Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion.
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| Title: | Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Manly, Catherine A.1 (AUTHOR) cmanly@educ.umass.edu, Wells, Ryan S.1 (AUTHOR), Kommers, Suzan1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Research in Higher Education. Sep2020, Vol. 61 Issue 6, p764-779. 16p. 8 Charts. |
| Subject Terms: | *Education research, *Academic degrees, Definitions, Rurality, Scientific community, Rural population |
| Company/Entity: | National Center for Education Statistics |
| Abstract: | Given a revived national discourse about rural populations, more educational research on rural students is necessary, including ways that rural students transition to college and the success (or lack thereof) that they experience once there. However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has changed the definition of rurality used in each iterative dataset over the last few decades, casting doubt on the consistency of what is meant by the term rural. The purpose of this study is to: (a) communicate to the educational research audience various ways of defining rural students, and specifically how NCES has changed their definition of rurality over their last three major data collections; (b) demonstrate how conclusions about rural students' and their college degree completion may differ based on these alternate NCES definitions; and (c) discuss how this specific example using NCES data relates to the wider landscape of research on rural students. Results show that conclusions about college degree completion change depending on the definition of rurality used for analysis. Therefore, the education research community should consider the options for defining rural students, report transparently about the choices made, consider the sensitivity of results to the definition of rurality, and ultimately build a more robust body of literature concerning rural students' college success. Gaining definitional clarity will be beneficial, particularly for those who wish to translate their research into practical action for the benefit of rural students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Research in Higher Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 144745910 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Manly%2C+Catherine+A%2E%22">Manly, Catherine A.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> cmanly@educ.umass.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wells%2C+Ryan+S%2E%22">Wells, Ryan S.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kommers%2C+Suzan%22">Kommers, Suzan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Research+in+Higher+Education%22">Research in Higher Education</searchLink>. Sep2020, Vol. 61 Issue 6, p764-779. 16p. 8 Charts. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Education+research%22">Education research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+degrees%22">Academic degrees</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Definitions%22">Definitions</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rurality%22">Rurality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scientific+community%22">Scientific community</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rural+population%22">Rural population</searchLink> – Name: SubjectCompany Label: Company/Entity Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22National+Center+for+Education+Statistics%22">National Center for Education Statistics</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Given a revived national discourse about rural populations, more educational research on rural students is necessary, including ways that rural students transition to college and the success (or lack thereof) that they experience once there. However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has changed the definition of rurality used in each iterative dataset over the last few decades, casting doubt on the consistency of what is meant by the term rural. The purpose of this study is to: (a) communicate to the educational research audience various ways of defining rural students, and specifically how NCES has changed their definition of rurality over their last three major data collections; (b) demonstrate how conclusions about rural students' and their college degree completion may differ based on these alternate NCES definitions; and (c) discuss how this specific example using NCES data relates to the wider landscape of research on rural students. Results show that conclusions about college degree completion change depending on the definition of rurality used for analysis. Therefore, the education research community should consider the options for defining rural students, report transparently about the choices made, consider the sensitivity of results to the definition of rurality, and ultimately build a more robust body of literature concerning rural students' college success. Gaining definitional clarity will be beneficial, particularly for those who wish to translate their research into practical action for the benefit of rural students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Research in Higher Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=144745910 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1007/s11162-019-09556-w Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 16 StartPage: 764 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Education research Type: general – SubjectFull: Academic degrees Type: general – SubjectFull: Definitions Type: general – SubjectFull: Rurality Type: general – SubjectFull: Scientific community Type: general – SubjectFull: Rural population Type: general – SubjectFull: National Center for Education Statistics Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Manly, Catherine A. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Wells, Ryan S. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Kommers, Suzan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 09 Text: Sep2020 Type: published Y: 2020 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 03610365 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 61 – Type: issue Value: 6 Titles: – TitleFull: Research in Higher Education Type: main |
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