Understanding Student Experience Through Conversational Research
How Westover School partnered with Nesolagus to uncover authentic student voices on belonging, identity, and school culture.
Executive Summary
Student Experience Research
Westover School partnered with Nesolagus to deploy a 32-question conversational survey exploring student experiences with belonging, identity, code-switching, adult support, and school culture. Unlike traditional climate surveys, the Warren platform used a chat-style instrument with 16 open-ended questions to capture authentic student narratives alongside quantitative scales.
Administered during December 2025 – January 2026, the survey reached 192 students with 28 fully completed responses. Despite a compressed deployment window with no reminders, the engagement produced 185+ narrative responses across 11 theme areas and revealed 6 distinct student experience segments through discovery-based archetype analysis. Key findings — including 67% code-switching prevalence and significant variation in belonging by space — directly informed the January 9, 2026 faculty professional development session.
Engagement Timeline
From discovery to faculty presentation
Discovery
- Westover leadership workshop
- Research objectives defined
- Belonging & identity focus areas
- 11 theme areas mapped
Survey Design
- 32-question conversational script
- 16 open-ended narrative prompts
- Code-switching & belonging scales
- Anonymous participation design
Data Collection
- 192 students reached
- Single administration window
- Real-time quality monitoring
- 185+ narrative responses captured
Analysis & Delivery
- 6 student segments discovered
- Thematic analysis of narratives
- Interactive dashboard delivery
- Faculty PD session (Jan 9, 2026)
The Challenge
What Westover School was facing
Understanding Student Experience
Traditional climate surveys weren't capturing the nuanced experiences of students navigating identity, belonging, and school culture at an all-girls boarding school.
Faculty Development Needs
Leadership needed data-driven insights to inform professional development, particularly around code-switching awareness, classroom belonging, and equitable rule enforcement.
Authentic Student Voice
The school wanted to hear directly from students in their own words—not just checkbox responses—to understand the 'why' behind their experiences.
The Solution
A conversational approach to student voice
Our Approach
We deployed the Nesolagus conversational research framework—a chat-style survey that feels like a conversation, not an interrogation. Students could skip questions, share stories, and engage authentically while we captured both quantitative metrics and qualitative narratives.
Methodology
- Conversational survey with branching logic across 11 theme areas
- 11 theme areas covering belonging, safety, voice, and identity
- Mixed-methods analysis combining scales with narrative coding
- Anonymous participation to encourage honest responses
- GIF-based engagement moments to maintain warmth
- Skip options respecting student agency
Deliverables
- 1185+ student narratives across 11 theme areas
- 26 distinct student archetypes with actionable insights
- 3Interactive Warren Dashboard for data exploration
- 4Comprehensive Listening Tour Report
- 5Faculty PD recommendations tied to student voice
- 6Coded qualitative themes with verbatim quotes
Key Findings
What students told us
Students feel most authentic with friends
Report adjusting behavior to be respected
Ranked below residential and social spaces
'Depends on the adult' most common response
Students feel most authentic with friends and in dorm rooms, but classroom ranked as one of the lowest spaces for authenticity.
67% of students report adjusting their behavior, speech, or appearance to be taken seriously or respected at school.
Most students have at least one trusted adult, but rule enforcement varies widely "depending on the adult."
6 Distinct Student Archetypes
From 185+ narratives, we identified six experience-based segments that help Westover understand and support different student journeys
Each archetype includes behavioral indicators, key quotes, and targeted support recommendations
The conversational approach gave us insights we never would have gotten from a traditional survey. We now have actionable direction for professional development and student support.
Impact & Next Steps
Turning insights into action
Findings presented to all faculty with actionable recommendations
Experience-based personas to guide targeted support strategies
Real-time data exploration for continued insight discovery
Recommended Actions
- - Findings shared at Jan 9, 2026 PD session
- - Address food services concerns
- - Align faculty on rule enforcement
- - Develop classroom belonging strategies
- - Train faculty on code-switching awareness
- - Create student voice feedback loops
- - Reimagine "Westover Girl" narrative
- - Expand curriculum representation
- - Follow-up survey to measure progress
Lessons Learned
Key insights for future conversational research projects
Timing is Critical
What we learned: Deploy surveys mid-semester when students have bandwidth. Avoid pre-holiday windows and finals periods.
Future recommendation: Schedule 4-6 weeks before any major breaks with a 2-week response window.
Balance Depth with Completion
What we learned: 16 open-ended questions yielded rich data but contributed to drop-off. The sweet spot appears to be 8-10 open-ended questions.
Future recommendation: Use conditional logic to surface deep-dive questions only to engaged respondents.
Save & Resume is Essential
What we learned: Students live busy, interrupted lives. Single-session surveys disadvantage those with less uninterrupted time.
Future recommendation: Implement progress persistence with email-based resume links.
Partial Data Has Value
What we learned: Though only 28 completed fully, 185 meaningful narratives emerged from partial responses. Design for graceful degradation.
Future recommendation: Structure surveys so early questions capture core data; later questions deepen understanding.
What Made This Work
The Nesolagus difference
Conversational Design
Chat-style interface designed to increase engagement through natural dialogue flow (Xu et al., 2019)
Mixed Methods
Quantitative scales + qualitative narratives = complete picture
Trauma-Informed
Skip options, pacing rules, and GIFs create psychological safety
Study Notes & Considerations
Survey scope: 32-question mixed-methods instrument with 16 open-ended questions across 11 theme areas, featuring branching logic and skip options. December 2025 deployment yielded 192 survey starts with 28 full completions (14.6%) and 185 substantive narratives analyzed.
Known constraints: Pre-holiday timing (Thursday before break), no save/resume functionality, single administration window without reminders, and full anonymity (limiting demographic cross-analysis). These factors likely contributed to completion rates below typical benchmarks.
Mitigations applied: Quality filters removed low-effort responses, partial responses were analyzed where meaningful, skip-logic reduced burden on non-applicable questions, and quantitative scales were triangulated with qualitative themes for validation.
Findings are specific to Westover School's context as an all-girls boarding school and represent a point-in-time snapshot. Future iterations will incorporate progress persistence, strategic reminder sequences, and mid-semester deployment timing.
Research Methodology & Validation
How we ensured credibility, rigor, and trustworthiness
AAPOR Transparency Initiative1
Full 11-element disclosure following the American Association for Public Opinion Research standard for survey methodology transparency.
Mixed-Methods Triangulation2
Quantitative scales and open-ended narratives analyzed independently then synthesized across 11 theme areas, ensuring findings are validated across multiple data types.
Behavioral Science Grounding3
Survey instrument designed using Dillman's Tailored Design Method with conversational framing to reduce social desirability bias in sensitive topics like code-switching and belonging.
Narrative Thematic Analysis4
185+ open-ended responses coded using Braun & Clarke thematic analysis framework, producing 6 discovery-based student experience segments grounded in student voice.
Trauma-Informed Design5
Anonymous participation, skip logic, and affirmative framing create psychological safety for authentic self-reporting on identity, belonging, and school culture.
AAPOR Code of Ethics Compliance6
Research conducted in compliance with AAPOR's Code of Professional Ethics, including voluntary participation, full anonymity, and transparent reporting of limitations.
Academic References
1 American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). Transparency Initiative Disclosure Elements.
2 Creswell, J. W. & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research (3rd ed.). SAGE.
3 Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (4th ed.). Wiley.
4 Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
5 SAMHSA (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication.
6 AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices (2023 revision).
Interested in This Approach?
The Nesolagus framework can help your school uncover authentic student voice and transform data into actionable strategy.
Nesolagus
Relationship Intelligence Company
Nesolagus builds consent-first conversational research tools that transform how organizations understand their communities. Our proprietary Warren platform combines behavioral science, mixed-methods research, and deterministic analysis to deliver actionable intelligence that traditional surveys miss.
Contact
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Case Study © 2026 · Westover School Project