Thesis (M. A. (Psychology)) --University of Limpopo / This research investigated the psychological, social and cultural experiences of undergraduate international students at the University of Limpopo (Turfloop Campus). The study was qualitative in nature with an exploratory research design. The research made use of purposive sampling. Data was collected through focus groups as it was an appropriate tool for collecting the in-depth experiences of international students registered at the University. There were four focus groups with six participants in each so the overall sample was twenty-four. The researcher sampled twelve females and twelve males to ensure gender representivity. Afrocentricity was used as theoretical framework underpinning the study. The data were analysed using Thematic content analysis (TCA). The following themes emerged out of an interpretation of data: Motivation; Discrimination; academic challenges; language barriers; sense of belonging; homesickness; avoidance, acculturation and shared African culture. International students experienced many challenges which resulted in loneliness and isolation. They also used negative defence mechanisms in order to cope in the new environment. Results indicated that there are divisions in terms of culture (both social and academic) in the University environment caused, in part, by the colonial partition of Africa. Conversely, elements of African culture that have survived the onslaught of colonialism (and in South Africa, apartheid) help bind international and peer host country students (and outside communities) together.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-128).

Students who are unable or unwilling to attend classes at an educational institution can often study at home through distance education programs. A consistently noted problem for students in these programs centres on the isolation experienced in such independent study. This sense of isolation may be one of the causes of the high drop-out rates common in distance education. The hypothesis of this study was that interaction with other students via telephone conferencing would decrease the drop-out rate, increase student satisfaction and improve academic performance. Twenty-nine students from a community college in British Columbia were involved in the study. They completed a questionnaire measuring the personality constructs "need for affiliation", "need for achievement" and "need for autonomy". They were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. Members of the treatment group participated in telephone conferences with the course instructor and three or four other students. Members of the control group received only individual telephone calls from the instructor. The completion rates of the two groups, measures of satisfaction and marks were compared. Only 2 of the 15 students in the treatment group dropped out while 7 of the 14 students in the control group failed to complete the course. The chi square with one degree of freedom was 4.55 significant at the .03 level. A Yates correction for continuity of curve, which was applied because of the small numbers, lowered the significance to .08. Differences in measures of student satisfaction were not statistically significant. For all students there was a moderate correlation between student achievement as measured by marks and need for affiliation, r=-.38, p=.10. However, when the correlation was computed for the treatment group only, r was -.11, p=.72, but for the control group only, the correlation was r=-.70, p=.08. This suggests that for the treatment group student-to-student interaction may have moderated the effect of the students' need for affiliation on student performance. The results indicate that student-to-student interaction may be beneficial to students in distance education courses and that need for affiliation may play a role in student success. Further study is recommended. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This research investigated the relationships among four personality traits (affiliation, achievement, aggression, and dominance), actual influence, perceived influence, and individual consensus. My hypotheses consisted of a path model showing the relationships among these variables. The purpose of this research is to increase our understanding of group dynamics. By understanding group dynamics, managers can design meetings to optimize the commitment to and quality of the group’s decision. The methodology for my research was relational. In relational studies, variables aren’t manipulated. To test my hypotheses, I measured several variables that weren’t manipulated but were obtained in an experimental situation. Subjects (308) were randomly placed in 77 four-person groups. Each group consisted of three subjects and a confederate. The confederates weren’t part of my study and I didn’t collect data on them. All group members completed the Lost on the Moon exercise three times: an initial individual rank, a group rank, and a final individual rank. For each subject, I collected data on seven variables: affiliation, achievement, aggression, dominance, actual influence, perceived influence, and individual consensus. I measured affiliation, achievement, aggression, and dominance with Jackson’s Personality Research Form. Actual influence was measured by the absolute difference between the group member’s individual ranking and the final group ranking. A low score indicated high influence. Perceived influence and individual consensus were measured with a questionnaire. Both scales were derived from a factor analytic study. I found the following significant relationships: - affiliation was negatively related to actual influence, - affiliation was positively related to individual consensus, - achievement was positively related to perceived influence, - achievement was positively related to individual consensus, - actual influence was positively related to perceived influence, and - perceived influence was positively related to individual consensus. The first five relationships were found to be significant at the .05 level. The relationship between perceived influence and individual consensus was found to be significant at the .01 level. In interpreting the results, this relationship is suspicious. Since both scales were derived from a factor analysis of the same questionnaire, this significant relationship may result partially from measurement bias. In my exploratory analysis, I found gender to affect group dynamics more than personality. Therefore, further studies which manipulate gender need to be performed before the relationships among gender, personality traits, and group dynamics are fully understood. / Master of Science