UNIVERSITY OF BELIZE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND ARTS

RESEARCH PAPER

Why male students of African descent

In Punta Gorda, do not pursue a tertiary level education

Dale Baltazar and Marelli Rodriguez

Submitted to: Mr. Mathias Vairez
Date: October 10, 2019
 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Introduction:

This chapter presents the methodology that will be used in the study. It gives detail on the

geographical area where the study will be conducted. The study design and the population and

sample will be described; the instrument that will be used to collect data will also be included.

The method used to implement and maintain the validity and reliability of the instrument will be

described as well.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that affects the transition of males of

African desent from secondary to tertiary level education. The issues that may influence the

enrollment of african descent males are possibly financial constraints, The males may or may not

have been peer pressure to do something that can generate income instead of attending a

university or the individuals are possibily in pursuance of their career goals. This topic is

relevant in today’s society because there in a noticeably low enrollment of African Decent males

in the university in the Toledo District. Therefore, this research will not only be conducted to

answer the question or to conclude the hypothesis but to also obtain knowledge about the country

and the education status.

 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

Research Method/ Design

The researchers chose a survey research design to collect original data to describe the

population. This will assess the socio demographic profile such as age, parent’s educational

attainment and parent’s occupation. The survey will be a purposive process of the data

gathering. It best served to answer the questions and the purposes of the study. This includes the

factors that might affect the transition of male students of African descent to tertiary level. The

survey is one in which a group of males of African descent is studied by collecting and analyzing

data using the nonprobability sampling by way of snowballing where only the males that can be

located will be used to fill out the survey. Otherwise stated, only a part of the available students

and findings from this is expected to be generalized to the entire population of African descent

males. Therefore it will be assessing opinion of individuals, questioning these individuals by the

use of questionnaire and sampling methods.

Research Questions

Specifically this study sought to to shed light to the folllowing research questions:

1. Is peer pressure a leading cause of low enrollment of African descent males in the

university?

2. Does finance contributes to the low enrollment of African descent males at the tertiary

level?

3. Does pursuing career goals influence the enrollement of African descent in

university?
 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

Population and Sample

The target population for this research will include only the male students of African

descent that graduated from secondary level education during the past five years and is not

currently unrolled in a university. The accessible population will be directed to African descent

males that can be found in the surrounding area of the Punta Gorda town. The snowball

sampling method will be used for the selection of the respondents because the population is

unknown and rare and it is tough to choose subjects to assemble them as samples for this

research. The individuals found and interviewed via survey will be used as the sample to make

conclusion on the whole population, to estimate unknown characteristics about the said

population.

Research Instrument

The instrument that will be used is a researcher-designed questionnaire to collect the

necessary information for the individual’s profile. The questionnaire is drawn out based on the

researchers’ reading and thesis relevant to this study. Statement describing the circumstances or

concerns with relevance to the issues is toned down to accommodate the knowledge

preparedness of the respondents. Open ended questions will be provided to suit the free

formatted views relating to the topic, in this way the instrument is authorized to obtain valid

responses of the subjects.

 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

Data Procedure

After designing questionnaire The researcher will gather the data through the snowball

sampling by searching for male students who have graduated from high school but is not

attending tertiary level education. In this study the reasearchers will administer the

questionnaires personally to the respondents. The researcher will ask the questions and fill out

the questionnaire and inquire from the individual person if he is aware of any other male of

African descent not currently enrolled in a tertiary education. If he know of another male of

African descent , the researcher will go looking for the said individual therefore, repeating the

same process.

Data Analysis

To analyze the data collected, the data will be loaded and converted into an IBM

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software 23 to run the various statistic to analyze

the data. Data that will be analyzed includes question that

Research Question Item

To determine if peer pressure is a cause for 6, 8, 11, 14

high school graduates not pursuing tertiary

education.

To analyze and interpret the data so as to 1, 3, 4, 10, 12 , 16

 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

support that finance is the main cause affecting

the enrollment of tertiary education in students.

To determine if pursuing career goals is a 2, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 18

factor influencing low enrollment of African

descent males into tertiary education.

Instructions
This is a survey, not a test; there is no right or wrong answers. Please tick the boxes to mark your
answers or fill out you answer on the line provided.

1. What is your age: ___________

2. Where do you live? _______________

3. What is your work status?

Not employed Part-time
Self-employed Full-time

4. State your occupation________________

5. What secondary institution did you graduate from? _____________________________

6. What year did you graduate from high school? ___________

7. What are your future goals? ______________

 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

8. What is your household income?

$5,000 or less $5,001 - 10,000 $10,001 - 20,000

$20,001 – 30,000 $30,001– 40,000 More than $50,000

9. What is the highest level of education of your mother? _____________

What is the highest level of education of your father? _____________

10. Have your friends or family ever compelled you to drop out of high school because they
did not think it necessary?

Yes
No

11. Did your friends or family ever discourage you from applying to university?

Yes
No

12. Have you ever felt the financial weight of your family as your responsibility?

Yes
No

13. While going to high school have you ever had to choose between school and work to
assist your family because of your social condition?

Yes
No

14. Have you ever considered becoming an entrepreneur or to pursue your own path in life
without the need of a tertiary education?

Yes
No

15. The job that you have now does not require a tertiary level education? And you see are
satisfied with the place you are at this point in time.

Yes
No
 African descent Male and Tertiary Education

How strongly do you agree with the following reasons as to why you are not attending
university? Please tick the box to mark your answer.

I am not attending university because Strongly Strongly

Agree Disagree

1 2 3 4 5 6
I impregnated a girl and I had to take care of the
mother and the child.
I planned to join the army.
I personally believe that university is a waste of
time and money.
My parents wanted me to work instead.
My friend wanted to find a job and he insisted that
it would be better if I joined the workforce with
him.
I did not have the money pay my way through
university
The courses that I was interested in taking was not
was not being offered.

I did not think I would do well in a tertiary

institution with the grades I had in high school

16. Would you consider going to the university in Punta Gorda a year from now? ______
State reason for answer
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Summary

The main purpose of this survey research sets out to investigate what the factors may be

that directly influence males of African descent to not be enrolled in a tertiary level education.

The assumptions as well as the findings will be stated in the last section of chapter four.