Association Between Retention Rate and Graduation Rate

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE RETENTION RATE AND THE GRADUATION RATE

Table of Contents
1.0. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................3
1.1. Purpose the study............................................................................................................................3
1.2. Background to the study.................................................................................................................3
2.0. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................................................................................3
2.1. Research design..........................................................................................................................3
2.2. Data collection............................................................................................................................3
2.3. Data analysis...............................................................................................................................4
3.0. RESULTS...........................................................................................................................................4
3.2. INFERENTIAL STATISTICS.............................................................................................................5
3.2.1. Scatter plot of the retention rate and the graduation rate................................................5
3.3. REGRESSION ANALYSIS...................................................................................................................5
3.3.1. Estimation of the regression equation................................................................................5
3.3.2. Regression equation and the slope coefficient...................................................................6
3.4. CORRELATION.............................................................................................................................7
3.4.3. Concerns of the performance of the South University after results review.......................8
3.4.4. Concerns of the performance of the University of Phoenix after results review..............8
4.0. DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................................9
4.1.1. Mean percentage....................................................................................................................9
4.1.2. Minimum and maximum percentage......................................................................................9
4.2. Scatter plot......................................................................................................................................9
4.3. Regression equation........................................................................................................................9
4.4. Correlation....................................................................................................................................10
4.5. Regression model goodness of fit.................................................................................................10
4.6. Strength.....................................................................................................................................10
4.7. Limitation..................................................................................................................................10
4.8. Policy implication.....................................................................................................................11
5.0. RECOMMENDATION...............................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

1.0. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Purpose the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between the percentage of the retention
rate and the percentage of the graduation rate among the accredited online universities.
1.2. Background to the study
The growth of online universities is increasing tremendously (Young, 2011) and this has been a
great challenge to the institution of higher learning majorly on the retention rates and graduation
rates. The association between the graduation rate and the retention rate according to (Anon,
2014) is positive. The study further reveal that the growth of online universities have posed a
greate challenge to the institution of higher learning and students experience difficulties in
collaborating with the online universities. However, online accredited universities are much
concerned with the retention rate and how the factor is associated with the graduation rate. The
study by (Stefano et al, 2012) presents the advantages of online universities on people with
disabilities, but does not show the retention rate and how it is associated with the graduation rate.
Economist are interested in the results of the association between the retention rate and the
graduation rate in order to make informed judgement and come up with the recommendation that
will help boost the percentage of the graduation rate. This study therefore, focuses investigating
the association between the retention rates and the percentage of the graduation rate.
2.0. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Research design
Descriptive and inferential design research was employed for this study.
2.2. Data collection
The study utilizes quantitative secondary data that was obtained from the online education
database.

2.3. Data analysis
Quantitative techniques were used for analyzing the data. Data was analyzed for both descriptive
and inferential statistics.
Analysis was carried out using Excel.
3.0. RESULTS
3.1. Descriptive analysis
3.1.1. Retention rate and the graduation rate
The table below gives the descriptive summary of the retention rate and the graduation rate
RETENTION RATE
(%)
GRADUATION RATE
(%)
Mean 57.4137931 Mean 41.75862069
Standard Error 4.315602704 Standard Error 1.832018976
Median 60 Median 39
Mode 51 Mode 36
Standard Deviation 23.24023181 Standard Deviation 9.865724115
Sample Variance 540.1083744 Sample Variance 97.33251232
Kurtosis 0.461757455 Kurtosis -0.882399313
Skewness -0.309920645 Skewness 0.176364432
Range 96 Range 36
Minimum 4 Minimum 25
Maximum 100 Maximum 61
Sum 1665 Sum 1211
Count 29 Count 29