NC State Student Study
During the 2023-2024 school year, HSCSC partnered with NC State's Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism and College of Design for a yearlong research project to gather data regarding how HSCSC can fulfill its mission of providing a vibrant experience for students.
In the Fall of 2023 HSCSC contracted with NC State’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management (PRTM) and College of Design to execute the project “Activating NC State Students in the Development of Hillsborough Street”.
This multi-method research project was designed to gather data from NC State students related to how Hillsborough Street can best meet their needs. Because of the immediate adjacency of Hillsborough Street to campus it currently serves many student needs – housing, shopping, leisure space, and transit. However, HSCSC sought more specific information on how they can fulfil their mission of providing a vibrant experience for students on Hillsborough Street.
This partnership represented an excellent opportunity for collaboration between NC State and HSCSC. NC State faculty, staff, and students in PRTM and the College of Design brought different expertise in research methods to design a study that included: focus groups conducted as “Walking Workshops” to gather qualitative data from students in situ on Hillsborough Street, participatory planning activities conducted in a “Visioning Forum”, and the collection of quantitative survey data through an online survey distributed via multiple means on campus. The project was also designed to allow an undergraduate and graduate research assistant to co-lead the project with faculty and staff, giving them valuable experience in project management, data collection and analysis, and communication of research findings.