were less satisfied with their current advising on the dimensions of Academic Planning and Knowledge.;Satisfaction with advising decreased as advisees increased the number of visits to the advisor and as they lengthened the time in their advising sessions.;Advisee satisfaction with advising was affected by the congruence between the advisee\u27s intended major and the advisor\u27s teaching field only on the dimension of Knowledge. Advisees were most satisfied with advisors in the social sciences on all dimensions except Career Planning in which case they were most satisfied with advisors in the natural sciences/mathematics. Advisees were least satisfied in all cases with advisors in the humanities. Advisors did not differ in their satisfaction with advising by field.;Further research is indicated for three areas. First, the negative relationship between advisee satisfaction and length of advising sessions, number of contacts, and total exposure to the advisor needs to be investigated further to determine the effects on satisfaction which advisee-advisor dissonance in perceptions and expectations and which advisee personal characteristics have. Second, additional research on advisor teaching field as a criterion for satisfactory performance is needed. Third, the personal characteristics of advisors need to be studied to determine their impact on the advising system. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)