A Mixed Methods Study of Student Horizontal and Vertical Networking and Associated Impacts on Student Performance

<p>This study examines the possible impacts of networking behavior on academic performance and attrition among two undergraduate student cohorts within a single department at one state university using a model based on prior research by Alvin Hwang, Eric H. Kessler, and Anne Marie Francesco (2004). This networking schema links students’ personal orientations, classified as individualist or collectivist, with behaviors such as networking among peers (horizontal networking) and networking between students and professors (vertical networking). The primary research methods in the current study were student surveys, which sought to capture selected basic demographic data, students’ personal orientations, and horizontal and vertical networking behavior; two focus groups, one with each cohort, to supplement the survey data; and students’ grade and program attrition data, provided by instructors. Analyses only supported a link between students’ levels of collectivism and horizontal networking. Focus group testimony suggested that intervening variables, such as changing instructor assignments in the middle of an academic year and inter-cohort differences in levels of competition and collaboration among students could exert more influence on student performance than networking behavior. Furthermore, shifting instructor assignments could impact students’ vertical networking and make it difficult to ascertain actual networking effects.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - University Access Only

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology and Rural Studies

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Cummings, Jake

Contributors dc:contributor

• Meredith Redlin

• Educational Sociology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted<br /><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/</a></p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1392

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openprairie.sdstate.edu:etd-2396