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Using Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching to Develop a Conceptual Framework for Successful Transition of First Year Saudi Students into Postsecondary Education Atiyah A. Alghamdi The Preparatory Year Program (PYP) considers a new phenomenon in Saudi higher education. This study identified the future ideal functions of PYP and developed a conceptual framework for the program at King Saud University. Four research questions were answered in this study including: 1) Using the Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology, how do Saudi male and female postsecondary stakeholders conceptualize the future ideal functions of Preparatory Year Deanship to help students successfully transition into their first year of college/university?; 2) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with the current working model of the Preparatory Year Program at King Saud University?; 3) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with King Saud University’s explicit strategic plan?; and 4) When conducting a Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization, how do the results for males compare and contrast with the results for females? The Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology advanced by (Trochim 1989a, 1989b; Kane & Trochim, 2007) utilized for data collection and analyzing. Fourteen male including 2-PYP students, 1-Medicine College Faculty, 1-Business Administration College Faculty, 1-Engineering College Faculty, 4-PYP Faculty, 1-Academic Advising Faculty at PYP, 1-Students Affairs Faculty at KSU, 1Students Affairs at PYP, and 2-Educational Company and nine female including 3-PYP' students, 1Pharmacy College Faculty, 2-PYP Faculty, 2-Parents, and 1-Educational Company participated in two separate brainstorming sessions. The male participants generated 48 statements and the female group generated 36 statements. The participants in each group sorted the generating statements individually into groups and rated them based on a five-point scale for relative importance and institutional efficacy. For each group male/female the Multidimensional Scaling and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were conducted to create various concept maps, the final one being a seven-cluster and six-cluster concept map for male and female, respectively, representing the stakeholders’ conceptualization of the field being studied. Following the creation of the concept maps for each group, the resulting priorities and their conceptualization schema were both compared and contrasted to the current working model of PYP and the explicit strategic plan of KSU (KSU2030) for similarities and differences in a qualitative document analysis. The male and female perceptions were also compared and contrasted. The study revealed three main dimensions for developing PYP at KSU including Organizational design and structure, Pedagogical functionality, and Student services. Further, seven foundational principles may be embraced to develop the three dimensions previously mentioned including: 1) adopting a talent philosophy to first meet student’s needs and then the institution’s mission; 2) a flexible PYP model to meet individual student’s needs; (3) applying a pedagogical on theory-based; (4) reorganizing PYP’s tasks and centralizing student’s services; (5) involving KSU’s colleges; (6) supporting nonfiltering program; and (7) adopting self-operation. The significance of this study for the educational policymaker, planner, and developer, is that the findings can be used as a model to make student’s transition into postsecondary education successful. USING CONCEPT MAPPING/PATTERN MATCHING TO DEVELOP iii Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to several people who have contributed and supported me on my knowledge journey. To my parents, Abdullah and Refaah Alghamdi, for their inspiration and encouragement. To my wife, Fatimah, for her sacrifices, fruition support, understanding, and patience. To my daughters and sons for their endurance and continued support. Additionally, to my sisters and their husbands and kids for all support. USING CONCEPT MAPPING/PATTERN MATCHING TO DEVELOP iv Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge Allah Almighty, the God for all things given to me in my life and for guiding and for providing me the strength, inspiration, motivation, and wisdom to achieve what I have done so far in my journey in life. I would like to thank the Saudi Arabian government and King Saud University, in particular, for giving me a learning chance to study abroad in a great country of the United State of America at respectable university, West Virginia University. This study could not have been conducted without the guidance of an outstanding dissertation committee, to which I be indebted thanks and gratitude. To Dr. Sam Stack, my advisor, for all the support and encouragement he provided to me. I would like to thank him further for facilitating and supporting me to overcome all challenges encountered during my study. I thank him for his fast responses to all my studying requests and inquiries. I would sincerely like to give special thanks to Dr. Sebastián R. Díaz, my first advisor before he had to devote his time to other commitments. I would like to thank him for being my professor and for kindly agreeing to serve on my committee to complete what we started together in the dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Sebastián for believing in me and for giving me the chance to be a student at WVU. I will not forget my first meeting with him when I was carrying my big dream and looking for someone to guide and direct me to achieve it. I also would like to thank him for introducing me to the Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology that was utilized in this study. Thank you Dr. Sebastián for all the minutes, hours, days, months, and years you dedicated to working with me, despite the distance between us. I would also like to thank Dr. Micah Fierstein for his kind support. I will not forget the Leadership class that I took with him and how he taught me how leaders should be in the educational division. His words still touch my soul and settled on my heart when he said, “listen to others deeply and help them to find their voice”. I will not forget his wisdom when he said, “as a leader be in the middle, do not dive in the depth of the ocean because you only will find sand”. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Nathan M. Sorber for his agreement to serve on the dissertation committee. I had several courses with Dr. Nathan, which expanded my knowledge, experience, and skills in higher education and policy studies. In addition, I appreciated his constructive comments and feedback on my dissertation. USING CONCEPT MAPPING/PATTERN MATCHING TO DEVELOP v I am grateful to Dr. Ugur Kale for also kindly agreeing to serve on the dissertation committee. Dr. Kale is a supportive and kind person. His comments on my dissertation and direction helped to improve this study structure and outcomes. I would also like to acknowledge the 14 male and 9 female participants who accepted the invitation to participate in the study. I really appreciate their time and patience to complete this study process. Their inputs and ideas made this study real and without their contributions this study would not have been conducted. My thanks and appreciation is extended to Drs. Paul Chapman and Philip Ice for provisionally serving on the committee until they too had to dedicate their time to other commitments. Their time, advice, and feedback have been greatly valued. Furthermore, my gratitude is extended to the College of Education and Human Services family at WVU. To Dr.’s D.J. Hendricks, Miriam Douglas, Suzanne Hartman, Brandi Weekley, Reagan Curtis, Malayna Bernstein, and Mr. Michael Wilhelm, the former director of the International Office. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Nami Aljohani the Dean of the Preparatory Year Deanship at King Saud University on his permission to conduct this study at PY. Furthermore, to Dr. Fayez Alghamdi from King Saud University and Dr. Saad Yaaqeib from United Arab Emirates University for their help in the translation process of brainstorming sessions outcomes from Arabic-English-Arabic. Additionally, I would like to thank Drs. Misfer Alsaloly, Khitam Alqahtani, Khalid Alqarni, Alawiya Alali, and Hasan Sababeha from King Saud University for their support and help for organizing and conducting the brainstorming sessions at KSU. All thanks and gratitude for those who have a positive impact on my life and supported me in different ways but I did not include their names in this acknowledgment. USING CONCEPT MAPPING/PATTERN MATCHING TO DEVELOP vi

Using Concept MappingPattern Matching to Develop a Conceptual Framework for Successful Transition of First Year Saudi Students into Postsecondary Education