Date
10-2019
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (EdD)
Chair
Kurt Michael
Keywords
Student Engagement, Online, Doctoral, Gender, Race, Ethnicity
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Kuczero, James E., "Differences in Engagement of Online Doctoral Students Based on Gender and Race" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2220.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2220
Abstract
Student engagement is considered to be one of the most important indicators for success at all levels of education. Engagement in doctoral students is poorly understood, and the least researched area of engagement. As online programs become increasingly available, it is important to have insight into doctoral engagement and interventions which improve academic success while decreasing attrition. The purpose of the present study was to understand differences in engagement based on gender and race/ethnicity. Students in the dissertation phase of their doctoral candidacy in an online program based at a private, mid-Atlantic, Christian university were invited to participate anonymously. Self-reported responses to survey questions from the Online Student Engagement scale were analyzed using a Two-Way Analysis of Variance to measure differences in engagement scores based on participants’ gender and race/ethnicity. Significant differences were found in engagement scores based on gender. No differences in scores were detected based on race/ethnicity, and there was no significant interaction detected between the main factors. Results and implications are discussed, with suggestions made for future research.
