PHASE 3: GROUP PROJECT INDIVIDUAL PORTION

Abstract The choices that parents have today regarding the education of their children are far more difficult than those of parents just twenty five years ago. With the advancements in technology today’s students have the options of attending public schools, private schools, or they could be home schooled. Many parents have the difficult decision of determining where to send their children to school and which option will be most beneficial to the student. Some parents choose to home school their children while others choose to send them to public or private schools. This research will focus on the home schooled students and whether or not they can be successful in college. This research project will focus on this question “Do home schooled students have a higher or lower chance of being successful than students who attended private schools and public schools?” We will use the null hypothesis that if students are home-schooled, then they have a higher chance of being accepted and successful in college. Our alternative hypothesis would state that students educated in mainstream school systems are accepted at a higher rate than home-schooled students into college. We will employ the mixed methods research approach. We will collect quantitative data in the form of statistics in order to demonstrate the differences in the college acceptance rates among public school students and home-schooled students. Then, we will use qualitative data in the form of surveys to determine why the numbers yielded the established results. There are critics of both sides of this argument, but we will use the numbers from each to determine an unbiased opinion of which educational option yields the most college prospects.
Preliminary Research Topic
What kind of education environment is better for student’s homeschooling, private schools, or public schools?
Refining the Topic
How does the educational environment effect student test scores?
Does the educational environment affect students socially?
Does the educational environment affect students seeking a higher education?
New Refined Research Topic
Do homeschooled students have a higher or lower chance of being successful than students who attended private schools and public schools?
Research Method For this project we will employ the mixed methods research approach. This method of research is a popular method because it utilizes elements of both the qualitative and the quantitative methods. This type of approach will allow our research group to collect both qualitative and quantitative data for our research study. It depends on the type of study being performed and the researcher who is performing the study on how much one method is used over the other method (Joffrion, 2010). We will collect quantitative data in the form of statistics in order to demonstrate the differences in the college acceptance rates among public school students and home-schooled students. We will examine the statistical evidence supporting or disproving the theory that home-schooled students are accepted at a higher rate than public school students. According to an article by The Huffington Post “students coming from a home school graduated college at a higher rate than their peers -- 66.7 percent compared to 57.5 percent -- and earned higher grade point averages along the way” (Sheehy, 2012). Then, we will use qualitative data in the form of surveys to determine why the numbers yielded the established results. Qualitative data may be collected for this portion of the research by using questionnaires as exemplified by Dr. Brian Ray, President of the National Home Education Research Institute, in his book entitled “Strength of