Students information sources in the digital world 2015/16 May 2016 1
Students information sources in the digital world 2015/16 The report and its contents are not for publication or dissemination without permission. ISBN: 978-1-910284-20-9 This report is Nielsen 2016. 2 Students information sources in the digital world
contents INTRODUCTION... 4 KEY FINDINGS... 5 THE DATA:... 21 1. Choice of university and course, and ease of funding course... 22 2. Types of study resources used...25 3. Use of online resources and VLE content... 29 4. Finding out about and acquiring resources...35 5. Extent of purchasing of resources... 42 6. Sources of new print books... 54 7. Purchasing of core/recommended resources...57 8. Free downloading of e-books... 64 9. Devices used to read e-books and other downloaded online resources... 67 10. Print vs e-book benefits... 70 11. Use of social media in study... 79 12. Interest in methods of accessing study resources... 83 Appendix: sample structure... 85 3
INTRODUCTION This report presents the key findings from Nielsen s Students Information Sources in the Digital World 2015/16 survey, undertaken from 14 December 2015 11 January 2016 in order to establish undergraduate students use of information sources (print, online, digital), where/how such sources are obtained, levels of expenditure, attitudes to print vs digital resources, etc. This survey builds upon surveys undertaken in previous years, with many questions repeated (allowing trend data), some emended and others dropped or added. This report compares current data to those obtained in the last survey undertaken in 2013/14. A total of 1006 interviews with undergraduates were completed, with the sample designed to be broadly representative of students at Institutes of Higher Education in the UK, and closely matching that achieved in previous surveys. However, the sample was also constructed to achieve approximately even numbers by sex and by year (1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd or above) within each of 6 broad subject groups as follows: Arts & Humanities (AH) Business & Management (BM) Law Medicine Science & Technology (ST) Social Sciences (SS) In each section the main findings are highlighted in the text and illustrated by charts. The data are taken from questions placed on the student panel run by YouthSight (which recruits through UCAS and therefore concentrates on students registered on full-time courses). Only 10 (1%) of the 1006 sample were part-time students (approximately 3% of all HE students are part-time). 4 Students information sources in the digital world
1.1a Choice of university and course (subject and sex) Q: Which of the following best describes how you made your choice of university and course? 4 6 5 3 6 9 6 5 5 5 4 3 4 7 5 5 4 6 8 6 6 14 14 10 9 9 10 % 79 81 75 76 86 78 77 78 80 TOTAL AH BM LAW MED SS ST MALE FEMALE KNEW WHAT & WHERE I WANTED TO STUDY SELECTED COURSE I REALLY WANTED THROUGH CLEARING OTHER CHOSE UNIVERSITY, AND THEN COURSE WHICH SUITED ME TOOK WHAT I COULD THROUGH CLEARING Base: All students 1.1b Choice of university and course (year and university type) 4 3 5 5 11 7 7 4 5 4 6 8 11 7 10 7 11 % 81 75 79 81 81 75 1 ST YEAR 2 ND YEAR 3 RD + YEAR RUSSELL PRE-1992 POST-1992 KNEW WHAT & WHERE I WANTED TO STUDY SELECTED COURSE I REALLY WANTED THROUGH CLEARING OTHER CHOSE UNIVERSITY AND THEN COURSE WHICH SUITED ME TOOK WHAT I COULD THROUGH CLEARING Base: All students 23
About Nielsen Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen s Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content video, audio and text is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry s only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.. All rights reserved. Nielsen and the Nielsen logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of CZT/ACN Trademarks, L.L.C. Other product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. 16/9622 87
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