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Supports and Learning

Running head: SOCIAL SUPPORTS AND ONLINE LEARNING

Social Supports and Online Learning: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis APSY 693.76 Methodheads Debra Chikazhe, Michelle Deen, France Goulard, Robin Halbert, Stephen Jez, Daniela Plaiasu University of Calgary For Professor Mon Palacios Mackay 18 August, 2009

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Social Supports and Online Learning: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis Synopsis Background Graduate students face a number of challenges as they strive to balance the demands of academics with family life, career, and financial concerns (Oswalt & Riddock, 2007; RochaSingh, 1994). The results of these demands can be considerably stressful and have serious effects on student achievement, particularly if students are without social supports (Friedlander, Reid, Shupak, & Cribbie, 2007). Social supports are important factors in dealing with stress experienced by graduate students, as discussed in the studies reviewed below. Research has demonstrated that social support plays a significant role in reducing the stress of students (Calicchia & Graham, 2006; Lawson & Fuehrer, 2001; Offstein, Larson, McNeill, & Mwale, 2004; Oswalt & Riddock, 2007) and that stress reduction can lead to improved academic achievement (Calicchia & Graham, 2006). Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the ways in which online graduate students utilize family social supports and the perceived impact on student achievement. It is hypothesized that online students will report that family social supports help to alleviate stress and have a positive impact on student achievement. Aims The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine the impact of familial social supports on the academic outcomes of University of Calgary graduate students enrolled in online Applied Psychology programs during the condensed summer semester. The specific aims of the study were as follows: 1) What types of emotional, instructional, and instrumental supports do online graduate students receive from their families?

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2) How do emotional, instructional, and instrumental supports received by online graduate students families affect their academic outcomes? Participants Five graduate students (four female and one male) taking an online, condensed summer session class through the University of Calgary in the Applied Psychology (APSY) department were recruited for the focus group. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. Twenty-six online graduate students were recruited for an online survey. Participants were taking a condensed, summer session class through the University of Calgary in the APSY department. A convenience sampling method was used to select the participants. Methods Data was collected from a focus group through an online chat interview session conducted by the Principal Investigator. Participants responded simultaneously on a combination of Google Documents and Skype. Six questions were asked and the focus group lasted approximately two hours with a modified data collection technique to accommodate the online environment. Data on familial social supports and the impact on achievement were gathered via a survey of students perceptions. A general letter of introduction, stating the purpose of the study and an invitation to participate in the survey, was sent to students enrolled in the APSY 693.76 class, summer session, 2009. A link to the survey, on Survey Monkey, was included in the letter. The Survey Monkey software allowed students to take the survey anonymously online and the researchers ensured that IP addresses were suppressed. The survey was comprised of demographics, social supports that students receive from their families, student satisfaction with

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the level of support received, the perceived impact that social supports have on student achievement, general information on stressors, and family supports that serve to reduce stress. Results Emotional support was found to have affected 80% of the focus group participants. Encouragement and sympathy from family members were the most common forms of emotional support provided. Instrumental support, in the form of financial support, was found to affect the majority of the participants. Informational support affected most of the participants by increasing their confidence, providing guidance, and allowing participants to focus their time on academic tasks. Results of the survey indicated that 100% of the participants received emotional support, 75% received instrumental support, and 58% received informational support. Within emotional support, listening had the greatest impact on graduate students academic achievement followed by encouragement, and then companionship. Within instrumental support, financial assistance was found to affect graduate students academic achievement, yet subcategories within informational support were all found to have little to no impact on achievement. Although childcare had no impact for the majority of participants it was noted that for the 7 participants whose children were younger (i.e. less than 11 years old), the perception was that childcare had a fairly big to major impact on achievement. Conclusion Graduate students taking online courses find emotional support to be the most essential to their academic achievement because it helps reduce or alleviate stress caused by various time management concerns experienced by graduate students with other commitments. Graduate students taking online courses also find instrumental supports in the form of household duties

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beneficial to their academic achievement because the time it takes to complete such tasks interferes with time available to work on academic coursework. As other family members complete these tasks, it allows additional time for the graduate student to focus on their academic coursework, thereby improving their opportunity to spend more time achieving higher grades. This difference between focus group and survey participants views on informational support may indicate that family members spend more time offering other forms of social support rather than editing the graduate students coursework. Further research is needed to investigate how the various types of social supports can affect the GPA of online graduate students. In other words, there is a need to investigate the relationship between the presence of social supports at different levels and the quality of online graduate learning. Problem Statement and Research Question Students enrolled in graduate studies tend to be less successful in regards to academic achievement when they do not have familial social supports in place. The purpose of this study is to explore student perceptions regarding the types of family social supports that affect their academic performance. The focus question for this study is: What types of familial social supports affect the academic outcomes of University of Calgary graduate students enrolled in online Applied Psychology Programs during the condensed summer semester? Operational Definitions Social Support Social support refers to the various types of support (e.g., resources, interactions, assistance) provided by others to help one cope with stressful circumstances and is generally classified into three major categories: emotional, instrumental, and informational support. Emotional Support

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Emotional support refers to the things that people do that make us feel loved and cared for and that bolster our sense of self-worth (e.g., acceptance, encouragement, and praise). Instrumental Support Instrumental support refers to the various types of tangible help that others may provide (e.g., help with childcare/housekeeping, provision of transportation, or money). Informational Support Informational support refers to the help that others may offer through the provision of information (e.g., information received from others pertaining to schooling/finance). Achievement Achievement is measured through grade point average (GPA). Ethical Considerations Following are some of the steps our group has taken to prevent issues or complications and to ensure the safe protection and respectful consideration of the human participants during and/or after the focus group interview and survey. The first step was to explain in detail the reasons for the study. We then informed the participants that they had the right to withdraw, refuse participation, or refuse to answer questions at any given time during the interview. We explained the benefits of participation in that the results would help the greater public develop a better understanding of the ways in which family support may translate into improved achievement. We assured them that the risks of their participation were minimal due to full participant confidentiality and anonymity. Consent forms were obtained from the participants, a thorough debriefing was offered, and information on how to obtain copies of the research report was given. We, as a group, are confident that the research was carried out in a competent manner and that the results accurately depict participants perceptions.

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Literature Review Background Graduate students face a number of challenges as they strive to balance the demands of academics with family life, career, and financial concerns (Oswalt & Riddock, 2007; Rocha-Singh, 1994). The results of these demands can be considerably stressful and have serious effects on student achievement, particularly if students are without social supports (Friedlander, et al., 2007). Roberts and Plakhotnik (2009) contend graduate students require support systems in order to successfully complete their graduate programs (p. 43) and regard social supports as an outcome of building social capital, which is inherent to social capital theory. As Alfred (2009) explains, social capital theory assumes that a persons family, friends, and associates are important assets that can be drawn upon in times of need. Social supports are important factors in dealing with stress experienced by graduate students. Supporting Studies Offstein, Larson, McNeill, and Mwale (2004) used in-depth interviews, of four PhD students, and a focus group session, with twelve graduate students, to investigate the stresses that graduate students face and the supports that serve to alleviate those stresses. Participants indicated that being in graduate school is an extremely stressful experience. Factors contributing to high student stress levels included demanding graduate programs, time pressures, and typical personality traits of graduate students, such as perfectionist tendencies, tenacity, and perseverance. Most students interviewed indicated a preference for relationships as a source of social support. Although family support was deemed a necessary and significant form of support, family relationships also acted as a competing demand that caused internal conflict for graduate students.

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The American College Health Association (ACHA) conducted a National College Health Assessment (NCHA) in the spring of 2006, in part, to identify impediments to academic performance. The ACHA-NCHA contained approximately 300 questions administered to 94,806 students from 117 institutes of higher education. Stress was reported as the top ranked impediment to students academic performance resulting in 32% of the respondents dropping a course or receiving lower grades. Oswalt and Riddock (2007) studied the issues that contribute to graduate students perceived stress and their coping mechanisms. The study consisted of 223 graduate students who completed a survey on the effects of stress. Respondents rated the issues that contributed to stress on a 5 point Likert scale, with 1 being contributes very little to my stress level and 5 being contributes a lot to my stress level (Oswalt & Riddock, p. 33). Less than 1% of the students reported having no stress and 73.6% reported stress levels of four or higher. Issues such as schoolwork, finances, and children were found to contribute significantly to stress levels, with means of 4.36, 3.67, and 3.0, respectively. It is not surprising that the most common method of stress reduction for participants in this study was talking with friends (69.5%) in that all were fulltime, on-campus students, immersed in a collegial environment. In a related study, Calicchia and Graham (2006) investigated the relationship between stress, spirituality, and social support in 56 adult graduate students using the adult form of the Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory to measure the domains of stress and social resources. Results indicated that students in a graduate course of study are at a greater risk of developing physical and psychological health problems because of increased stress. However, as Nelson, DellOliver, Koch, and Buckler (as cited in Calicchia & Graham, 2006) indicate, students who use effective coping strategies and have social supports available report lower stress levels,

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and experience greater success in graduate school, as measured by grade point average. Taylor et al. (2000) concur that perceived social supports (among others) might buffer the effects of stress. Similar to the findings of Offstein et al. (2004), participants in Calicchia and Grahams (2006) study who reported stress related to their partner/spouse also reported that their partner/spouse was a source of social support. Lawson and Fuehrers (2001) study supports the role of social support in moderating stress. The purpose of their study was to investigate the possibility that social supports buffer the stress that first-year graduate students experience. Through the use of interviews and surveys (N=20), it was found that students in the highly stressed group found social supports highly significant, accounting for 73% of the variability in satisfaction with graduate school; students in the low stressed group found social supports insignificant, accounting for 1% of the variability in satisfaction with graduate school. These results suggest the significance of social supports in reducing stress depends on the amount of stress experienced by individual graduate students: the greater the stress, the greater the significance of social supports in reducing that stress. Interestingly, the social supports received by the participants came from friends and faculty, not family. This finding is similar to the Oswalt and Riddock (2007) study that showed talking with friends was the most common method of stress reduction among graduate students. Implications of Review: Research Direction Research has demonstrated that social support plays a significant role in reducing the stress of students (Calicchia & Graham, 2006; Oswalt & Riddock, 2007) and that stress reduction can lead to improved academic achievement (Calicchia & Graham, 2006). A common element in each of the studies reviewed is that the participants were on-campus students. There is no research that we could locate assessing the impact of family social support on online graduate

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students. Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the ways in which online graduate students utilize family social support and the perceived impact on student achievement. It is hypothesized that online students will report that family social support helps to alleviate stress and has a positive impact on student achievement. Lab 1: Focus Group Method Participants. Five graduate students (4 females, 1 male) taking an online, condensed, summer session class through the University of Calgary in the Applied Psychology (APSY) program were recruited for the focus group. One of the participants was in a relationship, four were married, and three had children. All participants were part-time and at varying stages of completion in their respective programs. A purposive sampling method was employed. Procedures. Data was collected from a focus group online chat interview session conducted by the Principal Investigator who began by explaining the aim of the focus group and then asked the questions. Participants responded simultaneously on chat. Six questions (see Appendix A) were asked and when there was no one responding, the Principal Investigator inquired if everyone had finished responding and went on to the next question. The focus group lasted approximately 2 hours with a modified data collection technique to accommodate the online environment. Analysis Types of Social Support Table 1 Family social supports received by online graduate students and perceived affect on GPA Type of Social Support Participants Receiving Support %/ (n) Examples Participants Perceiving a Positive Affect on GPA

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100% (5)

Encouragement, motivation, understanding, stress relief, provides more time (taking over childcare and household duties), companionship, listening, empathy,

% (n) 100% (5)

Instrumental

60% (3)

confidence. Paying tuition, providing transportation or childcare, attending to household duties,

60% (3)

Informational

80% (4)

making sacrifices. Positive feedback, guidance, and editing.

80% (4)

The students in our study received a variety of social supports, as listed in Table 1, which resulted in stress relief, increased self-confidence, motivation, and independence. Childcare was perceived to be emotional support by some in that it served to reduce levels of stress. It was also perceived that many of the supports offered served to provide students with more time to devote to their studies. Emotional support. All participants (n=5) reported that they received emotional support and this impacted their GPA in a positive way by reducing stress and providing them with more time to attend to academic outcomes. The same participants also stated that their confidence and motivation were increased as a result of receiving this type of support. The most common form of emotional support received by participants (n=4) was encouragement.

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Instrumental support. Instrumental support was received by 60% (n=3) of the participants who perceived a positive impact on their GPA's through stress reduction, motivational increases, and the provision of more time for coursework. Forty percent of the participants (n=2) reported that they did not receive any instrumental support. Informational support. Informational support was received by 80% (n=4) of the participants who reported that this impacted their GPA's in a positive way by reducing stress, increasing their confidence, providing them with guidance, and more time to attend to academic outcomes. One of the participants (20%) stated that they did not receive informational support, but believed their GPA would have benefited from it. Lab 2: Survey Method Participants. The sample consisted of 24 online graduate students taking a condensed, summer session class through the University of Calgary in the Applied Psychology program. A convenience sampling method was used to select the participants. Tables 2 and 3 provide information on demographics, reflecting that the majority of participants were married or living with a partner (88%; n=21), and slightly over 54% of the participants had children. Table 2 Demographic Characteristics of Sample Relationship Status Participants % (n) Single 4% (1) In a relationship 8% (2) Common-law 17% (4) Married 71% (17) Have children 54% (13) Table 3 Additional Demographic Information Demographic Average Mode

Median

Range

Standard Maximum Minimum

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Age (years) Number of children GPA

35.7 1.3 3.8 (3.79)

28 0 3.8

35.1 1 3.8

21-55 0-5 2.85-4.0

Deviation 9.0 (8.96) 1.6 0.2 (0.24)

55 5 4.0

21 0 2.85

Measures. A 10 item electronic survey (see Appendix B) was designed to gather information regarding the various types of social support that students receive from their families and the perceived impact those supports have on achievement. Participants answered questions regarding emotional (e.g. encouragement, listening, companionship), instrumental (e.g. practical help such as child care, housekeeping, money), and informational (e.g. proofreading or editing papers, sharing information) support. Procedure. Data on family social supports and the impact on achievement was gathered via an online survey of students perceptions using Survey Monkey website and software. The survey was comprised of the following general sections: demographics, including information about age, marital status, number of children; Social supports that students receive from their families and student satisfaction with the level of support; the perceived impact that social supports have on student achievement; and general information on stressors and the family supports that serve to reduce stress. A letter of introduction, stating the purpose of the study and an invitation to participate in the survey, was sent to students enrolled in the APSY 693.76 class, summer session, 2009. A link to the survey was included in the letter. The Survey Monkey software allows students to take the survey anonymously and the researchers ensured that IP addresses were suppressed. The original email resulted in response from 24 of the 26 class members, for a response rate of 92.3%. Data Analysis

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Survey Monkey and Microsoft Office Excel were used to analyze the data. Results Sample. Twenty-four (n=24) graduate students completed a survey about the types of support they receive while studying. Research Question 1. What are the social supports received by graduate students from their families while studying online? Table 4 Family Social Supports Received by Online Graduate Students Type of Support Emotional Instrumental Informational % (n) of participants receiving support 100% (24) 75% (18) 58.3% (14) % (n) of participants not receiving support 0% 25% (6) 41.7% (10)

The most common form of support received by our sample was emotional support, followed by instrumental support. Informational support was the least common form of support offered by families. Research Question 2. What perceived impact do social supports received by graduate students have in their achievement (GPA)? Table 5 Perceived Impact of Social Supports on Achievement Type of A great extent Some extent Little extent % Not at all % (n) 33.3% (8) 20.8% (5) 29.2% (7) (n) 4.2% (1) 0% 12.5% (3) % (n) 0% 20.8% (5) 33.3% (8)

support % (n) Emotional 62.5% (15) Instrumental 58.4% (14) Informational 25% (6)

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All (n=24) participants indicated that emotional support affected their GPA to various degrees. Seventy nine point two percent reported that instrumental support affected their GPA, while 67% reported that informational support affected their GPA to various degrees (see Appendix C for a breakdown of the impact of various types of support). Research Question 3. How satisfied are graduate students with the amount of social support that they receive from their families? Table 6 Satisfaction with Level of Family Social Support Type of Completely Somewhat Neutral support Satisfied satisfied % (n) 45.8% (11) 25% (6) 12.5% (3) % (n) 0% 12.5% (3) 20.8 % (5) Somewhat dissatisfied % (n) 0% 4.2% (1) 12.5% (3) Completely dissatisfied % (n) 0% 0% 0%

% (n) Emotional 54.2% (13) Instrumental 58.3% (14) Informational 54.2% (13)

Results showed that all respondents were satisfied with the level of emotional support received from their families. The majority of respondents were either satisfied or neutral regarding the levels of instrumental and informational support, however 4 respondents were somewhat dissatisfied with the support given in these areas. Synthesis of Findings Synthesis During the focus group session, the majority of participants felt that encouragement was the most common form of emotional support from their families. Similar results were found in the survey where the majority of the participants felt that encouragement had a fairly big to major impact on their achievement. Many of the emotional supports mentioned in the focus group were described in relation to the ways they relieved stress. Survey participants also indicated that

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providing understanding and encouragement helped to reduce or alleviate stress. All focus group participants felt that emotional support impacted their academic achievement in a positive way, which, again, is similar to the results of the survey where participants felt that emotional support positively affected their academic achievement to a great extent. Although childcare had no impact for the majority of participants, it was noted that for the 7 participants whose children were younger (i.e. less than 11 years old), the perception was that childcare had a fairly big to major impact on achievement. Two key stressors that survey participants experienced while taking online graduate courses were lack of time and time management. This relates to the experiences of the focus group participants who stated that emotional support provided them with additional time to spend on academics coursework, which made them feel less stressed and more able to produce quality assignments. According to the participants in the focus group, monetary support was the most common form of instrumental support from their families. Some participants explained that monetary support was provided in the form of family members saving them money (i.e. free babysitting). Others mentioned that family members helped pay for their tuition and bought items that increased their independence and motivation (i.e. a new car). A few participants stated that their families were willing to make monetary sacrifices in order for them to complete their graduate studies. In addition, over half of the participants in the survey reported financial assistance had a fairly big to major impact on their academic achievement. Although financial assistance was a significant factor for the participants in the focus group, household duties had a stronger impact on the participants in the survey. The majority of the participants also felt that the instrumental support received increased their academic achievement due to external and internal motivators.

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Focus group participants received informational support from family members through positive feedback, guidance, and editing of academic assignments. Of these three forms of informational support, editing of assignments was identified as the major contributor to the academic success experienced by graduate students taking online courses. However, when compared to survey participants, it was found that the majority of participants received minimal informational support. Of the three types of informational supports surveyed, editing assignments was the most significant, but most participants reported that it had little to no impact on their academic achievement. Implications Results of both the qualitative and quantitative studies conducted in this study suggest that family social supports help to alleviate stress and have a positive impact on student achievement. This research is particularly important for those who are considering online graduate studies yet are worried about the competing demands of family life, academics, career, and finances. The students in this study report that family social support makes the juggling of these demands more manageable. According to our data, many online graduate students even excel by maintaining a 4.0 grade point average (mean GPA = 3.8). Students considering online graduate studies may be reassured by the findings of this study. Students who are currently enrolled in online graduate studies may also be reassured to know that other students are experiencing similar challenges. The students in this study have demonstrated that family supports help make it possible to be successful with online graduate courses, often while working full-time, and raising a family. Finally, the families of online graduate students may also benefit from the findings of this study, which suggest that families can influence graduate students achievement by providing

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social supports. Many of the supports offered by families were intangible, such as providing encouragement, childcare, or housekeeping, and well within the means of most families to provide. Limitations and Directions for Future Research The first limitation of this study pertains to the use of an online focus group in which nonverbal cues were not available. According to Stewart, Shamdasani, and Rook (2006), eye contact serves some important functions within a group. One function, according to McGrath and Kravitz (as cited by Stewart et al., 2006), is that eye contact helps in collecting information about people, such as how they are responding to a particular point of view. Face-to-face focus group discussion is recommended in the future. Secondly, participants were pre-selected from the Methods of Inquiry course. These graduate students may not be representative of all graduate students in the APSY department studying online. Future research can utilize participants from different programs to get a clearer picture of the social supports they receive and the impact it may have on their GPA. Given that the sample size was small (N= 24), some caution must be exercised in any application of the findings of this study, which may not give a clear picture of the types of supports graduate students studying online receive. Little research has been done identifying social interaction and how it may contribute to student academic success. In this regard, many questions need to be answered and these questions may concern ways of improving student social support interaction and enhancing the quality of online learning; the social and cognitive factors affecting this quality; and the interaction tools that are needed to achieve learning objectives. Currently, the University of Calgary offers financial aid solely to its full-time online students. It is recommended that part-time online graduate students have more access to financial

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aids coming from different sources such as bursaries, low interest loans, and available grants. In addition, funds need to be made available to online part-time students to provide them with financial assistance for emergencies. This would provide online part-time students with certainty that they would be able to complete their programs and increase the success rate for the completion of the aforementioned programs. Further research is needed to investigate how types of social supports affect the GPA of part-time online graduate students. In other words, there is a need to investigate the relationship between the presence of social supports at different levels and the quality of online graduate learning.

Conclusion Graduate students taking online courses find emotional support to be the most essential to their academic achievement. Emotional support helps to reduce or alleviate stress caused by various time management concerns experienced by graduate students with other commitments. Graduate students taking online courses find instrumental supports in the form of household duties beneficial to their academic achievement because the time it takes to complete such tasks interferes with time available to work on academics. When other family members complete these tasks, it allows additional time for the graduate student to focus on their academic coursework, thereby improving their opportunity to spend more time achieving higher grades. The difference between the results of the focus group and the survey suggests that family members spend more time offering other forms of social supports rather than editing the graduate students coursework. However, the request for informational support may not be a priority for

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graduate students because a large majority reported that they were completely to somewhat satisfied with the type of informational support they receive. Overall, the results of both the qualitative and quantitative components of this research support the initial hypothesis that family social supports help to alleviate stress and have positive impact on the achievement of online graduate students.

References Alfred, M. (2009). Social capital theory: Implications for women's networking and learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 122, 3-12. doi: 10.1002/ace.329 American College Health Association (2006). American college health association-national college health assessment: Reference group data report Spring 2006. Journal of American College Health, 55(4), 195-206. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from http://www.achancha.org/docs/JACH%20January%202007%20SP%2006%20Ref%20Grp.pdf Calicchia, J., & Graham, L. (2006). Assessing the relationship between spirituality, life stressors, and social resources: Buffers of stress in graduate students. North American Journal of Psychology, 8(2), 307-320.

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Friedlander, L., Reid, G., Shupak, N., & Cribbie, R. (2007). Social support, self-esteem, and stress as predictors of adjustment to university among first-year undergraduates. Journal of College Student Development, 48(3), 259-274. Lawson, T., & Fuehrer, A. (2001). The role of social support in moderating the stress that first-year graduate students experience. Education, 110(2), 186-193. Offstein, E., Larson, M., McNeill, A., & Mwale, H. (2004). Are we doing enough for todays graduate student? The International Journal of Educational Management, 18(6/7), 396407. Oswalt, S., & Riddock, C. (2007). What to do about being overwhelmed. The College Student Affairs Journal, 27(1), 24-44. Roberts, N., & Plakhotnik, M. (2009). Building social capital in the academy: The nature and function of support systems in graduate adult education. In C. Nanton & M. Alfred (Eds.) New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 122 (Summer), 43-52. doi: 10.1002/ace Rocha-Singh, I. (1994). Perceived stress among graduate students: Development and validation of the graduate stress inventory. Educational and psychological measurement, 54(3), 714727. Stewart, D. W., Shamdasani, P. M., & Rook, D. W. (2006). Focus groups (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Taylor, S., & Klein, L., Lewis, B., Gruenewald, T., Gurung, R., & Updegraff, J. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 411-429. doi: 10.1037//0033-295X.107.3,411

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Appendix A Focus Group Questions 1. What type of emotional support do you receive from your family while doing on-line graduate studies? 2. How does this emotional support affect your academic outcome (GPA) in graduate studies? 3. What type of instrumental support do you receive from your family while doing on-line graduate studies? 4. How does this instrumental support affect your academic outcome (GPA) in graduate studies?

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What type of informational support do you receive from your family while doing on-line graduate studies?

6.

How does this informational support affect your academic outcome (GPA) in graduate studies?

Appendix B Survey

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Appendix C

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Impact of Social Supports on GPA


Please check the option that best reflects the degree of impact these different types of family supports have on your academic achievement (on a scale from 1-4, where 1=No impact, and 4=Major impact); Please check ONLY ONE option per row. 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 duties Listening Encouragement Child careHousehold Companionship and or Giving Financial Editing of feedback assistance assignmentsinformation Providing ideas No impact Little impact Fairly big impact Major impact

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