In this chapter, the findings of this study are presented and interpreted. Following the introduction of the chapter, I will present data. First, I will present findings, which have emerged from in-depth interviews with lecturers. Second, I will present findings unveiled through in-depth interviews with administrative officers. Third, the chapter will present findings divulged through focus-group interviews with dropout students. Next, the chapter will reflect on issues valued significant in the development of the anticipated student support model. This with will be followed by the presentation of the proposed model and an explanation as to what does it means for ODL institutions.
Then, the fundamental aspects dealt with in the chapter are packaged under the summary section.
1.10.5 Chapter five: (summary, conclusions and recommendations)
This chapter gives an overview of the study as a whole by summarising essential aspects, which have been discussed in the previous chapters. It also provides conclusions, which are minimally drawn from the literature review that was conducted and, largely, from the findings which have been unveiled by the empirical study. The chapter will be wrapped with recommendations, which are also influenced by findings, and new directions for future studies are given.
1.11 SUMMARY
The purpose of the chapter on orientation to the study was to introduce the research topic, issues relating to student dropout and support in broad-spectrum, the research problem from which this study originates and the research questions for which answers are sought. The chapter also introduced the theoretical paradigms through which to study the pervasive student dropout concern as well as their philosophical dimensions upon which they are grounded. Part of the introduction’s primary intention was to motivate the rationale behind undertaking this research and the contribution that this study hopes to make into the proliferated academic discourse on student dropout and the field of education in wide-ranging. To this end, the introduction
element presented a synopsis of the most imperative aspects that are discussed in details in the body of this study. The chapter of study orientation started by debating the general research problem which this study evidently claims that it exists, from both a theoretical and practical context – that irrespective of plentiful support interventions accessible to needy students, dropout concern continues to be a challenge in higher education sector (Letseka and Maile, 2008). The Chapter further discussed the research problem statement to narrow down the general research problem into a specific gap that this study wants to address. The purpose has been achieved through a reflection of assertions that despite a huge volume of literature put more attention on student dropout at an undergraduate level (CHE, 2010; Department of Higher Education and Training , 2013), the focus on postgraduate level has been less emphasised or been scrubby (Kritzinger and Loock, 2012, p. 12). The second major component of the chapter on orientation of the study is the background to the study in which the purpose was to provide the contextual background to the study referring to the theoretical discourse that influenced the study. This purpose was achieved by presenting an overview of the literature that was centred on student dropout and the support interventions. The chapter also provided an introduction to the research methodology and its related aspects applied in this study such as the research ethics, research design, sampling procedure, target population, data collection methods, data analysis methods as well as steps undertaken to ensure the dependability of the data collection instruments and valid findings.
The next chapter is the ‘literature review’ and it comprises and discusses three broad issues that are valued pertinent and essential for this study:
Firstly, theoretical frameworks that guide this study - an integrated use of deficit theory and Moore’s (1993) theory of transactional distance;
Secondly, the student dropout concern; and
Thirdly, the student support intervention.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE: A TRADITIONAL (NARRATIVE) REVIEW
Whereas the previous chapter (orientation to the study) had a general purpose of introducing various chapters of this study, providing brief information about what this study discusses and expounding the theoretical background that gave rise to the undertaking of this research, this chapter - ‘literature: traditional (narrative review’ – serves as a theoretical base on which the study is built.
The chapter starts by presenting a structural overview of aspects that are important in this study and have been discussed, as a result. The schematic representation of how this literature review chapter is structured is given as part of the section on introduction and it is portrayed as follows:
LITERATURE : A NARRATIVE REVIEW
Introduction
Theoretical framework
Deficient theory
Transactional theory of distance
Student dropout
Student dropout in an ODL environment
Concept ‘student dropout’
Some reasons/causes of student
dropout Perceptions regarding student
dropout in higher education institutions
Challenges associated with student dropout
Theoretical definition Empirical/operational definition
Geographic areas as a principal reason for dropping out
Staying away from home Political strife Students’ unpreparedness
Low academic performance Financial and economic constraints
Learning environment
Having been registered in a non-preferred field of study
A change or break in intimate relationship Inability to manage time
Ill-health
Political unrest
Unpreparedness and lack of academic support
Lack of counselling/career guidance
Students’ experiences Lecturers’ and administrative
officers’ perceptions
Student support
The concept ‘student
Types and the nature of student supports in higher
Development of student support programmes in
Mitigation strategies
Practices of student support intervention programmes in higher education
support’ education
institutions higher education
Consequences of dropout Support
programmes in higher
education institutions
Support programmes in higher
institutions
Importance of student
support for higher
education institutions and students
Communicating student support interventions to students
Students’
experiences as well as lecturers’ and administrative officers’
perceptions on student support
Challenges in implementing student support intervention programmes in higher education institutions
Measurement strategies of the
student interventions’
effectiveness
Figure 2.1 Schematic representation of the literature review chapter Source: Researcher’s own compilation
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Literature review is ‘a research process of examining and synthesising information by focusing on documented research outcomes’ (Boote and Beile, 2005). Motives behind conducting a literature review are profusely wide-ranging. Most remarkably, the purpose of reviewing a literature is to enrich an understanding (Boote and Beile, 2005, p. 6) and knowledge on specific research phenomenon, key constructs, theoretical frameworks (Randolph, 2009, p. 1) as well as research methodological pradigms that have been employed to study the same aspect (Gall, Borg and Gall, 1996; Randolph, 2009) to ultimately form a foundation on which the study should be built. Other motives for conducting literature reviews include finding gaps in the existing body of knowledge on the issue that is being investigated, avoiding following unrewarding methods, delineating the problem that impelled the research and questing for recommendations that unveil what future studies should focus on (Gall et al, 1996).
Literature review is a vital component in any research process (Webster and Watson, 2002; Ellis and Levy; 2008). It assists in the formulation of research questions, suggesting relevant data collection methods (Burns and Grove, 2005) to be used, pointing out gaps and suggesting methods with which to fill them (Cronin, Ryan and Coughlan, 2008, p. 660) in the body of literature on the topic under investigation. It is a critical, unbiased and exhaustive analysis and integration of suitable existing studies that garners information from voluminous sources (Cronin et al, 2008, p. 38).
Prevailing forms (Webster and Watson, 2002, p. xiii) and foci (Cronin et al, 2008, p.
40) of reviews of literature vary. On one hand, the researcher can embark on a ubiquitous research phenomenon that is characterised by ample of literature that requires an investigation and a fusion in order to develop a theoretical model that expands and synthesises the existing body of knowledge (Webster and Watson, 2002). On the other hand, the researcher can investigate a new research problem that has received less emphasis in order to propose a ground-breaking conceptual model (p. xiv). Both the former focal point and the latter are equally central and applicable to this study. Relatively parallel to the former, this study generally focuses on student dropout phenomenon which, over many years, has sufficiently been attended to
(Wingate, 2007; Scott, Yeld, and Hendry, 2007), yet until this epoch it remains recurring despite voluminous support frameworks which were developed in response to its pervasive attack (Letseka and Maile, 2008). Many studies dealt with student dropout by centring their focus at the undergraduate level of education (Ramsay, Jones and Barker, 2007; Wingate, 2007; Scott, Yeld, and Hendry, 2007) than the postgraduate level (CHE, 2010; Scott, Yeld and Hendry, 2007; Koen, 2007; 2015).
This has culminated in a deep and prime understanding of student dropout at an undergraduate level as opposed to the attrition experienced at a postgraduate level.
Compounding the matter further, those that were confined within the postgraduate parameters have given little attention to student dropout at lower (honours) postgraduate level as opposed to attrition that occurs at the upper (doctorate) graduate level (Kritzinger and Loock, 2012, p. 12). Captivatingly, rival viewpoints on dropout at postgraduate level exist in the literature, portentous that much is still to be done to optimize an understanding of student attrition at the postgraduate level that appears to be a difficult and multi-layered phenomenon to deal with. This assertion is exemplified by Herman (2011, p. 40) who offered a divergent position, arguing that a doctoral dropout is a complex issue that has not been entirely learnt. In this study, the focus is on student dropout within the confinement of undergraduate level. The study uses a case of Unisa’s lower-postgraduate course called an ‘advanced communication research’ (COM4809). Similar to this study, there had been studies that looked into the dropout phenomenon within at the course level at Unisa. A case in point is Tladi’s (2013) research on dropout of undergraduate students who were enrolled in Cost Accounting and Control course (ACN203S) which looked into dropout of students who failed to write an examination. The distinctiveness of this study is that whereas Tladi’s (2013) study conceptualised dropout as a student’s absence from examination or failure to write an examination and was limited to attrition at an undergraduate level, this study defines dropout as a failure to register in the following semester and it is based on dropout that takes place at a lower-postgraduate level. Moreover, Tladi’s (2013) study adopted a quantitative methodology and this study is affixed in a qualitative research design.
Of all conceivable foci a literature analysis can have, such as methodologies, research results, models or theories and applications (Cooper, 1998), this study is largely oriented towards findings, theories and applications rather than methodological
approaches to study the dropout phenomenon. The choice for these foci is informed by what the study hopes to achieve and the contribution it envisages to make in the existing body of literature. The study explored the dropout incidence in open and distance education terrain to inform the development of responsive student support model for lower-postgraduate students. Engrained from these three identified foci of this study, three components constitute the structure of this literature review chapter – that is, the ‘theoretical framework’, the ‘student dropout’ and the ‘student support’.
Approaches to conduct reviews of literature are copious. Evidently, academic discourses show that there is an array of kinds of literature reviews such as, the narrative or traditional literature review (Cronin, Ryan and Coughlan, 2008, p. 38), the systematic literature review (Cronin et al, 2008; Parahoo, 2014, p. 125) and the critical evaluation review (Slavin, 1987). This study presents their variations in a form of table as derived in the analysis of related studies. It aligns its form of analysis and synthesis with the traditional (narrative) review.
Table 2.1: Descriptive characteristics of narrative, systematic and critical evaluation literature reviews
Some characteristics/types of literature reviews
Traditional or Narrative Systematic Critical evaluation
Asserting on the narrative review, Cronin et al (2008) argue that:
- its purpose it is to highlight the importance of the study and the contribution of new research to the reader,
- it provides detailed accounts of the background to the study to enable the reader to understand the new developments of the body of research, - draws inferences on the topic investigated
by critiquing and summarising the plentiful existing literature,
- It has the ability to identify the variations or gaps in the existing body of research,
- Its purpose is to give as many sources of all research pertinent to the study as possible, both the, unpublished and published
- It tries to use rigorous and clear criteria to ascertain, critically scrutinize and provide a fusion of all related literature on the
phenomenon under investigation, and
- It specifies how the research questions were developed, studies were selected, information was analysed, literature quality was measured
- The principal drive of critical evaluation review is to subsume studies that match the prearranged quality measurement framework and disregard those which do not.
- It is based upon meta-analysis and uses only research sources that meet a particular quality threshold standard of methodology (Slavin, 1987).
- Its doctrine is that the inclusion of only quality sources leads to higher quality of findings (Kennedy, 2005).
- Its drawback is that if the defined criteria for inclusion are wide-ranging, studies that do not meet the quality measurement range predetermined may cause poor quality findings (Kennedy, 2005). Strict inclusion
- It has the capacity to assist investigators to formulate objectives/research questions,
- It can enable researchers to formulate a research topic and to refine it,
- It gives a summary of findings of studies that focused on the same topic.
- Coughlan, Cronin and Ryan (2007) contend that narrative interviews are important in generating a theoretical framework.
and how the information will be dispersed (Cronin et al, 2008;
Athanasiou, Debas and Darzi, 2010, p. 38).
- It applies scientific methods of primary investigation to review the literature (Athanasiou et al, 2010, p. 38).
- It is an intermediate approach that draws from narrative reviews’ and critical evaluation’s merits (Abrami, Cohen and d’Apollonia, 1988).
- It specifies the period in which the literature was selected and the manner in which the information was analysed and synthesised (Parahoo, 2006).
criteria probably lead to fewer sources selected which, subsequently, affects the generalisability of findings (p. 171).
- Closely parallel to Kennedy’s postulation, Meline, (2006, p. 22) posits that while a wider inclusion range makes an analysis and synthesis of selected studies problematic (over-inclusion threat), limiting inclusion criteria often hamper the clinical use of results (over-exclusion threat).
Further to the significance of systematic form of literature review, Coughlan et al (2007) posit that it can also assist the researcher to develop a theoretical model. The form of literature review presented in this study dominantly borrowed characteristics of traditional (narrative) review and this chapter is thus called ‘literature: a traditional (narrative) review’. The narrative form of literature review has been dominantly applied in this study to analyse and synthesise literature on student dropout and student support themes such as, student dropout in the context of distance education, factors that lead to dropout incidences, challenges, which institutions of higher learning encounter when executing support programmes, preventive measures put into place by higher education institutions to address the attrition concern, and methods with which higher education institutions use to measure effectiveness of student support intervention programmes.
The aim of this research is to investigate student dropout in open and distance learning environment. To achieve that aim, a narrative review has been chosen as a lens to guide the process of reviewing the literature. It enables the researcher to develop a theoretical framework (Cronin et al, 2008); Athanasiou, 2010, p. 38), which makes it most suitable for this study since the ultimate intent is to quest for responsive student support model. Furthermore, the narrative review has been selected for the study it allows the researcher to exercise flexibility to excerpt and synthesise only information deemed relevant and crucial (Athanasiou, 2010, p. 38) irrespective of whether the source is a research or a non-research product.
Less so, this study also applied the desktop form of literature review to analyse and synthesise the practices which higher education institutions are involved into to respond to the growing concern on student dropout which has deeply attacked the higher education terrain. The decision for an option of a ‘narrative review’ have been informed by an all-encompassing purpose described in the literature and the specific purpose for which this study wants to achieve. This chapter is important because of the following reasons:
Firstly, to show the significance of conducting this research,
Secondly, to expand the background to the study from which the research gap emerges,
Thirdly, to show new trends in the body of knowledge, and
Fourthly, to critique and synthesises the contemporary literature.
To achieve these broad objectives, the literature review chapter focused its discussion on three important research issues – namely, the theoretical approach which the study employs, the ‘student dropout’ and the ‘student support’. The chapter critically discusses the adopted theoretical lenses that inform this study in terms of their philosophical epistemologies and beliefs that provide grounds on which they are based. It rationalises the choice made for the application of the deficit theory and the theory of transactional distance. Of an importance in the discussion of theoretical frameworks applied in this study are aspects, such as their origins, elements, strengths and shortcomings. The reasons for including them in the study were to understand their documented evolutions, to reveal their advantages and drawbacks, and philosophical views they theorise. In the next part of the scope of this chapter, the focus is on student dropout. This section is divided into subparts that embrace discussions on the following various issues:
Theoretical and operational definitions of the concept ‘student dropout’ as posited in the identified literature,
Student dropout in the context of distance education,
Some root causes of student dropout,
Support interventions that are used within the scope of higher education to address the student dropout challenges, and
Students and staff’s experiences presented in the literature
Following the discussion on the concept ‘student dropout’ itself, the definition that is operationalised for the purpose of this study has been developed. These discussions were deemed salient for building a theoretical foundation for the study and their inclusion were guided by the research questions posed in this study. Since this study is set within the distance education environment, it was significant to review literatures that make assertions on dropout of students who are learning through distance education institutions. This was done to understand challenges, which students who are involved in distance education encounter in the learning process that result in some of them discontinuing learning.
Equally important to receive an attention in this chapter and the whole study in particular, was the discussion of support interventions, which higher education institutions use to respond to an all-pervading student dropout concern. The rationale behind its inclusion as part of the discussion in this chapter was to determine and reveal documented forms of student support services practised within the global higher education sector.
Another major area of focus of this literature review chapter was the student support.
The discussion on this aspect was vitally pertinent to understand prevalent conventional and contemporary forms of student support services and their unresponsiveness to the problem. The chapter begins the discussion on student support with variant conceptual and empirical descriptions of the construct ‘student support’ found in the related studies. The purpose for including the viewpoints on student support was to reveal distinct understandings of theorists who have researched the same phenomenon and to formulate an appropriate definition to be operationalised in this study. The ensued section of student support dealt with types of support interventions and what they entailed. Since this study wants to contribute to theory generation by developing a student support model for postgraduate students, types of support services offered in higher education remains pivotal. To understand the way in which higher education institutions communicate their support intervention programmes to students, this chapter discusses various forms of institution-student communications on support services offered. Moreover, the chapter discusses various forms of practices adopted by HEIs to support their students. The purpose of the section was to expose ways by which HEIs interventions can best be performed. Two forms of reviews were used to achieve that purpose. These were, to a lesser extent, desktop review which, in addition to the predominantly used narrative review, helped to identify existing practices.
Although the study dominantly uses contemporary sources to support arguments raised in certain parts of discussion, to a lesser extent, it also included historical sources. This decision was informed by what Cronin, Ryan and Coughlan (2008) identified as scarcity of influential studies that remained suitable to the contemporary practices and shortage of research.