Oracle, The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors

81 Pages·2006·0.91 MB·English

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors
Vol. 2, Iss. 1, February 2006

Table of Contents

iii EDITORIAL TEAM

iv GENERAL INFORMATION

v GUEST EDITORIAL
A READER-CENTERED APPROACH: MAKING SENSE OF RESEARCH
ARTICLES
Andrew Wilson

1 FAKE-ID USE AMONG FRATERNITY/SORORITY MEMBERS
William R. Molasso
The author explores differences among fraternity/sorority members and nonmembers in the use of and
attitudes about fake IDs. Data from this study of 3,780 students from 12 institutions across the country
indicate that fraternity/sorority affiliated students were almost three times as likely to have a fake ID
and maintain less healthy attitudes about them when compared to non-affiliated students. The
researcher identifies recommendations for professionals working with this community.

8 GAY MALES IN FRATERNITIES
Jack Trump and James A. Wallace
The experiences of gay men in college social fraternities serve as the focus of this study. Representing
five inter/national fraternities and five colleges and universities, five men share their coping strategies,
homosexual identity development, and the reactions of their fraternity brothers to their “coming out.”

29 ONLINE ALCOHOL HEALTH EDUCATION CURRICULUM EVALUATION:
HARM REDUCTION FINDINGS AMONG FRATERNITY AND SORORITY
MEMBERS
Andrew Wall
This study examines the use of technology as a tool in the broad-based delivery of alcohol health
education within fraternities and sororities. Building on the promise of multimedia education, this
evaluation examines an alcohol abuse prevention program delivered through an interactive web-based
format for reducing the harm associated with alcohol abuse. The evaluation uses a clustered randomly
assigned post-test only evaluation design with 3,552 individuals in 340 chapters to examine differences
between individuals who have and who have not received the educational curriculum. The outcome of
the study is building evidence that technology-delivered alcohol education has potential to modestly
impact academic and personal harm associated heavy alcohol use.

46 DEFINITIONS OF HAZING: DIFFERENCES AMONG SELECTED STUDENT
ORGANIZATIONS
Chad W. Ellsworth
Fraternities, sororities, military organizations, athletic groups, and marching bands commonly are
associated with hazing activities. Although such organizations have been linked to hazing activities, the
fact that different entities and organizations have different definitions and perceptions of hazing has
hindered any real effort to challenge and combat such activities. The purpose of this study was to
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investigate whether the activities students define as hazing differed among the selected student
organizations. This study discovered statistically significant differences (p<.05) among the selected
student organizations for physical hazing activities and psychological hazing activities, as well as
statistically significant differences (p<.05) between women and men for physical hazing activities,
psychological hazing activities, and other hazing activities. This study also identified 10 activities
students in all groups identified as hazing, which moves us toward a common definition of hazing.

61 EFFECTS OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY MEMBERSHIP AND
RECRUITMENT SEMESTER ON GPA AND RETENTION
Suzy M. Nelson, Silas Halperin, Timothy H. Wasserman, Corinne Smith, and Peter Graham
The researchers assess the relationship of fraternity/sorority membership and semester of recruitment
on grade point average (GPA) and student retention, adjusting for covariates through sub classification
by propensity score. The findings suggest a consistent positive relationship between fraternity/sorority
membership and retention and a varying relationship between fraternity/sorority membership and GPA.
Fraternity/sorority membership has a negligible effect on GPA over time, with the exception of the
recruitment and pledging semester.
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EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Grahaeme A. Hesp Daniel Bureau
The Florida State University University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

ADVISORY BOARD
Rosalind Alderman Debbie Heida Mary Beth Seiler
St. Mary’s University NASPA Gamma Sigma Alpha

Mari Ann Callais, Ph.D. Larry Lunsford Allison Swick-Duttine
Theta Phi Alpha Fraternity Order of Omega Perspectives Editor

Charles Eberly, Ph.D. William Molasso, Ph.D. Brian Tenclinger.
Center for the Study of the College Northern Illinois University Association of Fraternity Advisors
Fraternity Foundation
Eric Norman, Ph.D.

ACPA: College Student Educators
International

EDITORIAL BOARD
Jim Barber Denny Bubrig Amber Garrison Andrew Wilson
University of Michigan Auburn University Florida State University Emory University

Patrick Biddix Michelle Espino Tim Haskell
Washington University University of Arizona Santa Clara University

PEER REVIEW BOARD
Ron Binder, Ed.D. Iowa State University
Robert Kerr Laura Osteen, Ph.D.
Bowling Green State
Marilyn Fordham Oregon State University Florida State University
University
National Panhellenic
Susan Komives, Ed.D. David Persky, Ph.D., J.D.
Gary Bonas Conference
University of Maryland St. Leo University
Villanova University
Adam Goldstein, Ph.D.
Stanley Levy, Ph.D. Sparky Reardon, Ph.D.
Michael Bowie, Ph.D. Florida State University
University of Illinois University of Mississippi
University of Florida
David Grady, Ph.D.
John Wesley Lowery, Dennis Roberts, Ph.D.
Matthew Caires University of Iowa
Ph.D. Miami University
University of Wyoming
Dennis Gregory, Ph.D. University of South
Larry Roper, Ph.D.
Mari Ann Callais, Ph.D. Old Dominion University Carolina

Oregon State University
Theta Phi Alpha
Bridget Guernsey Tisa Mason, Ed.D., CAE
Fraternity Joel Rudy
Riordan, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin
Phi Kappa Tau
James Caswell, Ed.D. Emory University Whitewater
Fraternity
Southern Methodist
Lori Hart Ebert, Ph.D. Malinda Matney, Ph.D.
University Penny Rue, Ph.D.
Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity University of Michigan
University of Virginia
Kathleen Cramer Randall
John Hayek, Ph.D. Richard McKaig, Ed.D.
University of Alabama Esther Thorson, Ph.D.
Kentucky Office of Indiana University
University of Missouri
George Dickson Higher Education
William Molasso, Ph.D.
Kappa Sigma Fraternity Heather Wilson, Ed.D.
Debbie Heida Northern Illinois
Alpha Chi Omega
Charles Eberly, Ph.D. Berry College University
Fraternity
Eastern Illinois
Joan Hirt, Ph.D. Larry Moneta, Ed.D.
University Terry Zacker, Ph.D.
Virginia Polytechnic Duke University
University of Maryland
Shannon Ellis, Ph.D. Institute and State
William Nelson, Ph.D.
University of Nevada University
University of Iowa
Reno
Hank Nuwer
Thomas B. Jelke, Ph.D.
Franklin College
Nancy Evans, Ph.D. tjelke solutions
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GENERAL INFORMATION

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors advances the study of
college fraternities and sororities through a peer reviewed academic journal promoting scholarly
discourse among partners invested in the college fraternal movement. The vision of Oracle: The
Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors is to serve as the premier forum for
academic discourse and scholarly inquiry regarding the college fraternity and sorority movement.

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors is published biannually.
Members of the Association receive Oracle as a benefit of membership and can access the Oracle
archives on the Association's Members Only website.

Copyright:
Copyright © 2006 Association of Fraternity Advisors, Inc. (AFA). All material contained in this
publication is the property of AFA. The opinions expressed in Oracle do not necessarily reflect
those of AFA. Requests for permission to reprint should be sent to the AFA Central Office at
[email protected] or 317/876-1632.

Subscriptions:
Subscriptions may be purchased by contacting the Central Office. Single issues are available for
$20; a one-year subscription is $35; a two-year subscription is $50.

Submissions:
Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors accepts
submissions focused on articulating research involving fraternity and sorority members at the
collegiate, alumni, inter/national organization, and volunteer advisory levels. Manuscripts should be
written for the student affairs generalist who has broad responsibility for educational leadership,
policy, staff development, and management. Articles on specialized topics should provide the
generalist with an understanding of the importance of the program to student affairs overall and
fraternity/sorority advising specifically.

Research articles for Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors should
stress the underlying issues or problems that stimulated the research; treat the methodology
concisely; and, most importantly, offer a full discussion of results, implications, and conclusions. In
the belief that AFA readers have much to learn from one another, we also encourage the submission
of thoughtful, documented essays or historical perspectives.

Visit http://www.fraternityadvisors.org/resources/oracle/oracle.htm for more detailed submission
guidelines.

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Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors
Vol. 2, Iss. 1, February 2006

GUEST EDITORIAL
A READER-CENTERED APPROACH:
MAKING SENSE OF RESEARCH ARTICLES

Andrew Wilson

Just as educational researchers often struggle making their findings accessible to a wide audience,
student affairs practitioners frequently find difficulty with research articles in terms of clarity and
understanding. Recent scholarly articles suggest student affairs practitioners rethink our work (Love
& Estanek, 2004; National Association of Student Personnel Administrators & ACPA, 2004). In
addition, there is external pressure to produce learning outcomes by applying newly generated
knowledge in the practical realm. Given the reader-centered approach of Oracle: The Research
Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors, this guest editorial shares advice on navigating
research journal articles. These tips will aid in the understanding and practical application of
research in student affairs.

Why are you reading the article?
Identifying your rationale for reading an article guides your understanding. For instance, readers
hoping an article provides advice on a particular campus problem will differ in their reading
approach from those seeking to remain current on new research. Practitioners wanting to learn more
about a specific campus issue would benefit from a review of the literature and recommendations on
the topic from a wide range of journals. Meanwhile, readers seeking broad information for ongoing
professional development are likely to benefit from the variety of articles published in journals such
as Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors. Knowing the purpose
for reading frames how you approach the article.

What are you reading?
Researchers utilize various research methods and study highly specific topics. Regardless of the
rationale for reading an article, reading the literature review can certainly help in building
knowledge of a particular topic. In addition, articles typically include introductions that explain the
importance of the research and help frame the significance of the new findings. If a reader’s goal is
simply to understand the article then he or she should pay closer attention to discussion sections
rather than methods sections. However, when evaluating an article, readers should spend ample
time focusing upon methods and findings as well as the other sections.

How should a reader decide if this is a high-quality journal article?
While we hope journal editors would only publish articles that use rigorous methods and with
interesting findings, there are a myriad of reasons why questionable scholarship sometimes appears
in print. Readers seeking to inform practice using research articles must acquire a critical reading
eye. To hone evaluative skills related to research, readers should rely on researchers who typically
know more about a topic than they do. For example, readers who want to replicate a study or better
understand how a researcher analyzed data should utilize a graduate student, a colleague, and/or a
faculty member with knowledge of educational research design. Authors provide contact
information to serve as resources and typically welcome dialogue on their materials. Even
practitioners who have completed courses in advanced research design and statistics can find
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approaching researchers very helpful because they typically remain more current than busy
practitioners.

In addition to understanding design and analysis, readers should pay close attention to study
limitations. Authors outline limitations to indicate how studies may have limited use given different
institutional context. For instance, if data collection occurred at a large, public institution, a
practitioner at a small, private campus may want to consider institutional type before implementing
the same study. Since every study has limitations, readers must determine the extent to which such
limitations may affect the stated findings or maybe even discredit the research. Depending upon a
reader’s purpose for examining a study, some limitations may be more tolerable than others. A
reader should call upon the expertise of resources such as graduate students and faculty members to
assist in assessing limitations, if necessary.

How do you apply what you are reading?
While readers should never rely upon any single section of an article, discussion sections remain
filled with useful applications for practitioners and scholars. Discussion sections typically include
recommendations for practice and suggestions for future research. This may be the most important
part of the article for busy practitioners. In addition, context is important to consider. For example,
in EFFECTS OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY MEMBERSHIP AND RECRUITMENT
SEMESTER ON GPA AND RETENTION, Nelson et al., provide data to assist the reader in
understanding the impact of deferred recruitment. The data, collected in the early 1990s, still has
pertinence today since the issue of deferred recruitment remains a debated topic in the fraternal
world. This article provides history to assist campus practitioners conducting their own research on
the role of deferred recruitment. Reading research articles conducted on specific topics over a long
period can allow us to evaluate how the context has changed and the issue has evolved.

Application of recommendations to Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity
Advisors
We hope you will apply these strategies as you read this issue of Oracle: The Research Journal of
the Association of Fraternity Advisors. In this issue, Dr. William Molasso examines fake
identification use among college students with a particular focus on fraternity and sorority
members; Jack Trump and Dr. James Wallace present a qualitative study on gay males in
fraternities that includes rich quotations from participants describing their experiences; to add to our
knowledge of alcohol intervention strategies, Dr. Andrew Wall evaluates the impact on fraternity
and sorority members of a widely-used online alcohol education tool; Chad Ellsworth investigates if
the activities students define as hazing differed among fraternities, sororities, Reserve Officer
Training Corps, NCAA athletic teams, and marching bands; finally, Suzy Nelson, Silas Halperin,
Timothy Wasserman, and Peter Graham assess the relationship between fraternity/sorority
membership and semester of recruitment on academic achievement.

Each article presents an overview, an in-depth literature review, and offers discussions that include
recommendations for future practice and research and implications for practitioners. A variety of
research methods and analyses are utilized in these studies.

We hope you continue to use Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity
Advisors to grow professionally and propel forward the fraternity movement.

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References

Love, P. G., & Estanek, S. M. (2004). Rethinking student affairs practice. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.

National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and ACPA: College Student Educators
International. (2004). Learning reconsidered: A campus-wide focus on the student
experience. Washington, DC: Author.

Andrew Wilson is Assistant Dean for Campus Life at Emory University. He may be contacted via
email at [email protected].
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FAKE-ID USE AMONG FRATERNITY/SORORITY MEMBERS

William R. Molasso

The author explores differences among fraternity/sorority members and nonmembers in the
use of and attitudes about fake IDs. Data from this study of 3,780 students from 12
institutions across the country indicate that fraternity/sorority affiliated students were
almost three times as likely to have a fake ID and maintain less healthy attitudes about them
when compared to non-affiliated students. The researcher identifies recommendations for
professionals working with this community.

The continued evolution of risk management policies of inter/national organizations and local
campus fraternity/sorority governing boards has had a significant impact on the social environment
associated with alcohol in fraternity/sorority communities. However, professionals working with
fraternity/sorority communities continue to struggle with the use and abuse of alcohol by members
and guests. One area of concern for fraternity/sorority advisors, inter/national staff, and volunteer
leaders is access to alcoholic beverages by those students under the minimum legal drinking age.
The information derived from this study can help constituents of the fraternal movement address
underage drinking.

Since the passage of the 1984 Federal Minimum Purchase Age Act, states have established a
minimum drinking age of 21. Despite this law, studies have shown that students under 21 have
continued to gain access to alcoholic beverages, making underage drinking a major problem at
American colleges and universities (Wechsler, Lee, Nelson, & Kuo, 2002). Wechsler et al., found
that a majority (50.9%) of underage students indicated it was very easy to obtain alcohol. To
address this problem, Wechsler, Moeykens, and DeJong (1995) recommended that college
administrators and security chiefs take three steps to enforce the minimum drinking age more
effectively: taking legal action against those providing alcoholic beverages to minors; establishing a
zero-tolerance policy for students using fake IDs; and implementing greater punishment for
underage students involved in alcohol-related incidents. This study examined the second
recommendation of Wechsler, Moeykens, and DeJong related to the use of fake or counterfeit IDs.
For the purposes of this study, fake IDs refer to the use of an identification of someone else that
indicates a minimum age necessary to purchase alcoholic beverages. This may include borrowing
someone else’s driver’s license that looks like the person, but is older than the minimum drinking
age. It may also include purchasing a counterfeit identification card that uses the person’s picture,
but changes the age of the individual to something over the minimum drinking age required. I
selected the term fake ID for this study based on use of this terminology in the previous published
articles on this issue.

After an extensive search, very little research on the prevalence of fake IDs was found in the
literature. These few previous studies indicated that nearly half of all college students used fake IDs,
and that White men under the age of 21 were most likely to have one. Durkin, Wolfe, and Phillips
(1996) found that 46% of the respondents in their study of undergraduates in a sociology class
reported using a fake ID to obtain alcohol. Lotterhos, Glover, Holbert, and Barnes (1988) studied
the likelihood that students between the ages of 18 and 21 would get a fake ID after the state raised
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the minimum drinking age to 21. They discovered that White, male students with high grade-point
averages were the most likely to say they planned to get a fake ID after the law changed. Goldsmith
(1989) found that 13% of community college students had a fake ID, although the sample size of his
study was limited. In a more recent analysis, Wechsler et al., (2002) found that 17.8% of students
used fake IDs to obtain alcohol. These results indicate that the use of fake IDs may be a primary
means for underage students to obtain alcohol.

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of fake IDs among fraternity/sorority
members. This study assists fraternity/sorority advisors, inter/national staff, and volunteer leaders in
understanding better the magnitude of the problem in this community. This study sought to answer
two questions:
1. Are there differences in fake ID use among fraternity/sorority members and nonmembers?
2. Are there differences in general attitudes about fake ID use among fraternity/sorority
members and nonmembers?

Answering these questions provides fraternity/sorority advisors, inter/national staff, and volunteer
leaders with the information they need to improve their ability to address drinking among underage
members.

Methods

This investigation used data from a multi-institutional study of off-campus parties that utilized the
Off-Campus Party Study Survey Questionnaire in fall 2003. The research team constructed the
survey because no literature was identified on parties that occur in the off-campus apartments and
houses of students, and no other instrument was available to explore the phenomena.

An institutional panel of staff from student affairs and health education and scholars from the
Colleges of Education and Communication served as the coordinating research team. To ensure that
validity of the overall survey, several stages of testing and piloting were completed before finalizing
the instrument. Initially, the team of faculty and staff collaborated during a series of meetings and
conversations about the purpose of the study and the kinds of questions needed to achieve that
purpose. After an initial instrument was created, a small number of students (less than 20) were
asked to complete the survey in a preliminary screening. After they completed the instrument,
students were asked to indicate any questions they found difficult to complete, did not understand,
or found overly intrusive. After compiling this feedback, a final draft of the instrument was created
and piloted in spring 2003.

The pilot study of 186 students was administered in several courses of the faculty members familiar
with the study on the campus of the research team. The purpose of the pilot study was to provide an
initial collection of data to determine if the format and questions asked would achieve adequately
the purposes of the study. After compiling the data of the pilot study, the researchers modified the
format and language of several questions to reflect better the necessary outcomes. The instrument
was then forwarded to several scholars and practitioners with expertise in student issues of this
nature to ensure the accuracy of the instrument. The researchers then finalized the questionnaire,
which included a range of questions examining the phenomenon of off-campus parties. A subset of
those questions asked students about their use of fake IDs, which formed the basis for this study.

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