Relationship between Personality Type, Class Preference, and Feeling of Belonging

Jakob Romo, Beyoncee Ceballos, Eric Solomon, Nelly Megerian and Hannah Strum

Personality

A person’s personality type is connected to every aspect of their life, including academic, personal, and social aspects.

• Introversion
• Extroversion

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Class Type

• Online
• In Person
• Hybrid
• Covid 19 Effects
• Studies show struggles with online learning (Quayyum et al., 2023)

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Feeling of belonging

A Study shows Feelings of belonging in school include (Alink, 2023) :

• connectedness
• sense of community
• sense of acceptance
• attachment to school

Studies also show that there's a link between personality styles and feelings of belonging on campus (Stubblebine et al., 2024; Loose, 2023).

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Research Question & Hypothesis

Research Question:

What is the relationship between personality type, class preference, and feeling of belonging in college students?

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Hypotheses:

1. Extroverted individuals will be enrolled in in-person classes, and introverted individuals will be enrolled in online classes.

2. Extroverted individuals will experience a greater feeling of belonging compared to introverted individuals.

3. Greater feelings of belonging for students taking in-person classes regardless of personality type compared to online classes.

Extroverted students are outgoing, introverts are the opposite

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Methods - Participants

• Ages ranged from 18 to 61 years old
• Average age of 22 years old
• 72 participants attended Saddleback or IVC

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Total of 79 participants

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Methods - Procedures

Google Forms was used to create a non experimental questionnaire

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• Units enrolled
• Online
• In person
• Hybrid

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• Amount of time on campus during the week
• Amount of time enrolled in college

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Methods - Procedure

• We used 24 questions that were scaled 1-7

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• Personality Type (introversion/extroversion)
• Colgate Personal Inventory (Whitman, 1929)

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• Feeling of belonging
• Group cohesion self-rating form (Gaylon et al., 2016)

Results

• There was not a significant correlation between the number of units of online classes and levels of extroversion (r(69)=0.050, p=0.686).

• There was not a significant correlation between the number of units of in-person classes and levels of extroversion (r(71)=-0.059, p=0.628).

Results

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• There was not a significant correlation between number of units of online classes and levels of feelings of belonging (r(69)=-0.014, p=0.912).

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• There was not a significant correlation between number of units of in-person classes and levels of feelings of belonging (r(71)=0.083, p=0.493).

Results

• There was a significant positive correlation between GPA and levels of feelings of belonging (r(74)=0.214, p=0.033).

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• There was a significant positive correlation between levels of extroversion and levels of feelings of belonging (r(77)=0.532, p<0.001).

Conclusion

• Extroversion and Feeling of Belonging:
• Students’ personalities and academic feelings of belonging are connected.

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• Extroversion and In-Person/Online classes:
• There was no difference in Extroversion levels between In-Person and Online classes.

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• Feeling of Belonging and In-Person/Online classes:
• There was no difference in Feelings of Belonging between In-Person and Online classes.

Conclusion

• One hypothesis was supported
• Not a bad thing to have no significant correlation
• This study shows that:
• Academics are not related to online vs. in person classes
• GPA is not related to extroversion
• Significant correlation between:
• Introversion and Academic Feelings of Belonging
• GPA and Academic Feelings of Belonging

Implications/Importance

• More online students exist than before
• Changes the way students learn
• Learning styles are changing
• The topic is relevant to the future of education
• Our study adds to the field because:
• Increase of online learning since 2020
• Increased reliance on online learning
• Little existing research on the topic
• Possible utilization for future studies
• The future is unknown regarding the topic

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Limitations

• Sample size (79/101 participants)
• Participants were mostly female (63.3%)
• Participants mostly attended Saddleback and Irvine Valley College (91.1%)
• Method of data collection (online survey)
• 100% of participants reported taking an online class
• Red Herring Questions
• Directionality
• Personality and Academic Feelings of Belonging

Future Direction

• Future Research
• GPA and Online vs In-Person Class Attendance
• GPA and Feelings of Belonging
• Class Type and Level of Education

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• Growth of access to online education
• Ethics
• Educator’s responsibility

Thank you for listening