1.10 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS (OUTLINE)
1.10.2 C HAPTER TWO [L ITERATURE - A TRADITIONAL ( NARRATIVE ) REVIEW ]
The first detailed discussion starts with the literature review beneath the chapter which this study calls the ‘Literature: A traditional (narrative) review’. The purpose of the literature review chapter and the rationale for its annexation into the study is to provide a theoretical foundation on which this research is built and to expose documented accounts relating to an ontological concern under investigation – the ‘student dropout’
phenomenon, using a case postgraduate module offered as a fourth-year course at Unisa – an ‘advanced communication research’ (COM4809). To achieve the purpose of this chapter, the study has employed Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method to reviewing a literature. Although Ogawa and Malen’s method is that it enhances the level of credibility of garnered literature, it carries plausible shortcomings, including to only giving the outline to conduct a review of multi-vocal literatures and never focus on findings of the study (Ogawa and Malen, 1991). Moreover, it is the product of theoretical analysis of case studies and academic debates of other qualitative methodologists (p. 265). Despite its shortcomings, the method was adopted into this study because it has a potential to maximise credibility and dependability of findings by reducing bias and error through the provision of rigidity in literature reviews which is realised by sticking to methods and procedures when collecting, analysing and interpreting data, as well as sharing the unveiled findings. The definitive motive to conduct this study is to examine the dropout concern and ultimately develop a responsive student support model for (honours) postgraduates who enrol with open and distance education institutions. The chapter begins its discussion with a brief introduction of aspects it covers – namely:
theoretical models which the study adopted,
grounds upon which the researcher’s choice of blending the two distinctive theories (deficit theory and transactional distance theory) is based,
the general research problem (student dropout)
the general student support research aspect, addressing the problem
Each theory is explicated in terms of its evolution, components, philosophical views, which it theorises, critiques that each of the adopted theory have received in the promulgated literature and strengths attached to it. Each section of the literature chapter is aligned to a particular purpose to fulfil. Conversely, the principal base to
include a section on an integrated theoretical paradigm in this study is informed by the need for theoretical lens through which to study the student dropout concern.
The literature review chapter also presents the discussion of the other two intrinsic aspects of this study - namely, the ‘student dropout’ - which is the general problem upon which this study centres and the ‘student support’ - which is an educational arena in which the plausible solutions rests. The section on ‘student dropout’ is inevitably included in this study because it is the terrain from which the research lacuna was found in the literature, for example:
Firstly, in spite of the plethora of literature focused on student dropout (DISA, 2014), the concern remains prevalent in higher education and poses a threat to the future of South Africa (Letseka and Maile, 2008);
Secondly, whereas the plethora of literature have their scope on student dropout studies limited to an undergraduate level (Scott, Yeld and Hendry, 2007; CHE, 2010), literature on postgraduate level has been sparse (Kritzinger and Loock, 2012, p. 12) and the dropout remains prevalent concern (DISA, 2014) in that arena.
The discussion on ‘student dropout’ commences with various descriptions of the construct ‘student dropout’ to explore how vigorous academic debates came to comprehend it and, also, how it is understood in this study. Underneath this broad construct, the chapter provides attempts to define it from theoretical (also known as conceptual) and empirical (also known as operational) perspectives as derived from the literature. In light of the prevalent congruence and controversy in descriptions postulated in the literature, the research expounds how the concept ‘student dropout’
is operationalised in the context of this study. The ensuing subsection centres its focus on student dropout within the context of open and distance learning (ODL) and it is followed by the discussion of factors that give rise to the problem of student dropout.
Following the discussion on root causes of student dropout, the succeeding subsection of this chapter on literature review, presents arguments documented in the literature in relation to existing forms of mitigation strategies to deal with the problem which are suggested in the plethora of literature or which were practically tested to respond to the dropout concern. The chapter wraps its discussion on student dropout by focusing
on solicited students’ and employees’ experiences reported by other related studies on the same research phenomenon.
The other primary aspect that is unsurprisingly incorporated into this chapter and valued pertinent in the entire study, in particular, is the ‘student support’. Evidence has shown that student support has been valued essential in order to promote success rate, yet current forms of student support interventions are unresponsive (Department of Higher Education and Training , 2013, p.17). Similar to student dropout section, the section on student support commences by unpacking the term ‘student support’, presenting postulations inherent in the palpable literature. The idea behind its inclusion is to reveal a repertoire of descriptions and understandings of the construct by several proponents.
Following that, the chapter respectively discusses the types and the nature of support interventions, which are put into place in higher education environments and how they have been developed. The purpose of embracing the discussion on types and the nature of support interventions available for students in open and distance education is to enable a sound creation of the base for the research questions, which have guided this study.
The next discussion focuses on existing practices of intervention programmes adopted by an array of higher education institutions and the related information has been garnered using the desktop review.
Awareness on support available in the ODL institutions is discussed next. The purpose of this section is to build a theoretical foundation on various methods, which higher education institutions use to disseminate information regarding their institutional intervention programmes to elude students’ withdrawal from courses, programmes or academic institutions. The purpose was, further, to determine whether some students are aware of the available support interventions in the institutional learning settings.
This section is equally significant to inform the development of the all-embracing and responsive support framework for LPSs in ODL institutions. Furthermore, as this study is theoretically guided by, in addition to the deficit theory, Moore’s (1993) transactional distance theory which posits, among other philosophical dimensions, that an
interaction between students and lecturers is crucial to bridge the transactional distance, it becomes vital to apply the lens to study methods with which ODL institutions disseminate information about the available support interventions.
The discussion on challenges, which higher education institutions encounter while implementing student support intervention programmes, comes next.
The structure of this literature review chapter ends with the discussion on measurement strategies to determine intervention programmes’ responsiveness. The next chapter focuses on the research methodology employed in this study.