SEGMENTING STUDENT MARKETS WITH A STUDENT SATISFACTION AND PRIORITIESSURVEY

A market segmentation analysis was conducted on students at a large mi dwestern urban university using two forms of hierarchical cluster anal ysis on student characteristics: an agglomerative procedure using a ma tching-type association measure and a divisive chi-square-based automa tic interaction detection (CHAID). The resulting segments were compare d for their ability to distinguish among students according to six sat isfaction scales and measures of students' priorities for college stud y derived from a general satisfaction survey. As expected, the CHAID c lusters discriminated better among students according to their several measures of satisfaction, one of which was the criterion variable for the analysis. However, both procedures produced differences across on ly two of six satisfaction scales. The matching-type measure clusters resulted in significant differences on 11 of 18 college study priority items compared to only 6 of 18 for the CHAID clusters. Final discussi on describes the usefulness of market segmentation strategies for plan ning, evaluating, and improving academic and student support programs.