In this section, the study explains each step of Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method of reviewing a literature with Illustrations on how the review of literature in each step is linked to their philosophical principles. To demonstrate how it was applied, tabled information and model are also given in some steps to show the procedure which has been followed in this study.
2.2.1 Step 1: Development of an audit trail
At the onset of the review process, an audit trail is created and very step that an investigator goes through is documented in order to clearly show evidences that validate each of findings, where such evidences can be accessed.
2.2.2 Step 2: Definition of the focus of literature review
In this phase of an analysis and synthesis of information, all the core concepts of the review are explicitly defined, which help to set standards for inclusion and exclusion of, for instance, cases or information or participants. Step 2 of Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method of reviewing a literature has been applied in this study. An indication of its adoption and application is tabled below:
Table 2.2: Evidence of an important concept defined in the literature review of this study
Examples of definitions of key ‘student dropout’ concept
Concept Murray’s (2014) theoretical definitions Operational definition
Student dropout
Involuntary dropout as the termination of students’ registration on the ground of having not achieved satisfactory results or met the standard of the university; or
Voluntary dropout as students who transferred their studies into other higher education institutions to continue studying regardless of having achieved satisfactory academic results.
Voluntary dropout also refers to student’s decision to cease studying prior to being excluded by the institution on the grounds of having academically performed below the required standard.
In this study ‘dropout’ refers to a student who did not register a yearly module in the following year; or was absent from an examination; or never submitted an examination portfolio; or have deregistered the module for whatever reason; or have transferred studies to another higher education institution for any reason.
2.2.3 Step 3: Exploration of pertinent literature
The focus of the literature review in this stage was to search for and use appropriate information for the study, disregarding whether the material sources are academic (such as academic articles, books) or not (examples include newspaper articles, magazine articles and minutes of meetings). As Ritchie, Lewis, Nicholls and Ormston (2013, p. 342) posit, qualitative studies, use, in addition to specific data yielded for a
particular research, pre-prevalent data such as informally published materials, press coverage and diaries. The emphasis is on the information itself rather than sources from which they come. A case in point to this claim is that this study also review non- research sources such as Daily Maverick (2015) and Eyewitness News (2015) and Creamer Media’s Engineering News (2016) to determine to substantiate discussion on political strife as a cause of dropout.
2.2.4 Step 4: Classification of the documents
In this phase of the literature review process, the relevant information is grouped according to their types and what they epitomise. At this juncture, the review of the literature was guided by the research objectives and research questions which define the types of information required from the existing literature in order to address the research problem that has prompted this investigation. Those research objectives or research questions were phrased into statements or themes that served as lenses to generate specific information. The ensuing table illustrates the types of information generated and what they represent as posited by in this step 4 of Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method of reviewing a literature.
Table 2.3: Evidence of the types of information reviewed and what they represent
Examples of themes and the types of information they seek from the literature
Participants Foci Themes (types of information)
Representation
Students Student
dropout
Student dropout in an ODL
environment
Root causes of dropout incidence Students’ experiences of dropout in an ODL environment
Staff Student
support
Support framework Intervention programmes for lower-postgraduate students
The structure of support programmes Perceived reasons for unresponsiveness of certain intervention programmes
Methods used to identify students needing support intervention
2.2.5 Step 5: Development of summary databases
This firth review stage entails the development of schemes for coding and attempts to compress all essential information in the relevant documents to form narrative summaries.
2.2.6 Step 6: Identification of constructs and hypothesised causal relationships
The purpose step 6 of the review process is to enrich the understanding of the aspect of interest, which, in this study is ‘dropout’. Step 6 helps to identify important themes that have emerged when the review of the documents was carried out and to make assumptions of the relationships between the themes.
Examples of themes that have emerged during the literature
Figure 2.2 A review model to explain emergent concepts (theoretical framework, dropout, and student support) hypothesised linkages between themes
Source: Researcher’s own model based on a literature review Review of
literature
Student dropout
Emergent themes
Student dropout
Student support
Institutional context
Involuntary (Institutional) Theoretical
framework
Constructs Student home
context
Voluntary (Individual)
Identification of concepts and assumed causal linkages in this literature review are explicated by means of a model which I have developed from an analysis and synthesis of literature review carried out. The purpose of this model is to represent, schematically, how the sixth step of Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method to review literature have been applied in this study. The theoretical framework, student dropout and support are the key concepts, which I have identified to build a foundation upon which it is based. Drawing from the major themes that emerged during the review, the model explicates that the incidence of dropout occurs due to unfavourable home environments of students as theorised by Bean and Metzner (1985) in their conceptual model of non-traditional undergraduate. Unfavourable home context can best be exemplified by student’s poor financial background (Vignoles and Powdthavee (2009, p. 1) and the unconducive institutional system. It also shows that student dropout is a voluntary or involuntary decision (Murray, 2014). Voluntary student dropout is exemplified by what Reisel and Brekke (2009, p. 693) define as the act of transferring educational programme to study at another higher education institution. The involuntary occurs, for example, when the institution disallows students who academically performed below the regulated policy standards of those institutions.
Thus, this literature review satisfied the requirement of step 6 of Ogawa and Malen’s (1991) method of reviewing a literature. With regard to the need to identify the hypothesised causal relationships between themes, if the students’ home and institutional contexts are important and must be made conducive for learning. Thus, student success is influenced by many varied variables that reside in either a student’s home or an institutional context.
2.2.7 Step 7: Quest for divergent findings and contending positions
The purpose of this stage of the information analysis and integration is to find contradicting findings and competing viewpoints in the literature of proponents who investigated the phenomenon of interest. This was successfully applied in this literature chapter and in the whole study in particular. Assertions that exemplify divergent findings prevalent in review of literature include Bean and Metzner’s (1985)’s and Breier’s (2010) findings on student dropout:
Table 2.4: Evidence of prevalent contrary findings and rival postulations as applied in this study
Examples of contrary findings
Focus Bean and Metzner’s (1985) finding on dropout
Breier’s (2010) finding on dropout
Academic reason
In their conceptual model of non- traditional undergraduates, Bean and Metzner’s (1985) looked into the linkages between the academic variables and environmental variables and found that environmental factors are highly significant than academic reasons, predicting that even though the academic factors can be favourable, if environmental factors are bad, students will drop out from the course of the programme.
Contrary to that finding, Breier (2010, p.
662) reported, in the study that was focused on the student dropout in the University of Western Cape, that 18% of 159 students dropped out because of having achieved poor academic results.
Financial reason
Murray (2014, p. 1) theorized that, amongst other factors, financial backgrounds potentially have a causative effects on student dropout.
Cunha, Heckman, Lochner and Masterov (2006) reported that the dropout or inability to access higher education can be minimally attributed to family backgrounds, such as poor financial backgrounds
An example of rival interpretations
Focus Payne (2009) Valencia (2010)
The concept
‘deficit theory’
Payne (2009, p. 2) claims that the name ‘deficit theory’ is just a theoretical concept that exists at an abstract level.
Valencia (2010) rebuts by asserting that the deficit framework has great utility in comprehending the bond between theory and practice.