Investigating students' dropout reasons of online distance education programs

The factors affecting dropout decision of students enrolled in online distance learning programs were examined in this study. Dropout in higher education affects adult students' plans adversely, also causes time and financial investment to be inconclusive. It is important to comprehend the dropout properly to manage the limited resources of both the institution and dropout student appropriately. This research was conducted with students who dropout associate degree programs and non-thesis master's degree programs during the 2014-2015 academic year in Amasya University. Convergent parallel design was used and in the quantitative part of the study, 61 students were reached in an online environment. Semi-structured interviews were made with 21 students in the qualitative part of the study which was carried out simultaneously with the quantitative part. Quantitative data was examined with descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. As to qualitative data collection; verbal approvals of participant were received primarily, by then the data was recorded through an application installed on a smartphone and the answers given by the participants to the semi-structured interviews were transcribed lastly. Interview texts were coded through content analysis and these codes were transformed into themes in a logical framework. As a result of the quantitative part of the study, it was found that proficiency with technology, proficiency with the course delivery system, expectations about course content and facilitators associated with successful online learning subdimensions of student expectations of online learning survey, predict motivation variables. In consequence of the qualitative data analysis, five main themes were reached. Expectation, reason of preference, individual characteristics, external factors and internal factors are the five main themes and they are formed from 127 codes in total. Internal factors referred as the experiences acquired in the education process have emerged as the most expressed factor in decision making on dropout. Second most expressed factors in deciding to dropout are external ones such as family commitments, social responsibilities and work life, and it was found that these external factors have direct influence on dropout. Quantitative and qualitative findings were discussed in the conclusion and discussion part, and some suggestions towards the students, instructors and administrators of online distance education programs were made.