Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-13-2018

Abstract

The Hispanic population in the United States has been increasing, which is affecting the number of Hispanic student population in the higher education. In spite of the rapid increase of Hispanic student population, little empirical research has been conducted on the Hispanic student’s college success. This study investigated the effect of participating in holistic undergraduate research programs on retention outcome of Hispanic students at The University of New Mexico. UNM is a public Hispanic-Serving Institution where 47.3 percent of undergraduate students are Hispanic in 2016.

The Vincent Tinto’s theory of student departure and the five critical factors of retention developed by Demetrious and Schmitz-Sciborski were used as the framework of the research model. The predictor variables included demographic characteristics, academic attributes, and research participation, and the dependent variable was the retention outcome. Propensity score matching was used to remove the concern of multicollinearity. The retention outcomes of two groups, Hispanic students who participated in research programs and who did not participate, were compared. The results indicated that research participation had a statistically significant positive effect on student’s retention outcome.

Degree Name

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Organization, Information & Learning Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Patricia Boverie

Second Committee Member

Victor Law

Third Committee Member

Kate Krause

Fourth Committee Member

Ricardo Maestas

Language

English

Keywords

Hispanic Serving Institution, Logistic regression, Propensity score matching, Retention, Undergraduate Hispanic students, Undergraduate research

Document Type

Dissertation

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