Reference no: EM133453838

Rosanna is a Richfield graduate who is interested in conducting a research study that is based on the students' perceptions of student support services at a selected nursing campus in the Ethekwini district. She has limited knowledge and experience in how to conduct a scientific research study. She needs guidance on the research design, methodology, data collection, and data analysis method that will apply to her research topic. The inclusion criteria were that participants should be 50 nursing students, had to have made use of the support services offered on the campus (e.g. orientation programme, mentoring programme, academic support and financial support) and had to participate in the study voluntarily.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Students are the heart of any Higher Education Institution (HEI) and therefore their support, including academic support, is one essential function of any HEI. HEIs should invest in student support services and believed that this kind of investment would increase the HEI's teaching effectiveness. Investing in support services in higher education is based on the assumption that most first-year students are not fully prepared for tertiary education. Several institutions of higher education have developed student support services for the purpose of mitigating through the barriers to educational success.

Academic support is a group of activities used to enhance student academic performance. Academic support services help students in many ways, like acquiring excellence through transition, excellence through self-knowledge, and excellence through resources, among other things. Several studies conducted on student support services found that these services ensure student retention and success, specifically during the freshman year / first year, as high dropout rates occur during the first semester. Schools with a continuum of developmental, preventive, remedial and support services enhance the capacity of all students to achieve academic success and personal well-being, and that without these services, students with problems are at risk of educational failure.

It is important to acknowledge that, although South Africa faces challenges in HE as in any other country, the South African higher education (HE) system regards the transition from high school to HE as a critical time that a student must successfully negotiate in order to succeed in HE. In South Africa, higher education has, in many respects, accomplished remarkable achievements since 1994, one of these is a significant increase in access to HEI for black students, though there is still a significant difference in participation rates for black and white, but a range of serious problems related to academic support continue to affect the system, with a high attrition rate being one of them.

Reasons for high dropout rates include a lack of finance, poor academic preparation and lack of career guidance. This has led to the South African Department of Education (DoE) implementing a number of measures aimed at encouraging HEIs to improve student success, of which monetary intervention in the form of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is one. This government intervention is vital for the majority of poor black working-class students who are unable to afford tuition fees, which negatively impacts on graduation rates. There is general agreement that research findings provide strong evidence for informing nurses' decisions and actions, therefore the findings of this study may provide valuable information about student support services to both students and academic staff.

It may identify gaps in the current practice and highlight possible changes to be initiated. Findings from this study could form the basis for articulating and enhancing the existing student support services at the research site. As nursing education in South Africa is in the process of being transformed into higher education, it is imperative for nursing education institutions to be brought in line with the proceedings and guidelines for HE. This means that public nursing colleges must start working toward gaining the status of institutions of higher education and support services are an essential part of any HEI.

Question:

With reference to the aforementioned statement, discuss the research methodology that will provide a systematic and theoretical approach that Rosanna can apply in her study. Include the sampling method and the data collection instruments that can be applied to collect and analyse data in your discussion.