Female Saudi Arabian Students' Attitudes, Willingness and Preferences of Communication in ...

207 Pages·2017·4.65 MB·English

Female Saudi Arabian Students’ Attitudes, Willingness and Preferences of
Communication in Online Educational Settings
by
Sahar Abdulaziz Almasoud
Bachelor of Education
In Art Education
King Saud University
2004

Master of Science
In Computer Education
Florida Institute of Technology
2013
A dissertation
submitted to the College of Science at
Florida Institute of Technology
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctorate of Philosophy
in
Science Education
Melbourne, Florida
May, 2017
ã Copyright 2017 Sahar Abdulaziz Almasoud
All Rights Reserved

The author grants permission to make single copies_________________________
We the undersigned committee
Hereby approve the attached dissertation
Female Saudi Arabian students’ Attitudes, Willingness and Preference of
Communication in Online Educational Settings
By
Sahar Abdulaziz Almasoud

_____________________________ _____________________________
Samantha R. Fowler, Ph.D. Ken Lindeman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Professor
Education and Education and Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary Studies Studies
Committee Chair

_____________________________ _____________________________
Maria I. Lavooy, Ph.D. Mary S. Bonhomme, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Professor
School of Psychology Education and Interdisciplinary
Studies

_____________________________
Kastro M. Hamed, Ph.D.
Professor
Department Head, Education and
Interdisciplinary Studies
Abstract
Title: Female Saudi Arabian students’ Attitudes, Willingness and Preference of
Communication in Online Educational Settings
Author: Sahar Abdulaziz Almasoud
Advisor: Samantha R. Fowler, Ph. D.

This study investigated the impact of age, location, and marital status on the
attitudes of Saudi female students’ toward online education. A total number of 135
females participated in the survey. Findings revealed that Saudi female students
had positive attitudes toward online education courses in both Saudi Arabia and the
United States. Attitudes toward online educational courses were not significantly
impacted by the age and locations of the participants. However, marital status
significantly impacted the attitudes, where single participants were found to have a
different attitude than married and divorced participants. Willingness to
communicate with male instructors was not significantly impacted by the
participants’ locations and marital status. Additionally, marital status of the
participants did not have a significant impact on the willingness to communicate
with male classmates; however, it was significantly impacted by participants’
location of residency. Interviews with 20 participants helped to characterize young
Saudi female students who seek high quality education development.
iii
Table of Contents
Abstract ....................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................ iv
List of Tables ............................................................................................ xiii
Acknowledgement .................................................................................... xvii
Dedication .................................................................................................. xix
Chapter 1 ...................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
Internet access in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ........................................... 2
Female education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ....................................... 3
Statement of problem ..................................................................................... 4
Purpose of study ............................................................................................. 7
Study variables ............................................................................................... 9
Online education. ........................................................................................... 9
Marital status ................................................................................................ 10
Age ............................................................................................................... 10
Willingness to communicate. ....................................................................... 11
Saudi culture ................................................................................................ 11
iv
Attitude ........................................................................................................ 12
Location. ...................................................................................................... 12
Online communication preference. .............................................................. 12
Saudization. .................................................................................................. 12
Significance of the study .............................................................................. 13
Summary ...................................................................................................... 14
Chapter 2 .................................................................................................... 16
Literature Review ......................................................................................... 16
Introduction .................................................................................................. 16
Theories regarding online education ............................................................ 17
Self-regulated theory. ................................................................................... 17
External and internal variables impact students in online education. .......... 18
Technology Acceptance Model. .................................................................. 19
Technology experience ................................................................................ 20
Cultural impact on student attitudes toward online education ..................... 21
Effects of demographic characteristics on the attitudes of students toward
online education ........................................................................................... 25
Factors that influence student retention in online education ....................... 26
Higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ..................................... 28
Female education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ..................................... 30
v
Online education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ...................................... 31
Females and online education ...................................................................... 34
Tradition and religious control over the Saudi educational system ............. 35
Saudi Arabian cultural attitudes toward females and the use of the Internet
...................................................................................................................... 39
Impact of Saudi Arabian culture on students’ attitude toward online
education ...................................................................................................... 40
Attitudes toward online education of student from different countries ....... 42
Summary ...................................................................................................... 48
Chapter 3 .................................................................................................... 50
Methodology ................................................................................................ 50
Introduction .................................................................................................. 50
Target population ......................................................................................... 53
Sample .......................................................................................................... 53
Participant Demographics ............................................................................ 54
Age ......................................................................................................... 55
Marital status .......................................................................................... 56
Field of study ......................................................................................... 58
Location of residency ............................................................................. 59
Numbers of completed online courses ................................................... 60
vi
Accessibility to the internet at home ...................................................... 61
Accessibility to the computer at home ................................................... 62
Instrumentation ............................................................................................ 63
Instrument description ................................................................................. 63
Attitudes toward online education scale (ATOES) ................................ 64
Communication willingness Scale (CWS) ............................................ 65
Open-ended questions ............................................................................ 66
Pilot Study of Instruments ..................................................................... 66
Data procedure ............................................................................................. 69
Data analysis ................................................................................................ 70
Interview protocol ........................................................................................ 73
Additional analysis ....................................................................................... 75
Summary ...................................................................................................... 75
Chapter 4 .................................................................................................... 79
Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 79
Introduction .................................................................................................. 79
Analysis of research questions ..................................................................... 80
Research question one .................................................................................. 81
The impact of age on attitude toward online education ......................... 86
The impact of marital status on attitude toward online education ......... 86
vii
The impact of location of residency on attitude toward online
education………………………………………………………………87
Research question two ................................................................................. 88
The impact of marital status on willingness to communicate with male
instructors ............................................................................................... 90
The impact of location of residency on willingness to communicate with
male instructors ...................................................................................... 92
Research question three ............................................................................... 94
The impact of marital status on willingness to communicate with male
classmates .............................................................................................. 96
The impact of location of residency on willingness to communicate with
male classmates ...................................................................................... 99
Additional analyses .................................................................................... 101
Saudi female students’ communication preferences with male
classmates in online educational courses ............................................. 101
The impact of Saudi female students’ marital status on the preference of
online communication with male classmates ....................................... 103
The impact of the number of online classes experienced on the overall
attitudes toward online education ........................................................ 105
Saudi female students’ willingness to enroll in online educational
courses in the future ............................................................................. 107
viii
Saudi female students’ satisfaction with online courses ...................... 109
Interview protocol .................................................................................... 110
Thoughts and recommendations to enhance the online education of Saudi
Arabia and the United States ...................................................................... 110
Saudi female students view on the worthiness of online education ........... 110
Saudi female students’ satisfaction with online educational courses in Saudi
Arabia and the United States ...................................................................... 116
Saudi students’ female recommendations to the Saudi Electronic University
to improve the quality of the online courses .............................................. 118
The impact of experiencing online education on the Saudi female students’
concepts of education ................................................................................. 120
Summary .................................................................................................... 123
Chapter 5 .................................................................................................. 125
Discussion .................................................................................................. 125
The attitudes of Saudi female students toward online educational courses
.................................................................................................................... 126
The impact of demographic characteristics on the attitudes of the Saudi
female students toward online educational courses ................................... 127
ix