Who Are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion

Autor/inn/en	Manly, Catherine A.; Wells, Ryan S.; Kommers, Suzan
Titel	Who Are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion
Quelle	In: Research in Higher Education, 61 (2020) 6, S.764-779 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0361-0365
DOI	10.1007/s11162-019-09556-w
Schlagwörter	Rural Areas; Rural Youth; Rural Population; College Graduates; Educational Attainment; Definitions + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rural area; Ländlicher Raum; Rural areas; Youth; Jugend; Jugendlicher; Landbevölkerung; Hochschulabsolvent; Hochschulabsolventin; Bildungsabschluss; Bildungsgut; Begriffsbestimmung
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. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01