Thesis project on nontraditionals

[Jaynems]

Hello,

I am a psychology student attending York University in Toronto, Canada. I need help getting participants to fill out my 10 minute online questionnaire for my thesis project. If you are a “nontraditional” student (i.e. a student with one or more years between high school and post-secondary, AND either a parent, spouse or employee) please follow the link below and help out a fellow student.

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?id=97824

Thank you very much for your help!

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[Law2Doc]

Hello,

I am a psychology student attending York University in Toronto, Canada. I need help getting participants to fill out my 10 minute online questionnaire for my thesis project. If you are a “nontraditional” student (i.e. a student with one or more years between high school and post-secondary, AND either a parent, spouse or employee) please follow the link below and help out a fellow student.

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?id=97824

Thank you very much for your help!

I think your definition of "nontraditional" doesn't fit a whole lot of people on this board. People here more frequently use the term nontraditional for those who have time between COLLEGE and med school (sometimes having worked, taken a postbac, or graduate education or other circuitous route after college), but not usually those who have taken time after high school nor necessarilly those who have gotten married, had kids or worked...

 

[Skaterbabe74]

Originally Posted by Jaynems
Hello,

I am a psychology student attending York University in Toronto, Canada. I need help getting participants to fill out my 10 minute online questionnaire for my thesis project. If you are a “nontraditional” student (i.e. a student with one or more years between high school and post-secondary, AND either a parent, spouse or employee) please follow the link below and help out a fellow student.

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?id=97824

Thank you very much for your help!

I think your definition of "nontraditional" doesn't fit a whole lot of people on this board. People here more frequently use the term nontraditional for those who have time between COLLEGE and med school (sometimes having worked, taken a postbac, or graduate education or other circuitous route after college), but not usually those who have taken time after high school nor necessarilly those who have gotten married, had kids or worked...

There are probably also several people who may have started college right after high school, and took an extended "leave" for life circumstances, ie. full-time work, marriage, children who would also be "nontraditional" in most definitions of the word. You may want to rethink your thesis a bit if you want to include the majority of nontraditionals.

 

[Jaynems]

Thank you for your thoughts on my thesis project and the definition of "nontraditional" that I am using. My definition of nontraditional students is taken from a number of psychological studies (most notably Dill & Henley, 1998) that use the term to describe students in post-secondary education of any kind who have taken time off between high school and university/college, and play mulitple social roles in their life. I do not deny that there are many students that did attend post-secondary directly following high school and yet are considered to be nontraditional due to taking a break at some point after that time; however this particular study is focusing on nontraditional students using the definition given in current psychological research.

Perhaps, as you say Skaterbabe74, the majority of people on this message board do not fit my definition of nontraditional students; however I think it would be safe to say that at least some of them do, as they do in fact exist. My father for instance got married, had three children, and then at the age of 32, returned to university to get his degree and then went on to law school to eventually become a lawyer. His case is certainly not typical, but is indeed a reality. For this reason, I thought it would only help my study to also include nontraditional students attending post-graduate studies.

Thanks again for your comments and suggestions.

 

[N-toxicologist]

I fit the profile. I had my first child at 18, and I didn't attend my first college class until I was 22. It's taken me ten years to complete undergrad work, as I now have three kids, am (once a gain) a single mother, and run a business.

By the parameters you're using, I believe that would include those that joined the service straight out of high school, and enrolled in college after their service ended. I imagine there are quite a few of those around here, too. You may try posting a link to this thread in some of the other forums, to try to get more traffic.

 

[N-toxicologist]

What is so interesting is that many studies have found that despite these students having more time and role conflicts than the average student, often their academic stress levels are lower and their grades higher than the average student. This study seeks to investigate how motivation to attend university/college and coping skills style might be a factor in the success of nontraditional students. I expect to find that nontraditional students have more intrinsic motivation to attend university/college, and that their coping skills styles are more likely to be rational or detached, rather than emotional or avoiding.

I think the coping skills come from a more "experience-based" persepctive, and maybe just overall emotional maturity due to many factors, the least of which being age. In these parameters, you are surveying parents, spouses, and employees. I think those factors are ones that will increase a person's coping skills (regardless of age), as those relationships require a great deal of interpersonal success (playing well with others)

As for intrinsic motivation, I'm not sure I would say that non-trads have "more" as much as their motivation may be "different."

I do believe that there is a (general) difference in perspecitves between trads and non-trads. Since those falling under the definition used in this study have some experience outside the classroom, they are more apt to not fall into the "school/grades" are the end all and be all of life, and hence, I would argue that grades may indeed, be lower than their traditional counterparts. Conversely, with that perspective, comes the better copins skills in dealing with the same, if not more, time and role conflicts. All generally speaking, of course, and based solely on my observations from my own school, my own life, and this site.

 

[eralza]

The thesis sounds good, but I agree with the others who have posted that your definition of nontraditional doesn't accurately reflect nontraditional medical school applicants. I would say that a majority of non-trad applicants go directly from high school to college, then take a hiatus between their bachelors and applying for med school... at least every one that I've met.

 

[Jaynems]

I think the coping skills come from a more "experience-based" persepctive, and maybe just overall emotional maturity due to many factors, the least of which being age. In these parameters, you are surveying parents, spouses, and employees. I think those factors are ones that will increase a person's coping skills (regardless of age), as those relationships require a great deal of interpersonal success (playing well with others)

The coping skills questionnaire that I am using in my questionnaire is a standardized psychological test of overall coping skills. Please see, Roger, Jarvis, and Najarian, 1993. It alone only measures the general orientation of people's coping when faced with a problem and does not measure the life factors that possibly caused that orientation... that is what the rest of my questionnaire and my thesis hopes to suggest.

As for intrinsic motivation, I'm not sure I would say that non-trads have "more" as much as their motivation may be "different."

I am hypothesizing that nontrads are MORE LIKELY to be intrinsically motivated (i.e. to enrich their lives/better themselves) than externally motivated (i.e. to please someone else, or make more money). This hypothesis is based on previous studies that have suggested that intrinsic motivation and academic achievement are positively correlated. Please see Baker, 2003.

I do believe that there is a (general) difference in perspecitves between trads and non-trads. Since those falling under the definition used in this study have some experience outside the classroom, they are more apt to not fall into the "school/grades" are the end all and be all of life, and hence, I would argue that grades may indeed, be lower than their traditional counterparts. Conversely, with that perspective, comes the better copins skills in dealing with the same, if not more, time and role conflicts. All generally speaking, of course, and based solely on my observations from my own school, my own life, and this site.

Once again, my hypothesis is based on previous research that has shown that nontrads are more likely to have equivalent or higher grades than traditionals, in spite of their additional role conflicts. Please see Jacobi, 1987.

My references are based on a quick review of literature as referenced in my thesis, but please feel free to look around at more of the other literature that may expand on this research (there is a rather large amount of it). Based on your comments, I think you may be surprised at what you will find about nontrads.

 

[Jaynems]

The thesis sounds good, but I agree with the others who have posted that your definition of nontraditional doesn't accurately reflect nontraditional medical school applicants. I would say that a majority of non-trad applicants go directly from high school to college, then take a hiatus between their bachelors and applying for med school... at least every one that I've met.

As metioned in the above reply, this thesis is not focusing solely on medschool applicats, rather they are included for the sake of being thorough (I should add that this is not the only message board I have posted on). Nontrads as included in the definition that I use do exist on your site (please see above), and I appreciate any help that they may provide by taking my questionnaire.