An Examination of the Relationship between the Cumulative Grade Point Average and Grit among Engineering Students Compared with African American Female Engineering Students at a HBCU in a Southern State
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the qualifying cumulative grade point average (C-GPA) and grit in engineering students compared with African American female engineering students, who qualify to take upper-level courses in engineering at a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in a Southern state. This study utilized the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) developed by Duckworth and Quinn (2009).This research design was quantitative exploratory correlational. The indicator of academic achievement used as the dependent variable (DV) was the qualifying C-GPA. The independent variables (IVs) of grit, socio-economic status, age, and parents’ educational level completed was used. This study used descriptive and correlational research methods.Seventy-four students participated in this study, 49 males (66.2%) and 19 females (25.7%). Findings from this study indicated that there was a positive statistically significant relationship between grit and C-GPA only for the African American female participants. No statistically significant relationships between grit and the demographic variables of age, university classification, and highest parental educational level were observed. The multiple regression analysis for the development of the predictive model showed that the qualifying C-GPA was dependent on the demographics variables of age, university classification, and averaged highest parental educational level. These variables accounted for 46% of the variance in the C-GPA. Gender also appears to be a moderating variable between C-GPA and grit with females being grittier than males. However, there appears to be challenges in understanding the results of grit for different groups. Model parameters developed in this study presented counter-intuitive understanding and may be demonstrating non-cognitive effects from program stressors.Engineering programs are becoming more sensitive to the psychological demands of completing the programs (Direito & Mitchell, 2018). Grit was shown to be an important non-cognitive assessment tool in understanding these demands. The application of grit research may aid in understanding these stressors. It may be that engineering programs have to redesign their curriculums to facilitate grit research (Ivcevic & Brackett, 2014).
Subject Area
Educational leadership|African American Studies|Educational psychology|Engineering|Higher Education Administration|Gender studies|Science education
Recommended Citation
Seliene Elessia Munroe Bignall,
"An Examination of the Relationship between the Cumulative Grade Point Average and Grit among Engineering Students Compared with African American Female Engineering Students at a HBCU in a Southern State"
(2020).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI27836296.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI27836296