Pilot Testing for Feasibility in a Study of Student Retention and Attrition in Online Undergraduate Programs

Joy Fraser,Jane Arscott,Isabelle Guillot,Dorothy (Willy) Fahlman

doi:10.19173/irrodl.v19i1.3326

Abstract

<p class="4">Prior to undertaking a descriptive study on attrition and retention of students in two online undergraduate health administration and human service programs, a pilot test was conducted to assess the procedures for participant recruitment, usability of the survey questionnaire, and data collection processes. A retention model provided the conceptual framework for this investigation to identify and organize various factors that influenced students’ decisions to either discontinue or continue their educational programs. In an attempt to contribute to the body of research in this area and to enrich pedagogical practices, the authors describe the pilot testing processes and feasibility issues explored, and the improvements made to the instrument and methodology before commencing the main research study on attrition and retention.</p>

Highlights

Retaining students is both a priority and an unrelenting challenge in higher education, whether in conventional face-to-face settings or in distance education (Tinto, 1975, 1982; Berge & Haung, 2004; Pilot Testing for Feasibility in a Study of Student Retention and Attrition in Online Undergraduate Programs Fraser, Fahlman, Arscott, and GuillotHeyman, 2010; Rintala, Andersson, & Kairamo 2011). Tinto’s (1982) analyses of undergraduate degree completion rates from 1880-1980 prompted him to say “rates of dropout from higher education have remained strikingly constant over the past 100 years” (p. 694)
Attrition and retention became the focus of concern for an investigation in the Bachelor of Health Administration (HADM) and Human Service (HSRV) programs delivered online at a single open and online university
The variables identified as affecting student retention are clustered into three main categories: personal, institutional, and circumstantial (Table 1). “[B]oth students and institutions can identify specific variables in these three functional groups when making decisions to persist or when developing programs leading to persistence that is highly contextual to student, institution and event” (Snow, 2016, p. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Retaining students is both a priority and an unrelenting challenge in higher education, whether in conventional face-to-face settings or in distance education (Tinto, 1975, 1982; Berge & Haung, 2004; Pilot Testing for Feasibility in a Study of Student Retention and Attrition in Online Undergraduate Programs Fraser, Fahlman, Arscott, and GuillotHeyman, 2010; Rintala, Andersson, & Kairamo 2011). Tinto’s (1982) analyses of undergraduate degree completion rates from 1880-1980 prompted him to say “rates of dropout from higher education have remained strikingly constant over the past 100 years” (p. 694). Retaining students is both a priority and an unrelenting challenge in higher education, whether in conventional face-to-face settings or in distance education More than three decades after Tinto’s study, the problem of retention persists in higher education generally, and is an even greater concern in distance and distributed learning contexts. An informal term often used for feasibility is doability; Eldridge et al (2016) observed that outside of the health context, definitions of feasibility and feasibility studies focus on the likelihood of being able to do something or conveniently, and on the “assessment of the practicality of a proposed plan or method” An informal term often used for feasibility is doability; Eldridge et al (2016) observed that outside of the health context, definitions of feasibility and feasibility studies focus on the likelihood of being able to do something or conveniently, and on the “assessment of the practicality of a proposed plan or method” (para. 16). Moore, Carter, Nietert, and Stewart (2011) noted that pilot studies imply feasibility to the extent that they are “preparatory studies designed to test the performance characteristics and capabilities of study designs, measures, procedures, recruitment criteria, and operational strategies that are under consideration for use in a subsequent, often larger, study” (p. 332)

Objectives

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Conclusion