RETENTION OF COLLEGE BUSINESS STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATOR EFFECTIVENESS (PREDICTING, COLLEGE, DROPOUTS)
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to determine those factors that influence college students to dropout of college. The sample consisted of 403 freshmen day students (class of 1985) taking accounting courses. The data gathering materials were in two parts: First, a survey comprised of questions relating to student perception and satisfaction drawn from the literature; and second, a course evaluation instrument used by the Colleges of Business at Fordham University, New York. The major purpose of the survey (Part I) was to determine if the reasons given by students for dropping out as reported in the literature, mainly Astin (1975), could possibly be used as a predictor for dropouts. The major purpose of the course evaluations (Part II) was to determine if any aspect of teaching, as depicted in the questions of the evaluation forms, would have predictive value in determining dropouts. The data was analyzed in three ways: first, using regression analysis; second, using point-biserial correlation; and third, using discriminant analysis. Among the findings it was determined that grade point average, and financial difficulties were statistically significant. From the course evaluation, it was determined that several of the questions evaluating teaching effectiveness were found to be significant. It was also found that a classification function based on information obtained from the students did accurately pinpoint student dropouts from non-dropouts. A number of discriminant analysis models using various combinations of survey and course evaluation data (variables) were found to be accurate. The best model predicted 70.9% of the students who dropped out. Implications. On the basis of the above factors, it is recommended that colleges and universities, which desire to reduce student attrition, devote special attention to the student perceptions regarding teaching effectiveness as well as student financial status and academic performance. One recommendation for further research included following up those students who the models selected as likely to drop out of college but did not drop out. A second recommendation is that the study should be replicated with two samples, one as control and another to which intervention should be applied.
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
MANGUM, WILEY MARK, "RETENTION OF COLLEGE BUSINESS STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATOR EFFECTIVENESS (PREDICTING, COLLEGE, DROPOUTS)" (1985). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8600094.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8600094
