A Quasi-Experimental Design: Examining The Power of Hope and Grit with Academic Success and Persistence in First Year STEM Students

Monica Schauss, Ed.D.

Educational and Policy Leadership Hofstra University

Introduction

Methodology

Objective

Introduction

This research study looked at both grit and hope and how these two concepts relate to academic success and persistence with a population of first-year STEM students Duckworth et al (2007) defines grit as having passion and perseverance towards long-term goals Passion is being able to focus on your long term goal and perseverance is having the resiliency to keep going in the face of adversity and overcome any obstacles that may arise

Synder (1995) defines hope as the process of thinking about one’s goals, along with the motivation to move towards those goals (agency), and the ways to achieve those goals (pathways)

Within the literature, hope and grit have been shown to play an important role in a student's academic success, academic motivation, persistence in STEM and retention

The researcher conducted a quantitative study utilizing a quaziexperimental research design, surveying a population of first-year STEM students majoring in a STEM discipline who were enrolled in a private suburban research institution in the Northeast, United States

This study looked at if there was a statistically significant relationship between grit and hope as it relates to academic success and persistence within STEM students

In order to analyze these research questions, the researcher utilized the Grit-S Scale (Duckworth and Quinn, 2007) and the Adult Hope Scale (Snyder, Irving & Anderson, 1991)

The survey was entered into Qualtrics and then exported into SPSS Statistics for data analysis

Findings

Academic Success was measured by first semester GPA Students were categorized successful if they earn a minimum GPA of a 2 80 GPA on a 4 0 scale

77 2% of students earned a 2 80-4 0 and were deemed successful academically (n=95) compared to 22 8% of students were not successful academically earning less than a 2 80 first semester GPA (n=28)

Persistence in STEM was measured by checking students majors to see if they were still a declared STEM major 99 2% of students persisted in the STEM field (n=122) from fall 2022 to spring 2023 and were still declared a STEM major

Academic Success

The average first semester GPA for all participants (N= 123) was 3 30 on a 4 0 scale

Multiple Regression Analysis

A multiple linear regression was calculated to look at predictors of GPA Agency was found to be the highest and significant predictor of first semester GPA (p= 006) with first-year STEM students

Implications Of This Study

The purpose of this research study was to see if there a statistically significant relationship between grit and hope with academic success and persistence in STEM with a population of first-year STEM students

Research Questions

1 Is there a statistically significant relationship between grit and hope scores of first-year STEM students?

2a Do grit and hope scores predict STEM student’s academic success as evident by first semester GPA?

2b Do grit and hope scores predict STEM student’s persistence in the STEM field?

Demographics

Total Participants: N= 123

Gender: Majority females (n=92) compared to males (n=30) and 1 trans male

Ethnicity:

Majority 37 4% White (n=46)

17 90% Hispanic/Latinx (n=22)

17 1% Asian or Pacific Islander (n=21)

15 4% Black or African American (n=19)

12 2% indicated Other (n=15)

First Generation Status: Majority 64 2% indicated they were not first in their family to attend college (n=79) compared to first generation status (n=44)

Hope Scores

Low Hope ( x =40 50 n=44)

Medium Hope (x =51 10 n=38)

High Hope (x =58 63, n=41)

First Semester Major:

Majority Biology (n=24)

Engineering (n=21)

Psychology (n=19)

Nursing (n=15)

Health Science (n=12)

Pre-Physician Assistant (n=8)

Neuroscience (n=7)

Computer Science (n=5)

Mathematics (n=3)

Community Health (n=3)

Speech Language Hearing Sciences (n=2)

Mathematical Business Economics (n=1)

Age: Was unanimous, all participants indicated they were 18-20 years old

Residence: Majority 52 8 % indicated they lived on campus (n= 65) compared to off campus

Low Hope GPAs ( x =3 01 n=44)

Medium Hope GPAs (x =3 27 n=38)

High Hope GPAs (x =3 54, n=41)

Hope Levels and First Semester GPA

Grit Scores

The mean total grit scores were 23 41 out of 40

The mean score for Consistency of Interest (COI) was 13 18 out of 20

The mean score for Perseverance of Effort (POE) was 10 23 out of 20

Hope Levels and First Semester GPAs

An ANOVA was conducted looking at hope levels and first semester GPA Results from the ANOVA indicated a significant effect with hope and first semester GPA at the p< 01 level [F (2, 120) = 6 542, p= 002] Tukey’s HSD test for multiple comparisons found that the mean value of first semester GPA was significantly different between low hope and high hope scores (p= 001, 95% CI = [- 7411, 1530])

Hope level had an effect on first semester GPA with this sample of firstyear STEM students Students who scored higher on the Adult Hope Scale were more likely to have a higher first semester GPA when compared to student’s who scored lower on the Adult Hope Scale

Additional Analysis

The researcher found that student's within this study (N=123) had significantly higher (p< 001) GPAs (M=3 30) compared to the total FTFT population of 1648 students (M=3 09)

Furthermore student's within this study (N=123) had significantly higher (p< 001) GPAs (M=3 30) compared to the total FTFT STEM majors (M=3 04) which equates to 802 students

Findings from this study are consistent with past research which found grit, and hope are significantly correlated with one another Grit has been found to be a future-oriented goal-related construct is related to hope has also been found to be a future-oriented positive psychology concept and they are both have been linked to academic success

The results of this study including significant correlations with grit and agency and hope and POE and POE and agency are supported within the literature Individuals who exhibit high levels of grit work hard at overcoming obstacles while maintaining effort and interest of their goals regardless of any adversity they may encounter Similarly, to grit individuals who exhibit high levels of hope are able to derive pathways to goals and motivate themselves to achieving their goals

Colleges and universities can play an active and intentional role in developing student’s hope levels Hope engages grit and perseverance as individuals strive to make their goals a reality By increasing student’s hope levels this can help students achieve their academic goals and overall full academic potential Furthermore, when first-year STEM students increase their hope levels research suggests this will lead to higher GPAs ultimately leading to higher persistence, retention, and graduation rates with STEM students

Key Finding:

Statistically significant difference between Low Hope and High Hope student's with first-semester GPAs

Student's who had high hope had higher firstsemester GPAs

Key Finding: Statistically significant difference between students who participated in this study and the total FTFT population as well as the STEM FTFT population

Student's within this study had higher firstsemester GPAs

Future Research

Future research could include expanding on this study by using a qualitative lens as one is able to gain individuals context about the student experience as it relates to academic success and persistence in STEM

Additionally, the researcher recommends looking at how pre-collegiate factors impact academic success and STEM student persistence This study focused on academic success of first-year STEM students once they already had entered college, it would be interesting to see if there is a relationship between pre-collegiate data and predictors of academic success with first-year STEM students