Draft Mixed Methods Proposal
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 2
Statement of the Problem 3
Purpose of the study 3
Research Questions 3
Delimitations/scope of the study 4
Limitations of the study: 4
Significance of study 5
Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6
Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY 8
Research Design 8
Target Population and Sample 8
Data Analysis 9
Reliability and Validity 10
Reliability 10
Validity 10
References: 12
Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION
The system of graduate education is one of the major strategic national assets in the United States. However, there problem of non-completion of graduate degree programs has reached critical level warranting immediate action. The level of doctoral degree attrition is at its all-time high (approximately 50 percent), with about 20 percent dropping out at the dissertation level (Wendler et al, 2010). High failure rate among students and the lengthy time of a degree course (the average male student spends 7 years to graduate while average female student takes about 5 years) is attributed for high attrition.
Distance learning (DE), especially computer-mediated asynchronous learning (CMAL) has emerged as a viable alternative to the contemporary higher education classroom modes is specific areas of graduate education in United States. DE via CMAL offers learners great flexibilities for learning opportunities because of time and space freedom. It also has created a distinct different class of student population, course design, as well as different instructional technique (Council of Graduate Schools, 2009). However, graduation for DE students is challenged by their split loyalty to education as a result of their many and demanding commitments to work, social lives, family, and search for ‘career-friendly’ course using distance learning techniques. As such, school-related activities are not necessarily the primary life objectives for DE students. In addition, academic success using DE methods depends on such crucial factors as distance learning environmental challenges, personal internal and external variables, computer literacy, financial burdens, access to requisite technology, individual time management skills, and level of family and/or employer support (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). In this regard, it is highly necessary to understand why some DE-CMAL doctoral degree students are successful while many fail.
Statement of the Problem
United States currently experiences high rate of students using distance learning methods to pursue doctoral degrees in universities. Understanding the reasons for this phenomenon is necessary to meet the needs of DE learners and boost both their retention and degree completion rate.
Purpose of the study
This research portends to study on the persistence and attrition of distance students by identifying factors facilitating and curtailing learners’ persistence in Asynchronous Educational Administration Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education (ELHE-DE) provided by the University of Michigan, through mixed methods approach.
Research Questions
Phase I research question (Quantitative phase)
General research question:
– What factors (external and internal) influence learners’ persistence in the ELHE-DE program?
Specific research questions
1. How do ELHE-DE program-associated factors affect learners’ persistence?
2. How do education advisor- and faculty-related attributes affect ELHE-DE learners’
3. How do institutional-associated (UNL) factors affect ELHE-DE learners’ persistence?
4. How do learner-related factors attributes affect their persistence in the ELHE-DE program?
5. How do external factors affect ELHE-DE learners’ persistence in the program?
The second phase is the quantitative phase, whose research questions would be drawn from the findings of the first quantitative phase of the research.
Delimitations/scope of the study
1. The scope of the research will be limited to the University of Michigan in addition to one graduate program.
2. Responses of the participants will consist of their personal reflections regarding their experiences in the UNL Educational Administration Distributed Doctoral Program. A self-assessment sheet will be included.
3. The research will offer only one point of view on persistence in the doctoral program (i.e. learners’ perspective), where all other constituents within and without the program will be excluded.
Limitations of the study:
1. The sample of the study may not be representative of the population given that the research team will use convenience sampling in the first quantitative phase.
2. Non-response error (problems resulting from discrepancies between participants who respond and those who do not given a low response rate) is likely in the quantitative phase of the research.
3. Statistical power of discriminant analysis process during the first phase may be compromised by lack of homogeneity of group variety, multivariate normality, and linearity among predictors.
4. Finding obtained through the discriminant analysis procedure would have limited generalizability because they only generalize the population from which the sample was drawn.
5. Qualitative nature of the research will render second phase data open to different inferences by varied interpreters.
6. There is potential for researcher bias because of interpretive nature of qualitative study.
Significance of study
This sequential explanatory mixed methods study will contribute significantly to the underexplored area of academic persistence of graduate learners in distributed doctoral programs in the United States. Knowledge and understanding of factors impacting students’ persistence will offer more insight into doctoral student attrition as well as success in the face of family and work constraints characteristic of distance learning.
Chapter 2.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Carr, 2000; Diaz, 2000; Parker 1999; Verduin & Clark, 1991, higher dropout rate among distance leaning students is more pronounced among traditional higher education students. Their lack of persistence is as a result of failing to become socially and academically integrated in addition to other internal and external attributes to academic institution. Ferrer de Valero, 2001 attributed attrition in doctoral education to lack of integration into an institution and not deficiency of academic skills.
A qualitative study by Golde (1996) reported some students dropped from doctoral program because of departmental and disciplinary factors, where departmental context contributed significantly to student attrition. Her subsequent studies (1998 & 2000) revealed integration into the institution contributed greatly in doctoral student persistence. She also reported the first year experience in doctoral program as being crucial to the student decision to remain and persist. First year attrition accounts for about a third of all doctoral student dropouts (Council of Graduate Schools, 2009).
Other researches (Ferrer de Valero, 2001; Golde, 1994; Lovitss, 2001) conclude that positive relations between academic advisor and student were significant in doctoral student persistence. Attrition was less where students had adequate or accurate adviser, advisor offered much attention or showed interest; and where student-advisor conflicts were minimal or non-existent. Further studies also showed positive support of doctoral students for one another was important in persistence (Brien, 1992; Ferrer de Valero).
According to Dinham & Scott (1999), external factors such as financial constraints, family lifestyle issues, cultural problems and isolation, and employment make students to abandon doctoral program at university.
Chapter 3.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This research will employ a mixed methods design, where both qualitative and quantitative will be used to collect data. The rationale for using this approach is that a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches would complement each other – quantitative approach will offer a clear general picture of our research problem (i.e. the internal and external factors facilitating or impeding students’ persistence in ELHW-DE program); while qualitative date will refine and explain the statistical results through exploration of participants’ perceptions in depth.
The study will utilize the most popular mixed methods designs for educational research, namely: sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, divided into two distinct phases. The first phase will be quantitative where numeric data will be gathered through a web-based survey. The data will be taken through a discriminant function analysis (Council of Graduate Schools, 2009). The aim of this phase will be to establish potential predictive power of the selected variables relating to distributed doctoral students’ persistence besides enabling purposeful selection of participants for the second phase.
The second phase will use qualitative multiple case study approach, where semi-structured interview, elicitation materials and documents will be used to gather text data. This will help understand why particular internal and external factors (tested in phase I), may be key predictors of the learners’ persistence in the doctoral program. The findings of the two phases will be integrated at the analysis stage of the entire study.
Target Population and Sample
The target population for this research will be students, both active and inactive, who are currently enrolled to the ELHE-DE program at the university. Furthermore, it will target the alumni graduates of this program, those who dropped out, or were terminated from the program since inception.
Recruitment of participants will be done through the existing database of ELHE-DE students at the university. The status of students will vary in terms of doctoral degree taken, number of online courses pursued, and progress and/or completion of courses. Criteria for selection will be based on: 1) being in ELHE-DE vs. other programs; 2) current course period; 3) must have covered atleast ½ of course work using distributed means; 4) be either admitted, graduated, dropped out, or terminated from program; 5) for freshers, they ought to have enrolled for at least one ELHE-DE online course offered through distributed means. Cumulatively, 265 students in the present database fulfil these requirements.
Data Analysis
Prior to statistical analysis of the gathered quantative survey results, the research team shall screen all the data on univariate and multivariate levels. This will assist in identifying potential multicollinearity in the gathered data. Data screening will involve descriptive stastics for variables, data about missing information, normality, linearity and homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, singularity and multivariate outliers. All these will be text summarized and presented in tabular form. Frequencies analysis will be done to establish valid percentage for responses to every question in the study. Predictive discriminant function analysis will utilized to get the dimension(s) along which the group members for ELHE-DE learners differs, in addition to establish classification functions to predict student group membership. Statistical analysis of all quantitative results will be done using version 11.0 of Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS).
Reliability and Validity
Reliability
The test-retest reliability or stability of the survey instrument will obtained via a pilot testing of the instrument. This will demonstrate if identical results are found with repeated administration of the same survey to the same sample. Findings of the actual survey will be compared and correlated with the preliminary results obtained from the pilot study and then expressed by the “Pearson r coefficient”. The pilot study results will also be subjected to internal consistency analysis measurd on the Likert-type scale. This will assist in assessment of the different items in a measure reflect the attribute being measured – ELHE-DE student’s persistence. The analysis will offer information on the items that need rephrasing or deletion from the scale altogether.
Validity
The content and construct validity of this survey instrument will first be established. Content validity will reveal the degree to which the survey items as well as scores to questions represent all issues about doctoral students’ persistence under the CMAL learning environment. The wording of all the survey items has been approved by a committed of educational administration lecturers, who lecture and assist administer the ELHE-DE program.
Criterion-related validity will be used to show the accuracy of a procedure of measure with other already-proven valid measure or procedure (Bowen et al, 2009). The self-structured questionnaire for this research will be compared on the basis of consistency of the finding with the existing instruments, measuring similar construct, the persistence of doctoral students in the distributed programs. Factor analysis of the Likert-type survey items (Webber & Ehrenberg, 2009) will be done, both after completion of the pilot and main research. As such, factor loading for the study items will demonstrate correlation between an item and the entire factor. The findings of this research will be correlated with those from other researches measuring constructs such as identifying of external and internal factors that contribute to student’s persistence in DE environment.
To validate the results, four primary forms will in Phase II of the study: 1) triangulation (converging varied sources of data); 2) member checking (seeking feedback from informants on accuracy of identified themes and categories); 3) constructing rich, detailed description of the results; and 4) external audit (inviting an outside interpreter to review of the study) (University Continuing Education Association, 2009).
References:
Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., & McPherson, M. S. (2009). Crossing the finish line. Princeton, NJ: Princeton.
Council of Graduate Schools. (2009). Graduate education in 2020: What does the future hold? Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Education. (2012). The Condition of Education 2012. Retrieved from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012045.pdf
University Continuing Education Association. (2009). Lifelong learning trends: The new face of higher education. Washington, DC: The University Continuing Education Association.
Webber, D., & Ehrenberg, R. G. (2009). Do expenditures other than instructional expenditures affect graduation and persistence rates in American higher education? (NBER Working Paper No. 15216). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
