First Generation Minority Students with Multiple Graduate Degrees - Research Proposal Example

First Generation Minority with Multiple Graduate Degrees A Narrative Inquiry Qualitative Research Approach College: Date: First Generation Minority Students with Multiple Graduate Degrees A Narrative Inquiry Qualitative Research Approach Introduction The First Generation college students’ lot is one of the minority groups that have attracted the attention of many researchers in the recent past. The term First Generation students refer to any student who pursues college education as the first person in a family whose parents and siblings have not yet graduated from a tertiary institution. This is an increasing group in the community that has triggered new issues in the academic environment. Often, these students lack the necessary knowledge that is required to make wise choices while joining their master and PhD Programs which has its own consequences on their academic achievements. Given that this minority group has been inadequately covered in research, their challenges have lacked the necessary attention that is crucial in ensuring that they make wise choices in their life. Research has pointed out that these students are inclined to face more challenges unless there is an intervention to streamline their decision making process. As this population continues to increase, it is necessary to provide research driven recommendations to help them overcome their challenges and resolve their problems. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that lead to First Generation Students (FGS) in obtaining multiple graduate degrees; undergraduate, masters, PhD and Doctoral programs. By interviewing FGS persons who have acquired post graduate education, it is possible to obtain their experiences and assess the factors that have contributed to their achievements. With this information, the research will assist in the generation of viable motivational approaches that can assist other FGS students to earn success in their education. The principle behind this study is that enhancing educational development is one of the best ways to impact community advancement in the contemporary society. The research will follow a narrative inquiry approach in the synthesis of the fact underlying the academic achievements of the FGS. With this interpretive approach, it will be possible to obtain the experiences of the selected samples and synthesise possible way in which to encourage other FGS to follow suit. Literature Review In the recent past, the topic on First Generation students has generated a lot of heat in the area of research that is concerned with academic development. Ward, Siegel & Davenport (2012) define First Generation college students as those students entering college and originate from a family where none of the parents or siblings have attained have graduated from a college. This means that the parents or other students may have enrolled for a degree program or may be studying concurrently but have not yet graduated. The presence of graduate within a family is of great significance for any other student pursuing a college education. Previous research shows that the FGS lot is a minority group that should be considered in the community development projects. Payne (2006) points out that academic and career advice is one of the significant determiners of the academic success of students in the community. In todays work environment where education development is a necessity, career and education advice play a key role in the experience of students in the academic institutions. While students from families’ members who have attained tertiary education have adequate career advice, the FGS lack the knowledge required in developing their career in the academic environment. As such, some students lack the meaning of education and it is likely that they will end up at their first degree. Lack of adequate career advise makes them lack the incentive to develop their career by acquire multiple graduate degrees (Billson and Terry, 2001). In reality, some may not even complete their undergraduate studies as they do not have an understanding of the necessity of tertiary education in the employment sector. This is a factor that has put most FGS students in a compromising position and hence there is a need to come up with a clear strategy on how to liberate them from knowledge deficiency and show them the path that they can follow to overcome their challenges. Another challenge that is notable among this low is the lack of adequate financial facilities to help them in the chase of their career. As a matter of fact, economic challenges have forced most FCS out of school in the middle of their graduate studies. Most of them lack the knowledge of the channels that they can use to complete their studies and even enroll in masters programs. While other students are aware of the various scholarship positions and academic programs that help students achieve their academic goals, the FGS lack this knowledge and hence end up out of school, which jeopardizes the chances of being economy contributors in the society that they belong in (Chen, 2005). In a society that is sensitive to diversity, there is a push to ensure that every person in the society is well represented. Engle (2009) points out that there is a direct proportionality between the parent level education and the probability that their children will enroll and succeed in their tertiary education. It is likely that educated parents are well up and capable of providing for the children’s education requirements. Additionally, they are in a better position to advise their children and support them in the career development process. As material and career support for success in education, the first generation college students have very little chances of succeeding in their academic process (Weis, 2002). As such, it has drawn the attention of scholars to develop workable strategies in which academic developers can employ in encouraging FGS and providing them with an opportunity to grow complete their education and even acquire multiple degrees along their career. Lunceford (2010) points out that the students who want to acquire multiple degrees are faced with many challenges in their academic pursuance. In his own experience, he notes the challenge he faced when he intended to join a tertiary institution. When he was required to write a statement of purpose as a preliminary requirement for his admission, he learnt that he did not have adequate information to write. Having come from a family whose none of the members had acquired a tertiary education, he barely understood the purpose of being in a tertiary institution. Unlike other students who knew why the needed this education, he did not have any specific purpose for attending school. The idea that this author holds is that lack of career advice makes subjects the FGS students to the limitations that jeopardize their chances of succeeding in their academic path. Previous research has shown that the trend number of the FGS continues to increase as more FGS students drop out of school. Statistical analysis in US shows that over 25% of students dropped out of colleges for one reason or the other. This high rate of school dropout promises that future children will fall under the category of FGS. As such, the problem is expected to escalate in the future and it will be a big challenge to address the challenges affecting this group (Smith, 2008). The fact the problem has not been addressed today in the community worsens the condition and predisposes the future generation to a worse life experience. This is a problem that the government in every country should pay particular attention to address before the matter gets out of hand and more students become victims of this condition. The conclusions that can be drawn from the work of these researchers is that the challenges facing the FGS should be taken as matters of priority to help the society in recovering from the situation. A critical look at the approach that the research has used to approach the matter of FCS shows that there is a great deficiency. Most research agrees that there is need to address the problems of the FCS through the advancement of strategies to handle the problem. The researchers have paid particular attention that the challenges facing this group can be overcome limiting themselves to theoretical methods (Kaba, 2008). This lack the practicality that is demanded in this situation and thus has served very little in community development as far as helping the FGs in acquiring multiple graduate degrees. A possible way of looking of looking at this problem is using the experience of others to develop strategies to develop practical strategies that would work for this group. A close look at the learned population today shows that there exists a number of FGS that have managed to achieve multiple graduate degrees despite the challenges that they faced in their academic path (Fischer, 2007). Using their experience would be a practical approach of deriving possible paths that other FGS members can use to develop their education. This research aims at closing the gap that exists between the theoretical approach and the experiential approach of empowering the FGS. By gathering information from successful FGS members, it is possible to encourage other members on how to follow suit in overcoming the challenges that limit their academic success today in the contemporary society. The superiority of this research lies in its ability to provide practical and workable strategies that can work for the FGS group. Methodology For the purpose of this study, a qualitative approach will be used due to the subjective nature of the research topic. The findings of this research rely on the opinions of the people and especially those who have thrived the challenges facing the FGS group and come out as successful students with multiple graduate degrees. It is the opinions of this sample that will be used to model strategies that will be applied in forming this group. Qualitative analysis is superior in providing a wide range of information that can be used to synthesise the final deduction. The interpretive technique that will be employed in this research is narrative inquiry approach. Wells (2011) defines the narrative inquiry as a methodology engaged in successfully obtaining the experience of people and deriving viable conclusions from the same. The sample population for this study will be selected from academic institutions and will comprise of FGS members who have successfully completed their masters programs. The population will be selected from 5 university institution and the sample will comprise of 30 individuals who have had multiple degrees within the last five years. This will be done to ensure that the information so collected is relevant and can apply in the contemporary society. The data collection tool for this research is oral interview. Open ended questions will be designed to collect the opinions of the research participants. The superiority of using open ended questions lies in its ability to collect the opinions of the respondents as they find the liberty to express their own ideas and offer any other information that may be related to the interview question (Lyons & LaBoskey, 2002). The questions will test through conduction of a pilot study and then validated by a team of qualified researchers. The various respondents will be provided with a prior notice to ensure that they are acquainted with the topic and are willing to respond to the questions during the interview. This will help to ensure that the turnover of the interview is above average. The data collected in this study will be analysed qualitatively and conclusion and viable recommendations proposed. One important resource in any project is the time through which the research process will run. This research is scheduled to kick off on February 3rd, 2014 and end in the eve of March 10th, 2014. The research requires a funding of $2,000 that will take care of the entire study process. As the interview conversation will be conducted, two recording equipment will be required to accomplish this task. The institution is willing to assist the research team with the recording instrument and hence this will be a settled expense. References Billson, J.M., and Terry, B., (2001). In Search of the Silken Purse: Factors in Attrition Among First-generation Students. College and University: 57-75. Fall Chen, X. (2005). First-Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at their College Transcripts. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Engle, J., (2010). Post Secondary Access and Success for First Generation College Student. American Academic, 3(25). Fischer, M. J. (2007). Settling into Campus Life: Differences by Race/Ethnicity in College Involvement and Outcomes. Journal Of Higher Education, 78(2), 125-161. Kaba, A. (2008). Race, Gender and Progress: Are Black American Women the New Model Minority?. Journal Of African American Studies, 12(4), 309-335. Lunceford, B. (2011). When first‐generation students go to graduate school. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2011(127), 13-20. Lyons, N., & LaBoskey, V. K. (2002). Narrative inquiry in practice: Advancing the knowledge of teaching. New York: Teachers College Press. Payne, K., (2006). First Generation College Students: Their Challenges and the Advising Strategies That Can Help. Retrieved from: < http://dus.psu.edu/mentor/old /articles/070131kp.htm> Smith, M. J. (2008). College Choice Process of First Generation Black Female Students: Encouraged to What End?. Negro Educational Review, 59(3/4), 147-161. Ward, L., Siegel, M. J., & Davenport, Z. (2012). First-generation college students: Understanding and improving the experience from recruitment to commencement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Wells, K. (2011). Narrative inquiry. New York: Oxford University Press. Weis, L. (2002). Discordant Voices in the Urban Community College. In L. S. Zwerling and H.B. London (Eds.), First Generation College Students: Confronting the Cultural Issues. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Read More