Abstract
As higher education is changing to reach larger numbers of students via online modalities, the issue of student attrition and other measures of student success become increasingly important. While research has focused largely on undergraduate online students, less has been done in the area of online non-traditional doctoral student success, particularly from the student trait perspective. The concept of grit has been identified as an important element of the successful attainment of long-term goals. As doctoral education is a long-term goal the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of doctoral student grit scores on student success. Success was measured in three ways: (a) in terms of longevity in the program (the number of courses a student had successfully completed), (b) by examining current student GPA, and (c) by studying whether or not students have reached the critical milestone of successfully defending their dissertation proposal. Significant relationships were found between grit and current student GPA, grit and the average number of hours students spent on their program of study weekly, and grit and age. The results of this research may be important for informing how doctoral education is structured and how students might be better prepared for doctoral work.
Location
Room 1005
Recommended Citation
Cross, Ted M., "Staying the Course: Grit, Academic Success, and Non-Traditional Doctoral Student" (2014). SoTL Commons Conference. 95.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2014/95
Staying the Course: Grit, Academic Success, and Non-Traditional Doctoral Student
Room 1005
As higher education is changing to reach larger numbers of students via online modalities, the issue of student attrition and other measures of student success become increasingly important. While research has focused largely on undergraduate online students, less has been done in the area of online non-traditional doctoral student success, particularly from the student trait perspective. The concept of grit has been identified as an important element of the successful attainment of long-term goals. As doctoral education is a long-term goal the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of doctoral student grit scores on student success. Success was measured in three ways: (a) in terms of longevity in the program (the number of courses a student had successfully completed), (b) by examining current student GPA, and (c) by studying whether or not students have reached the critical milestone of successfully defending their dissertation proposal. Significant relationships were found between grit and current student GPA, grit and the average number of hours students spent on their program of study weekly, and grit and age. The results of this research may be important for informing how doctoral education is structured and how students might be better prepared for doctoral work.
