Starting the Conversation: An Exploratory Study of Factors That Influence Student Office Hour Use

As part of best practices for increasing faculty-student interaction, higher education institutions across the country require faculty members to hold office hours. Various studies have reported factors affecting student use of office hours; however, results are unclear at best and in some cases conflicting with respect to which factors matter most, as in the case of instructor approachability. We present results from a survey of undergraduate student perceptions at a large, mid-Atlantic public research university. Factors that significantly (p < 0.05) affect student use of office hours are largely out of instructors' control with at least one important exception: usefulness of instructor feedback. We offer best practices for increasing student use of office hours and suggest directions for additional research on the use and purpose of office hours.