Assignment: Getting Your Research Project Started - Blog Posting

Coursera Course: Data Management and Visualization (Wesleyan University)Assignment: Getting Your Research Project Started - Blog Posting

I have chosen to use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health or Add Health. Of particular interest to me is the attitudes of teenagers about high school completion and the predisposition of them to attend college. My jumping off point is Section 38, Questions 1 and 2 which focus on the respondents desire to attend college (31-1) and the belief that they will likely go (38-2). 

I am most interested in knowing if items assessed by the ADD Health tool related to the respondents current high school experiences and teachers are more correlated with the desire and belief that they will attend college; or if parental attitudes and expectations, and parental educational attainment levels have a greater influence on this decision and belief. 


It is my hypothesis that having a positive high school experience will have a greater influence on the desire to attend college, while parental influences will have a great influence on the belief that they will attend college. 


During my literature review I learned that there is extensive research around high school to college transition. Many articles focus on two key factors: (a.) inclusion in a unique group and how that predicts your college going choices, (for example being poor, of a particular race, or gender) and (b.) how your high school experience predicts your college success, such as GPA, overall graduation, etc. 


The guidance and college advising industry in the United States has notably changed over the past decade with more students being encouraged to attend training, college or university falling their high school career. Most careers require more than a high school degree to enter them in our current economy.  And, young people are getting this message at home and in school.  "In 1990, 83 percent of high school sophomores reported that their mothers had advised them to go to college, up from 65 percent of sophomores in 1980. During this same ten-year period, the proportion of sophomores whose teachers and counselors gave this same advice about doubled, from 32 to 65 percent." (Choy, 2000) 


In an old paper, from 1968, it was shown that parents attitudes on education exhibited an influence on their children. However, what was unique was that the gender of the parent had a different effect, depending on the gender of the child. The male parent’s education has a slightly stronger effect than the female parents education on their son, but it was more equal with daughters. (Swell, 1968). I think that I need to make sure to include gender of the respondent when creating my code book, as there may be a marked difference between males and females.The data I am choosing to use already divides out father and mother. 


In another article it was described that the parents’ expectations about college access exerted the strongest influence. Other key influences on the student academic aspirations also include "parents’ education, student gender, high school GPA, and high school experiences.” (Hostler, 1992) The unique thing about the App Health tool is that is is the students perception of their their parents beliefs, support and exceptions, not that parents themselves. I believe this will prove to be helpful. 


The ADD Health tool gathers family make up data in a very unique way. They ask about biological parents, and then about the parents that the responding adolescent actually lives with. In my initial creation of my own code book, I was only going to use data collected about the in home parents, or parents that raised the child. However, during the literature review it become clear that single parent, and blended families have different effects on academic aspirations. “Children who live with single parents or stepparents during adolescence receive less encouragement and less help with school work than children who live with both natural parents, and parental involvement has positive effects on children’s school achievement.” (Aston, 1991) I may have to consider using all 4 (mother bio parent, father bio parent, mother in house parent, father in house parent) and seeing what differences exist between these potentially influential individuals. 

My search was centered around a couple key terms, listed below - 

• College entrance prediction
• High School enjoyment
• factors effecting the decision to attend college
• parental influence on college entry
• academic motivation
• parental academic success

REFERENCES

     Astone, N., & McLanahan, S. (1991). Family Structure, Parental Practices and High School Completion. American Sociological Review, 56(3), 309-320.

     Choy, S. P., Horn, L. J., Nuñez, A.-M. and Chen, X. (2000), Transition to College: What Helps At-Risk Students and Students Whose Parents Did Not Attend College. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2000: 45–63.

     Hossler, D., & Stage, F. (1992). Family and High School Experience Influences on the Postsecondary Educational Plans of Ninth-Grade Students. American Educational Research Journal, 29(2), 425-451

     Martin, A. (2009). Motivation and Engagement Across the Academic Life Span: A Developmental Construct Validity Study of Elementary School, High School, and University/College Students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69(5), 794-824.

     Sewell, W., & Shah, V. (1968). Parents' Education and Children's Educational Aspirations and Achievements. American Sociological Review, 33(2), 191-191.