Dissertation writing help - The role of social capital in human capital investment

Custom Dissertation Writing Service on the role of social capital in human capital investment: A social network approach to college success in the first year

Record numbers of Americans are pursuing postsecondary education, yet graduation rates have not kept pace. In an emerging 21st-century "networked information economy" (Benkler, 2006), this shows a major national challenge. Higher education researchers see the problem as one of retention or persistence (Braxton, 2000). This research frames it instead in terms of the academic success that results from investment in social and human capital. A promising tool for "operational zing" social capital (e.g., Lin, 2001), social network analysis was used to study two networks involving 67 small-college freshmen: an affiliation network derived from group memberships and a study-tie network based on reported study partners.

Both networks were studied statistically and visually. The affiliation network was heavily connected and dense, while the study-tie network was chain-like with more isolated individuals and fragments. When redundant ties were ignored, thus, the two networks differed little in effective size. High-achieving students tended to be part of the principal network component, while low achievers were often isolated. When freshmen were ranked by GPA, high achievers tended to have larger ego networks in the first term and occupy structural holes, while low achievers had fewer but stronger ties and were more constrained.

Multivariate models were used to explore the effects of individual attributes and network measures on first-term (FGPA) or year-end cumulative (CGPA) grades. At the end of the fall, tie strength in both networks was negatively correlated with FGPA. Ego network size was positively correlated with academic performance in the study network, and ego between was similarly correlated in the affiliation network. By year's end, high school class rank dominated models, and network effects typically dissipated. Ego between continued to have a modest, positive effect on grades in the affiliation network; higher constraint scores were negatively related to grades in both networks.
Freshman dropouts and retainees were also compared. Returning students tended to have more direct and two-step study ties, and considered their ties more important. In concluding sections, limitations to and proposals for research were outlined, and practical advice offered on learning communities, financial, admissions aid, and the pivotal first term.