The Impact of Instructional Modality on the Relationship of Psychological Sense of Community to Thriving among Graduate Students

Abstract

McMillan and Chavis (1986) defined a psychological sense of community (PSC) as feelings of influence, membership, integration, and shared emotional connection. The importance of PSC to graduate student success has been established, but to date, no one has examined the extent to which PSC predicts student thriving when data is disaggregated by instructional modality. The purpose of this study was to determine whether PSC contributes to student thriving to a greater extent for online learners than for those in face-to-face or hybrid programs. Data from the 2018 Graduate Thriving QuotientTM survey administration were analyzed. Analyses of variance determined there were no statistically significant differences in levels of thriving or PSC between the modalities. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that PSC accounted for a larger percentage of variance in Thriving Quotient scores among online learners (20.6%) than for either hybrid learners (12.9% of variance) or face-to-face learners (7.5%). This finding suggests that when the proportion of the degree program that is conducted online increases, PSC becomes even more important to students’ thriving.