Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Cornelious, Linda F.

Committee Member

Scott-Bracey, Pamela K.

Committee Member

Adams, James H.

Committee Member

Xu, Jianzhong

Date of Degree

5-3-2019

Original embargo terms

Visible to MSU Only 3 Years

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Instructional Systems & Workforce Development

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

College

College of Education

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development

Department

Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of participation in a federally funded TRiO program. Specifically, it was designed to determine if the TRiO program was a good indicator of producing statistically significant outcomes in college self-efficacy and perseverance of first-generation African American Women (AAW) in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)-related disciplines in comparison to those who were not enrolled in TRiO. The research design for this study was inferential statistics with a causal-comparative design. This study consisted of 55 participants enrolled at a large, 4-year, public, doctoral degree-granting institution in the Southeastern rural region of the United States who identify as first-generation AAW. Out of the 55 participants, the researcher identified 31 AAW who (a) were enrolled in STEM-related disciplines during the spring 2018 semester and (b) who were enrolled in a TRiO program. Analysis using a series of one-way ANCOVA tests found TRiO to not have a statistically significant difference for the perseverance score, consistency score, course efficacy score, and the social efficacy score. Moreover, years of participation in a TRiO program positively correlated with social efficacy. A Multiple Regression was conducted, and it was found that for social efficacy there was a statistically significant difference for the number of years of participation in a TRiO program. This study generated limited results in regards to identifying a statistical significant difference in the impact of college self-efficacy and perseverance of first-generation AAW in STEM-related disciplines based on their demographic characteristics (e.g., age, classification, family income) for the perseverance score, consistency score, course efficacy score, and the social efficacy score. Conclusions based on the findings in this study indicated that years of participation in TRiO positively correlated with social efficacy as there was a statistically significant difference for the number of years of participation in TRiO. Therefore, the researcher recommends that a longitudinal study be designed to monitor participants’ college self-efficacy and perseverance from their freshman year to their senior year of college.

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