Woolcott, Geoff

Chamberlain, Dan

Whannell, Robert

Galligan, Linda

2019

Higher education faces challenges in retaining students who require a command of numeracy in their chosen field of study. This study applies an innovative combination of relative risk and social network analysis to enrolment data of a single cohort of commencing students from an Australian regional university. Relative risk, often used in epidemiology studies, is used to strategically investigate whether first year mathematics subjects at the university demonstrated a higher risk of attrition when compared to other subjects offered in the first year of study. The network analysis is used to illustrate the connections of those mathematics subjects, identifying service subjects through their multiple connections. The analysis revealed that attrition rates for eight of the nine subjects were within acceptable limits, and this included identified service subjects. The exception highlighted the issue of mathematics competencies in this cohort. This combined analytical technique is proposed as appropriate for use when investigating attrition and retention at faculty and institutional levels, including the determination of levels of intervention and support for any subject.

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 50(3), p. 447-463

1464-5211

0020-739X

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/26302

Taylor & Francis

Examining undergraduate student retention in mathematics using network analysis and relative risk

Journal Article

Publication