Exploring the Lived Experience of the Contemporary College Student Through Photo Elicitation

Abstract

This research uses photo elicitation to examine the lived experience of the contemporary college student. Twenty-one participants took photographs of their college experience for a week, selected the five pictures that best represented their college experience, and then participated in a semi-structured interview to discuss the pictures. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Findings suggest campus places, class and class activities, commuting, leisure activities, study space, and work as the most salient spaces (places and activities) of the contemporary college student experience. We also identified a life of service and purpose, school pride, relationships, stress relief, and “typical” as the most salient meanings ascribed those experiences. Findings also examine in what spaces meanings occur. These findings not only provide insight into the experience of the contemporary college student, but also lead to practical implications related to commuting, stress relief, study spaces, and integrating service activities into the classroom.

Keywords:

• College student
• stress relief
• commuting
• service learning
• photo elicitation

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge students within the Arizona State School of Community Resources & Development who each day inspire us and challenge us to be better educators. As noted in this manuscript, many of our students juggle school with work responsibilities, while also committing their lives to bettering their communities. We would especially like to acknowledge the 21 students who participated in this research, and three students (Erika Karner, Barbara Mansfield, and Maryannai Soto) who took extra time to read both the interview transcripts and the manuscript and discuss their own views in relation to the researchers’ findings. This research would not be possible without the contribution of all of these students.

Notes

1 Students checked all ethnicities that applied. Thus, the number of reported ethnicities may total more than the sample size.

2 Throughout this manuscript, we use enumeration as a tool to describe the frequency that particular themes appeared in the data, as identified by the researchers. Given our interprestist epistemology, however, we wish to acknowledge that the simple frequency that a theme occurs is not in and of itself a testament to its salience or importance. The determination of salience develops as part of a rigorous strategy of which frequency is one part of that approach.

3 Quotes have been edited for clarity.

4 For purposes of this study, we adopted an operational definition of leisure as a combination of perceived choice and intrinsic motivation. Though such operationalization does not lend itself to easy categorization, we attempted to identify the primary purpose of the activity. For example, if a participant suggested they were bike riding for the enjoyment of the activity (intrinsic motivation), then that was classified as leisure, but if the primary purpose of the bike riding was to get to class, then we classified it as commuting—even if the participant also enjoyed bike riding to class.

5 Pseudonyms were used for all student names.