an exploratory study examining the relationship between student engagement and success ...

121 Pages·2017·0.8 MB·English

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT AND SUCCESS BETWEEN MINORITY AND NON-MINORITY
NURSING STUDENTS

by
DANIELLE RICE

RICK HOUSER, COMMITTEE CHAIR
BARBARA GRAVES
ALICE MARCH
CORDELIA NNEDU
STEPHEN TOMLINSON

A DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Education in the
Department of Educational Leadership,
Policy, and Technology Studies
in the Graduate School of
The University of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA
2017
Copyright Danielle Rice 2017
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ABSTRACT
Forty years of educational research have revealed specific conditions that are essential for
encouraging student persistence and academic achievement at post-secondary institutions.
According to the well-known integration model, these conditions include expectations, support,
assessment, feedback, and involvement. It is increasingly clear that student engagement is one of
the most important conditions and has a significant impact on a student’s academic performance,
satisfaction with overall college experience, and ultimately, overall success. However,
researchers have not adequately studied this relationship among minority nursing students and
overall student engagement. This is a problem because success rates are low among this
population, contributing to a shortage of qualified minority nurses and to disparities in health
care for minority patients. The purpose of this quantitative study has been to explore the
relationship between student engagement activities and successful matriculation and to determine
whether there is a difference in this between undergraduate minority and non-minority nursing
students at a public higher education institution in the southeast United States. The study was
based on an ex post facto design, and used data from students’ responses to the 2014 National
Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Only one school provided the specific data needed for
analysis. The final achieved sample size was 89. As a group, the NSSE benchmarks were found
to significantly predict matriculation, but differences emerged when the coefficients were
examined individually. Specifically, only the NSSE benchmarks Level of Academic Challenge
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and Active and Collaborative Learning were shown to be predictive of successful matriculation
among both minority and non-minority students.

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DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Rheba and Danny, my beautiful daughter
Cyan, my fiancée Eric and my wonderful brother Isaac and sister-in-law Kia. It is also dedicated
to my late grandmother Margaret Robinson, who inspired me to become a nurse. These family
members have all been supportive of me during this journey and never stopped believing in it or
in me.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this dissertation could not have been possible without the support and
encouragement of many individuals. I want to express a deep appreciation to those who have
been instrumental in helping me through this incredible journey. Without all of you, I could not
have achieved this great accomplishment.
Above all, I want to thank God because, without him, starting and completing this
academic journey would not have been possible. To my mother and father, Rheba and Danny,
thank you both for always encouraging and believing in me and motivating me to do my very
best academically. You have always provided an ear to listen, no matter how many times I
needed to talk, and have always offered encouraging words or scriptures for me. I want to thank
you both for understanding that I often could not visit or spend time with you due to the multiple
deadlines I have had to meet. To my beautiful daughter Cyan who has inspired me to never quit
and has been there with me from the very beginning of this academic journey. To my fiancée
Eric: your love, support and continuous encouragement have been life changing and a
tremendous blessing for Cyan and myself. To my brother Isaac and sister-in-law Kia, thank you
for believing in me and giving me encouragement. I want to send a special thanks to my
dissertation support mentor, Dr. Lisa Ford, thank you so much for all of your time, support,
feedback and suggestions. Your advice and encouragement has improved and positively
impacted my life greatly. To my forever friends Kell, Kalima, Antonina, Kyiara, Eboni, Kelly,
April, Candice, Julie and Georgia who I consider my sisters in God, without all of your kind
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words, encouragement and love I could not have made it through this journey, thank you.
Without you all, I could not have made it through this incredible, academic journey. I love you
all! In addition, I want to thank my dissertation chairperson, Dr. Houser, for agreeing to chair my
dissertation. Thank you for believing in me and supporting me; I am so thankful for your
leadership and graciousness. To my committee members Dr. March, Dr. Atkinson, Dr. Graves,
and Dr. Nnedu, thank you all for your time, support, feedback, patience and suggestions. A
special thanks as well to Dr. Tomlinson for your support, leadership and graciousness, which I
am so appreciative of. Even though you all have very busy and have full schedules you agreed
to serve on my committee. I will be indebted and grateful to you all for the rest of my life.
Finally, I want to extend special thanks and appreciation to the Director of Institutional
Research and the Director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at the institution that was
used for this study. Without their direction and support I would not have been able to obtain the
data for this study. Last but not least, I want to thank my editors, Dr. Ethel Kloos, Lynda Joeman
and Ellen Shuman for editing and formatting my dissertation in such a short time. Your expertise
and encouragement is greatly appreciated.
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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
Background ................................................................................................................................. 6
Student Engagement ............................................................................................................... 7
Student Departure ................................................................................................................... 9
Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 11
Statement of Purpose ................................................................................................................ 12
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 12
Summary of Methods ................................................................................................................ 13
Definitions and Terms............................................................................................................... 14
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 18
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 18
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Social Dominance Theory..................................................................................................... 19
Tinto’s Interactionist Model ................................................................................................. 21
Factors Influencing Persistence Among Nursing Students ....................................................... 24
Student Engagement ............................................................................................................. 25
Student-Faculty Interaction ................................................................................................... 25
Mentorship ............................................................................................................................ 26
Factors Specific to Minority Students................................................................................... 27
Strategies to Encourage Persistence.......................................................................................... 29
The BESTRN Program ......................................................................................................... 29
Preadmission Assessment ..................................................................................................... 30
The CANDO Program .......................................................................................................... 31
Direct Faculty Mentorships................................................................................................... 32
National Survey on Student Engagement ................................................................................. 33
Limitations of Existing Research .............................................................................................. 43
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 45
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 47
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 48
Research Design........................................................................................................................ 48
Setting ....................................................................................................................................... 50
Sample....................................................................................................................................... 52
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Data Collection Instruments ..................................................................................................... 53
Validity and Reliability ............................................................................................................. 54
Data Collection and Sample Size .............................................................................................. 57
Data ........................................................................................................................................... 58
Ethical Considerations .............................................................................................................. 58
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 60
Description of the Sample ......................................................................................................... 61
Results ....................................................................................................................................... 63
Answers to Research Questions ................................................................................................ 70
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 70
CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................ 72
Summary and Discussion of Findings ...................................................................................... 75
Research Question 1 ............................................................................................................. 75
Discussion of Findings .......................................................................................................... 77
Implications of the Research Results ........................................................................................ 82
Limitations of the Study............................................................................................................ 84
Recommendations for Further Research ................................................................................... 87
Recommendations for Nursing Education Practice .................................................................. 88
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 91
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