dr. janetta gilliam, phd dissertation defense, dissertation chair, dr. william allan kritsonis

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Janetta C. Gilliam 1March 23, 2009 10:30 AM

The Effects of Student Engagement andOther Factors on The Retention of African

American Freshman Students Attendinga Public Historically Black College and

University in Texas

A Dissertation Defenseby

Janetta C. Gilliam

PhD Program in Educational LeadershipPrairie View A&M University




Dissertation Defense Committee

Dr. William A. KritsonisDissertation Chair

Dr. David HerringtonDr. Lucian Yates, III

Dr. Camille Gibson




Dissertation Defense Format

I. Theoretical Framework

II. Purpose of the Study

III. Research Questions

IV. Research Methods

V. Summary of Findings

VI. Conclusions

VII. Recommendations




Theoretical Framework

Tinto’s Institutional Student Departure

Model

Astin’s Student Involvement Theory




Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to

examine factors that may contribute to the retention of African American

freshman students attending a public

HBCU in Texas.




Research Question 1

Is there a relationship between background

characteristics ( high school GPA and gender)

and retention of African American freshman

students attending a public HBCU in Texas?




Research Question 2

Is there a relationship between academic

and social integration and retention of

African American freshman students

attending a public HBCU in Texas?




Research Question 3

Is there a relationship between student

faculty interaction and retention of African

American freshman students attending a

public HBCU in Texas?




Research Question 4Is there a relationship between student

financial solvency (ability to pay) and the

retention of African American freshman

students attending a public HBCU

in Texas?




Research Question 5Is there a relationship between student

engagement and the retention of African

American freshman students attending

a public HBCU in Texas ?




Null Hypotheses

Ho1 - There is no statistically significant

relationship between student’s background

characteristics (high school GPA and

gender) and retention of African American

freshman students attending a public

HBCU in Texas.




Null Hypotheses

Ho2-

There is no statistically significant

relationship between academic and

social integration retention of AfricanAmerican freshman students

attending a public HBCU in Texas.




Null Hypotheses

H03 - There is no statistically significant

relationship between student-faculty

interaction and retention of African


a public HBCU in Texas.




Null Hypotheses

H04 - There is no statistically significant

relationship between student’s financial

solvency (ability to pay) and retentionof

African American freshman students

attending a public HBCU in Texas.




Null Hypotheses

Ho5 - There is no statistically significant

relationship between student

engagement and the retention of African


a public HBCU in Texas.



Method




Methods

Descriptive Statistics

Correlational Statistics

Pearson’s r Correlation




Hypotheses Dependent

Variable

Independent

Variables

StatisticalTest

Ho1 Retention

Background

Characteristics

(High school andgender)

Correlation

Pearson r

Ho2 Retention Academic andSocial Integration

CorrelationPearson r

Ho3 Retention Student-Faculty

Interaction

Correlation

Pearson r

Ho4 RetentionFinancial Solvency Correlation

Pearson r

Ho5 Retention Student EngagementCorrelation

Pearson r




Method Subjects of the Study

The analytic sample used in the studyis limited to 129 first year, full-time,

degree seeking African Americanfreshmen.

The target sample size is 129, however, 110students responded to all of the survey

questions.




Method

Research Design

Quantitative research approach.

Correlation research design was usedto examine the relationships amongthe variables.

Descriptive research methods wereutilized.




Method Instrumentation 2007 National Survey of Student

Engagement Instrument (NSSE)

A self-report survey four-point Likert-type instrument

A 28 item instrument with multiple parts onmost items that assess the experiences of

college students through questions relatedtheir level of satisfaction.




Method

Instrumentation NSSE has 3 major components

College activities

Educational and personal growth

Opinions about your school

Reliability and Validity

NSSE is recognized and has been tested as

a survey instrument with strong psychometricproperties (Pike, 2006).




Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics and analyses were

conducted to test the variables in each of theresearch questions.

The measure of central tendency wastabulated to summarize the entire set of therespondents’ scores in the frequencydistribution. Respondent’s scores were addedand divided by the number of scores (n-110).

Respondents’ data was entered in SPSS 16.0software for analysis to determine thestatistical significance of the variables andtested at the value of p<.05.




Descriptive Statistics

The means computed the average of all respondents’scores.

Standard deviation was used to measure the spread of the scores.

The range measured the difference between the

highest and lowest respondents’ scores

Frequency distribution tables were developed to rankorder the demographic characteristics of the studysample population.





Each respondent included in the study,student background characteristics (highschool GPA and gender) was collected

via NSSE. Student background characteristics

values were listed in a spreadsheet andentered into SPSS 16.0.

The arithmetic mean of eachrespondent’s rating scale were listed in acolumn in SPSS 16.0.





Correlation statistical analysis wasused to determine the relationship

between variables. Pearson r coefficient was calculated

to determine whether a statisticalsignificant relationship exists

between each variable on the NSSEand retention.




Summary of Findings

Research Question 1Is there a relationship between a student’s

background characteristics (high school GPA

and gender) and retention of AfricanAmerican freshman students attending

a public HBCU in Texas as measured by the

2007 NSSE instrument ?




Summary of Findings

Research Question 1 Correlation Between High School GPA,

Gender and Student Returned for Fall

2007 Semester (Retention) using Pearson rshowed no statistically significantrelationship.

r = - .350

p = .005, (p < .01)

The null hypothesis failed to reject.




Summary of Findings

Research Question 2Is there a relationship between academic

social integration and retention of African

American freshman students attending apublic

HBCU in Texas as measured by Student-

Faculty Interaction and Active Collaborative

Learning on the NSSE instrument?




Summary of Findings

Research Question 2 Correlation between academic and social integration

measured by (*Student-Faculty Interaction and**Active Collaborative Learning) and retention

measured by (Student returned for Fall 2007semester) using the Pearson r coefficient showed nostatistically significant relationship.

*SFI items **ACL items

r = .641 r = 1.00p = .005 (p< .01) p = .005 (p< .01)

Null hypothesis failed to reject




Summary of Findings

Research Question 3 Is there a relationship between student-

faculty interaction and retention of African

American freshman students attending apublic HBCU in Texas as measured by the

NSSE ?




Summary of Findings

Research Question 3 Correlational analysis was performed

using Pearson r coefficient. There was no

statistically significance relationshipbetween student-faculty and retention.

r = -.113

p = . 005 (p< .05)





Summary of Findings

Research Question 4 Is there a relationship between

financial solvency (ability to pay) and

retention of African Americanfreshman students attending a publicHBCU in Texas as measured bystudents receiving/not receiving

financial aid and student returningfor fall 2007 semester ?




Summary of Findings

Research Question 4 Correlation analysis was performed using Pearson rcomputation. There is a statistically significancerelationship between financial solvency andretention of African American freshman studentsattending a public HBCU in Texas

r = .222

p = .005 (p<.05)

The null hypothesis is rejected.




Summary of Findings

Research Question 5 Is there a relationship between

student engagement( Academic

Challenge) (NSSE) and retention of African American freshman studentsattending a public HBCU in Texas as

measured by the NSSE surveyinstrument.




Summary of Findings

Research Question 5 Correlation analysis was performed usingthe Pearson r coefficient indicate that thereis no statistically significance relationship

between student engagement andretention of African American freshmanstudents attending a public HBCU in Texasas measured by NSSE survey instrument

r = .009p = .005 (p>.05)





Conclusion The study is guided by five research questions, which

examine factors that may contribute to studentretention at a selected HBCU. A correlational analysiswas performed and the Pearson r coefficient calculated.

Demographic questions on the survey instrument was

used to test for statistical significance and reportedusing descriptive statistics

Financial solvency is the only variable that is asignificant predictor of student retention for first-year

African American students attending a pubic HBCU in Texas.




Conclusion Two student background characteristic

variables( high school GPA and gender) hasa statistically significance relationship.

Neither variables has any statistically

significance relationship to retention of African American freshman studentsattending a public HBCU in Texas.

A possible reason four of the variables failed

to be significant predictors of retentioncould be due to the data distribution.




Conclusion A possible reason four of the variables failed to be significantpredictors of retention could be due to the data distribution.

Other reasons why background variables were not significantpredictors of retention in this study:

More female respondents ( N = 69) thanmale respondents (N = 41) in this study,this disparity could have affected theimpact gender on student retention.




Implications

The findings from this study suggest someimportant implications for the theory andpractice in higher education.

Rather than merely looking at the marginsof academic and social life, institutionpersonnel need to direct their attention toproviding assistance to students

encountering financial difficulties, duringthe foundational first year of college.




Recommendations for Further

Study A study could be conducted with a different

instrument designed by HBCUs that has a widerrange of choices within a Likert-type scale. This

could provide a greater potential variance foreach variable so that true difference wouldemerge.

A study could be conducted to examine thestudents’ perceptions of financial aid services andan assessment of it’s customer service needs.




Recommendations

for Further Study A study could be conducted with a qualitative

approach. This type of study could provide anopportunity to interview respondents. Thereby

gaining meaningful insight recorded in therespondent’s own words. A study could be conducted that included both

on and off campus African American freshmanstudents at HBCUs. This study only included on-

campus freshman students.




Recommendations

for Further Study A study could be conducted on the

link between student financial

difficulties and not returning toschool. An examination of factorsthat are financial aid related thatmay contribute to student departure.



Recommendation

for Further Study

A study could be conducted toexamine the experiences of African

American freshman studentsattending various institutional typesand sizes to provide a morecomprehensive understanding of

African American college students’financial concerns and dilemmas.

dr. janetta gilliam, phd dissertation defense, dissertation chair, dr. william allan kritsonis

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