Reasons for Attending University - Coursework Example

Reasons for attending As progress with their studies in high school, there comes a point when their minds are faced with a major question of whether they should go to university or not after the completion of final year in the high school. Depending on the student they may go or fail to go to university. Several studies have been conducted to show how students cope with life in the university. In this study, interviews were conducted, and the analysis found that as far as main objective of going to study in the university is believed by many sociologists to advance knowledge, some have completely varied reasons. From the findings, we were able to come up with a framework regarding these reasons. The study identified three major reasons; parents expectations, going to university for personal experience and going for pragmatic reasons. Keywords: Semi-structured interview schedule, line by line coding, simple random sampling, 27 transcripts, qualitative data, analysis, and interpretation. Introduction In the contemporary world, university education has become very important to the societies. There is a challenge that is experienced during the transition from school to university by students. Most of the students are not clear on their reasons to attend university (Pascarella and Terenzinis 2005). Reasons for going to university that vary among students have a great impact on the society in the long run. Several scholarly works have been conducted regarding experiences that students encounter during their stay at the university and how they cope with them. However, not enough convincing reasons have been given by the past researchers to show reasons why students after high school would prefer to go or not to go to university. As a result, there is need to shade more light on this. This study was, therefore, conducted to try to come up with main reasons why students go to university (Harvey and Drew 2006). Literature review University plays a major role in the growth and development of every society. Reasons why people go to university has a great bearing on both individual and societys socio-economic prospects. There are different motivations that people have as they advance in their education. Many students go to university because they see it as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The students go to university to secure better jobs in the future (Pitkethly et al. 2006). According to study conducted by national union of students (NUS) across United Kingdom, only 29% of those interviewed said they want to go to university because of the experience. The study also revealed that there are different people that influence students to go to university. Most students cited their parents and guardians (about 27%), while only 2% gave their teachers as those who influence them. The main reason for choosing a university by most students is because it offers the course they would wish to study. This was a finding made through research in Russell group universities in United Kingdom (National Union of Students Report 2008). The other cited reason was the academic reputation of the preferred institution. There are students who go to university to adventure in social life. There are those who go to university to make more friends and build stronger social networks. There are various facilities that are found in the universities that the students do not have access to in their high school life. They believe that when they go to university they will have better know how in using the facilities Several studies that have also shown experiences of students in the university. Reports indicate that most students view university as a place socialization, a place to advance in knowledge through hard work and proper time management (Hillmans 2005). Reports on university admission shows that desire to secure a better employment in the future is a motivation to proceed to university for most students. In contrast, some students go to university just because they have performed well in their high school final exams. Parents play a role in the level of education attainable by their children. Some of the students were found to have gone to the university because they dont want to disappoint their parents. Design of study This study was aimed at finding out the reasons that make students go to university. The study was conducted using first-year students as then respondents to know their experience in the university. The sample size was obtained through simple random sampling technique. The data was obtained through face-to-face interview using semi-structured research interview schedules. Another method of data collection was audio recordings using cell phone that gives qualitative data in verbatim. The process of interview was quite interactive. All respondents who participated in the interview signed consent form to show voluntary participation. After the data had been collected it was recorded then the conversation was transcribed, line by line coded and placed the document on Google document sharing to be available for the whole class. The data was transcribed in twenty-seven transcripts for the twenty-seven groups in the class. The transcript date was then used to do pragmatic coding and analyze the theme of the study and its pattern. Analysis When conducting analysis, the transcript data which was obtained from the respondents regarding their reasons for going to university was interpreted. The interpretations were done based on the views of the respondents on their experience in the university as first-year students. In the analysis of data, an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method was used. The choice of this method was informed by the fact that we found it to be one of the most useful qualitative approaches in the interpretations of individual experience. In the analysis of the data, six IPA stages were used. It should be noted that use of IPA approach is best in qualitative research with small sample size. In the case of this study where there were groups of respondents, the approach was also used to measure the comparisons and contrast among these groups. The first step was to read all the individual transcripts then conduct interpretations and analysis (Brocki and Wearden 2006). Findings During the interpretation it was found that parents expectations, personal experience, and pragmatic reasons are major when it comes to the reasons that motivate people to go to the university. These reasons relate to other factors such as distance of the university from the students place of residence and availability of resources to afford life in the university. There are other factors that were also found during the analysis as motivators. These include reasons such as the desire to use more advanced facilities than those found in high schools and social networking. Parents expectations According to the reasons which were given by the participants, it was deduced that there are students who see academic life in the university as quite challenging, but they go there and strive to succeed so that they meet what their parents expect from them. Many other studies have shown that when a parent sends a child in school and pays fees, it is an investment they make, and it is normal that in any investment there is expected the return. The outcome showed that in the course of the interview some respondents mentioned that their parents pay for their fees and accommodation for them to stay at the university. For example, in a conversation during the interview by group members when the respondent was asked whether the parents pay her fees, and the answer was yes (group3 question 1). They said it was important for them to manage their time properly, seek help from lecturers and complete their assignments in time to avoid last minute rush so that they could succeed. This was primarily believed to be away students want to avoid disappointing parents. It was also found that there are a number of students who go to university because they performed well in their high school final exams, and it is expected that after qualifying you should go to university. These results could be interpreted to mean that others go to university because their parents expectations them to go there after passing final high school exams. The study also found that parents expectation could be a major reason due to the fact that some parents have proper resource endowments and can afford to take their sons and daughters to university while others are not well endowed. Those who are not well endowed expect their children to get jobs and support the family after high school. Personal experience Personal experience was found to be another major reason students would want to go to university. It was found from the respondents that issues to do with better learning facilities which were not found in high schools are available at the university and for it could be deduced that gaining more experience with advanced facilities is a motivator to go to university. In line with academic work, there were respondents who said life in university is not as easy as high school, and one needed to study twice as hard as it were in high school. There were also respondents whose experience was that in university people study at different levels compared to high school. In contrast with life at high school, it was found that students need to balance their study time with social life, experience, not in high schools. According to these experiences, it could be said that there is a correlation that exists between the desire to experience more in life and desire to go to university. These finding compare to findings of other studies conducted in the United Kingdom by National Union of Students which found that some students go to university with major aim personal experience. It was also found in this study that others go to university to meet more people and eventually make more friends. This they believed helps them to increase social networking. Some of the respondents who participated in study were found to have been influenced by socialization in the university and as a result, other started behaving differently as they were in high school such characters like drug abuse as a result of social influence. Pragmatic Reasons In the analysis, it was found that there are those who go to university because they believe that they will get good jobs. This was found to be a category that goes to university because they want to work hard so that they do not fail in life. According to these respondents, getting job is their major motivator of proceeding to the university. This was found to be those who worked hard in high school to go to university and secure well-paying jobs in the future. Their main aim was to study hard as they have never done it before so that they could avoid failure. It was found that some participants viewed university as bridge to better employment. There were those respondents who said that unlike high school, universities offer different courses in different faculties, a reason that was also found to influence choice of a university. In this finding, it was also realized that some students go to university to use the complex facilities to become more competitive in the job market. For example, when a respondent was asked why she decided to come to university in the interview, the response was to get a better job in future (group 3 question 1). Others go to university and choose those courses they believe could add value to their careers as they seek employment. One of the respondents said time management and hard work was very important for ones success in the university. From this analysis, it could be interpreted that some go to university to work hard and succeed in life through good and well-paying jobs. The other pragmatic reason obtained from the study was that there are students who after high school they go to university to gain more knowledge and become more reasonable and well informed in life. From the response by another participant that in university people study at different levels, it was interpreted that as you study at different level you also gain more knowledge and this advanced reasoning. Linking analysis with academic literature From the outcome of the study, almost all the findings are in agreement with academic literature regarding this theme. According to the study, it was found that students go to university to work hard and gain more knowledge. It was also discovered that another reason is that some students want good employment, and they believed its after going to university that they can succeed. The finding agrees with findings from a research conducted in the United Kingdom by the National Union of Students in 2008 which found that most students see university as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. This finding proved that students see university as a place where when one comes out from you are successful. In the same study report it was found that other reasons for making students to go to university was in the university there are better facilities such as good computer laboratories and the students would gain more experience and competence using these facilities. In another study that was conducted in the Russell group of universities in the United Kingdom also goes in tandem with the findings of this study. In their study, they found that one major factor that influences or motivates students to go to university was parents. The finding in that research compares with the finding of this study that parental expectation is a reason for going to university. They also found that students go to university because they offer different courses that they like pursuing. This reason agrees with findings of the study that the reason some students go to university is because there are courses offered which can make them get better jobs in the future. Other studies showed that students go to university for personal experience. Those studies that were conducted among students in various universities in UK showed that the desire to meet and make more friends motivate some students to go to university. The findings agree with the findings of the study (Pitkethly et al., 2006). Limitations In the course of the study, there were several challenges that were met. It was very difficult to maintain objectivity of the interview as some respondents were realized not to be honest. The data was also prone to biases. Some of the respondents were sharing their responses, and this could have interfered with the quality. Another limitation was that the study only focused on the experience of the first-year students while so many students were left out. This could have affected the outcome. There was difficulty in getting the best sampling technique to use due to the large sampling frame and the most appropriate method of data analysis due to the nature of the responses. Regarding the finding of this study, the limitation is that they are not universal. There are other socio-economic factors which are found in different parts of the world that could influence reasons for going to university. In this regard, it is noted that these are not the only reasons. This study was only conducted with the first-year students in one university. The experience of others in the other universities was not captured. This is a limitation because the others could have varied views that could affect the findings. In the course of the interview, the process was so tedious and time-consuming. There were challenges with phone recording since other records were not clear. Conclusion The study we conducted properly fits well with other studies conducted in this field of social research regarding reasons for going to university. Reasons such as personal experience, parents expectation and getting a good job compares well with findings from other studies. It was found that expectation from parents and personal experience motivates students more than pragmatic reasons to go to the university. University is known to be higher learning institution; it is, therefore, wise for the various stakeholders to use the findings to give proper career guide to students. Works cited Brocki, J. M. & Wearden, A. J. (2005). A critical evaluation of the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in education psychology Bryman, Alan, Edward Bell and James, J. Teevan. 2012. Social Research Methods: Third Canadian Edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press Harvey, L. & Drew, S. with Smith, M., 2006, The First-Year Experience: A review of the literature for the Higher Education Academy (London, The Higher Education Academy). Hillman, K., 2005, The First Year Experience: The transition from secondary school to university and TAFE in Australia, Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, Research Report 40, Australian Council for Educational Research and the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training. Pascarella, E.T. & Terenzini, P.T., 2005, How College Affects Students (Vol 2): A third decade of research (San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass). Pitkethly, A. & Prosser, M., 2006, ‘The first-year experience project: a model for a university-wide change, Higher Education Research and Development, 20(2), pp. 185–98 Read More