Factors in Students' Seat Selection: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this study was to explore reasons for students' seat selection. Participants were 346 college students (14% freshmen, 47% sophomores, 24% juniors, and 14% seniors) from 12 classes (six sections of two courses). A 20-item questionnaire was used to ask students why they chose their seats in class. An exploratory factor analysis reduced the items to five seat-selection factors: Performance, Social, Asocial, Noticeability, and Environment. Seat selection factors were analyzed in terms of seating location: by row, by front/middle/back of the room, by center versus perimeter of the room, and by mid-room versus sides of the room. Performance and Noticeability ratings decreased by row from the front toward the back of the room. The Asocial factor was rated higher by those who sat in the back of the room, while the Environment factor was rated higher by those who sat in the center of the room.