Informal college study groups : gender and group homophily.

Abstract

The examination of undergraduate informal college study groups offers not only the ability to better understand student culture, but also the ability to look further into the role that gender plays in a student's college experience. Further, it is hypothesized that students form and maintain these groups based off homophily. This study uses a mixed methods approach to examine how males and females experience informal study groups differently, along with how a student's gender informs his or her perception of the group's purpose, formation and function. Themes such as trust, along with a student's pre-college background and major, emerged in the findings as playing a role in informal study groups. The findings suggest that students use gender in order to create study groups that are homophilic while also gender contributes to how students experience college.