Open AccessBalancing Act: A Phenomenological Study of Female Adult Learners Who Successfully Persisted in Graduate Studies
Author(s) -
Jeff L. Shepherd,
Barbara Mullins Nelson
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2012.1770
Subject(s) - interpretative phenomenological analysis , situational ethics , graduate students , psychology , phenomenology (philosophy) , meaning (existential) , post graduate , phenomenological method , pedagogy , adult learning , qualitative research , medical education , developmental psychology , adult education , social psychology , sociology , psychotherapist , medicine , epistemology , social science , philosophy
A study was conducted utilizing Cross’ (1981) barriers to adult learning as a framework to better understand how adults successfully complete their graduate studies. Participants in the study were solicited via Facebook and LinkedIn. Three female adult learners who persisted in their graduate studies while balancing demands outside academics including employment and family responsibilities were selected. The study found the barriers identified by Cross 30 years ago–institutional, dispositional and situational–were still relevant for these female graduate adult learners. The phenomenological approach allowed the participants to describe how they made meaning of these barriers while overcoming them to persist in their graduate studies.