ANALYSIS OF THE DISSERTATION: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AS A MEANS TO PROMOTE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
Title of the dissertation.
The title of this dissertation is: student engagement as a means to promote learning in higher
education.
Problem statement and Purpose of the dissertation.
The problem statement of the research is that United States students are underperforming
in all levels of education starting from k-12. The researcher supports this by showing that only
59% of graduates finish their degree within six years (Shapiro et al., 2013). He goes on to show
that 41% of all students enrolled in campus do not finish their education at all (U.S. Department
of Education, 2015). The purpose of the research was to explore the reasons for low student
engagement in higher learning education. It also aimed to provide new strategies and approaches
to promote more engagement of students in these institutions.
Research questions.
1. What are the students’ perceptions of policies to enhance engagement in boosting
academic achievement?
2. What are the students’ perceptions of policies to enhance engagement in boosting success
in the job environment?
Research design and methodology.
The research was done using a qualitative methodology which involves: ethnography,
grounded theory, phenomenology, case study, and narrative (Creswell, 2014). A qualitative
Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE DISSERTATION: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AS A
MEANS TO PROMOTE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 3
research was used since the data required was about student opinion and reasons regarding the
topic (Silverman, 2016). The research took a case study design to take a picture of the situation
in the education sector and gather information of a certain group at the given time (Yin, 2014).
The design was chosen since the research not only wanted to know the situation of engagement
of students in colleges but also propose new strategies that would be found out during the period
of the research (Swanborn, 2010)
How the data collected provides answers to the research questions.
As to the first question; the data reveals that students who are involved in decision
making feel more engaged and interested to participate in the said class. The second part of the
results reveals that the skills learned in class through practicum and trips would be useful in
practice at the job market.
Instruments selected for data collection.
Interviews were carried out with the help of a semi structured questionnaire. A
transcription service was used to transcribe the oral interview into words. The NVivo software
was used to code the data and interpret it.
Methods of data analysis.
Transcripts of the interviews were coded to represent individual respondents. The NVivo
software together with thematic analysis (Kvale & Brinkmann’s, 2009) was used to code
individual responses by giving numbering and scores. This data was used to cross reference
findings in the literature review and find matching patterns in the data itself.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE DISSERTATION: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AS A
MEANS TO PROMOTE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 4
How well did the researcher describe the research procedures.
The researcher was thorough in describing the procedures. From the sampling techniques
to the actual sample of two groups involving ten students each. He formulates a questionnaire
then shows how the data was collected, checked for errors, coded and analyzed.
Would you consider using this methodology to research your topic?
Yes. I would consider a qualitative methodology since it is a primary research. It is
exhaustive in giving a clear comparison between scientific data and the actual findings on the
ground. It’s also easier to find solutions to the research questions from the data acquired.
References.
Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Ziskin, M., Yuan, X., & Harrell, A. (2013). Completing College: A
National View of Student Attainment Rates, Fall 2007 Cohort.(Signature Report No. 6).
National Student Clearinghouse.