A quantitative examination of the engagement of undergraduate Lumbee commuter students at a Native American-serving nontribal institution

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Lawrence T. Locklear (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Laura Gonzalez

Abstract: There is a paucity of research on American Indian students in U.S. higher education, particularly those who commute and are citizens of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Unfortunately, no studies have examined the engagement of undergraduate Lumbee commuter students. Kuh (2009b) defined student engagement as “the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students to participate in these activities” (p. 683). Engagement is a “powerful means” for students to enhance their cognitive and psychosocial development (Astin, 1996, p. 590). Student engagement also has a positive link to grades (Astin, 1977, 1993a; National Survey of Student Engagement [NSSE], 2000; Pike, Schroeder, & Berry, 1997) and rates of persistence (Astin, 1985; Pike et al., 1997; Simpson & Burnett, 2017). The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional, single institution research design was to address the “American Indian research asterisk” by increasing the visibility and representation of American Indians in quantitative studies. Guiding the study conceptually was Astin’s (1984, 1999) theory of student involvement and Kuh’s (2009b) two-part definition of engagement. More precisely, the study sought to answer five research questions. The researcher hypothesized there was a difference in the engagement of undergraduate Lumbee commuter students based on their gender, academic classification, grade point average, and membership in a student organization. In addition, the researcher hypothesized family obligations predict undergraduate Lumbee commuter student engagement. The engagement of undergraduate Lumbee commuter students at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNC Pembroke) was examined using items from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The influence of family obligations on undergraduate Lumbee commuter student engagement was examined using Fuligni, Tseng, and Lam’s (1999) Current Assistance to the Family subscale. Family obligations was selected for this study because: 1) family (a core value in Lumbee identity) is the number one factor affecting the persistence of American Indian students in higher education (Bass, 2013; Guillory & Wolverton, 2008); and, 2) it was a way to include a culturally relevant variable in the examination of Lumbee student engagement. Data were collected from 144 participants who were: enrolled undergraduate students at UNC Pembroke during the spring semester of 2019; 18 years of age or older; lived off campus; and, self-identified as Lumbee. Results of one-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) did not find statistically significant differences in student engagement by gender, academic classification, grade point average, or membership in a student organization. A follow-up one-way MANOVA did find a statistically significant relationship between student engagement and membership in a student organization after the researcher collapsed the categories of membership types. Finally, the results of a single multivariate regression indicated that family obligations was not a significant predictor of student engagement. Contributing to the not statistically significant findings was the study’s lack of power to detect differences in the sample (due to the sample size) and the homogeneity of the population, which resulted in very little separation among the members on the measures. The study adds to the literature on the engagement of undergraduate Lumbee commuter students in higher education. Implications for practice include indigenizing the academy as a way for institutions of higher education to make a conscious “effort to bring Indigenous people, as well as their philosophies and cultures, into strategic plans, governance roles, academics, research and recruitment” (MacDonald, 2016, para. 4). Future research suggestions include: 1) a qualitative follow-up to the current study to mine reasons for and challenges to undergraduate Lumbee commuter student engagement; 2) the addition of culturally relevant items to the NSSE to better measure and understand undergraduate Lumbee commuter student engagement in curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular campus activities, especially those with a cultural focus; 3) a mixed methods approach to explore predictors of engagement, the influence of family obligations on Lumbee commuter, and the process students use to prioritize engagement in campus activities; and, 4) a reexamination of the definition of engagement and what constitutes engagement for those who commute and are Lumbee.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2019
Keywords
American Indian, Commuter, Engagement, Higher education, Involvement, Lumbee
Subjects
Lumbee Indians $x Education (Higher) $z North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Pembroke $x Undergraduates
Commuting college students $z North Carolina
Engagement (Philosophy)

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