Methodology, Findings and Results
Education is vital to the lives of individuals, since it serves as a key to his or her future to be successful and for them to find a job easily. Through education, an individual, would enhance his or her knowledge, develop talents and skills and make use of these skills and as well as enhance them. It enables a child to learn more about living, about life, the facts of living and in different fields. It also enables an individual to broaden his or her knowledge and understand the why’s and what’s in life. With this regard, this part of the paper will discuss the methods, findings and results of the survey conducted to nontraditional students in a traditional University setting.
Methodology
For this study, descriptive research method is utilized. In this method, it is possible that the study will be cheap and quick. It can also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, this method is very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study.
The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher opts to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
To come up with pertinent findings and to provide credible recommendations, this study utilizes two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data was obtained through this new research study. Questionnaire survey through non-traditional student of a University was conducted. On the other hand, the secondary research data were obtained from previous studies on the same topic.
This research based its findings partially through quantitative research methods because this permitted a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods were constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This allowed investigation of important new issues about employee training and questions as they arise, and allowed the researcher to drop unproductive areas of research from the original research plan.
As stated, in this study a survey was conducted. The general population for the survey includes non-traditional students who have been in a University. The researcher selected a sample of 32 students. In the survey, their perception toward the current educational status of non-traditional students in a University was analyzed.
Findings and Results
(1993) argues that students (both traditional and non-traditional students) enter an institution with preentry attributes (family background, skills, abilities, and prior schooling) and external influences that determine their level of intent and commitment (both of which are important personal dispositions). Tinto’s model also recognizes many external demands. Tinto suggests that students constantly redefine intent and commitment through formal or informal contact with an institution’s social and academic system; his underlying premise is that some degree of integration is necessary for persistence. Applying Tinto’s theory, this study controls for students’ backgrounds (gender, ethnicity, and family socioeconomic status), skills, abilities, prior schooling (high school GPA, aptitude test scores, type of high school curriculum, and leadership involvement in extracurricular high school activities), social contacts with the institution (living quarters during the first year, and on-campus employment), and academic achievement at the institution (first-year GPA).
The objective of this study is to determine if traditional environment or the University has a net effect to non-traditional students. This study defines non-traditional students as those students attending higher education institutions over the age of 22 years of age, returning or attending college for the first time after a significant interruption in formal education; are committed to something else other than education, such as a job or family; or have life experiences, which set apart from other students. The significance of this study is to explore the equity of opportunity for non-traditional students in a University setting.
Using the given survey questionnaire, it is found out that majority of surveyed non-traditional students are in 37-36 years old which was justified by 31% responses. Meaning to say, 10 out 32 respondents are within this age range. Actually, 28% of them are in 47-56 years old, 22% are in 37-46 years old and only 16% are within the age range of 17-26 years old. In relation of the age bracket of the respondents, the researcher could presume that in the said percentage, a considerable number could be among the young adult members of the population. Apparently, the number of the female respondents (87.5%) is far to the male (12.5%) with the total of 28 for female and 4 for male. Based on the figure, the dominated gender among the respondents is female. Based on the collated questionnaires, over a half of the population is composed of female respondents. This shows a virtually unequal footing in terms of representation of gender regarding the perception of women in learning in a traditional way. In addition to the demographic profile of the respondents, majority of them are freshmen and sophomores with 87.5% part-time students. Actually, most of them are single or married (see figure below).
Figure 1
With respect to their marital status, 81.25% of them have children and 39% or 11 out of 28 respondents arranged childcare for their children. Majority of them (i.e. 56.25%) stated that they wanted weekends as best days if they are going to participate in a workshop or receive tutoring. From the surveyed subjects, there are several reason why they resume their education (i.e. they wanted to earn a higher degree, they needed it to maintain/receive certification, they needed it to meet job requirements or improve job skills, they wanted to increase their income earning ability, and they wanted to learn a new occupation). Actually, most of the subjects are practical people since majority of them stated that the reason why they resume their education is because they wanted to increase their income earning ability. In studying in a University setting, the non-traditional students prioritized their studies and test taking (i.e. 68.75% responses), having more evening courses available (i.e. 59.375% responses) and receiving career counseling/locating employment (i.e. 56.25% responses). With regards to diversity, 78.125% of them are comfortable being in classes with younger students and majority of them stated that instructors/professors don’t have higher expectations of them because they are adult learner.
For this research, people involved in learning environment, particularly the educators, school administrators and students, should coordinate with one another towards students better development. Furthermore, educational systems should not be constricted to norms and established practices. Rather, education should be adapted based on the needs of the children and correct conceptualization of their disabilities.
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