TITLE:
Connectedness and Faith as Keys to Thriving: A Mixed Methods Study of Doctoral Students in an Online Learning Environment during COVID-19
AUTHORS:
Janet Deck, Kirsty Gilpin, Ryan Nichols, Andre De Souza Lima, Thomas Gollery, Sarah Yates
KEYWORDS:
Doctoral Students, Thriving, Faith Traditions, Peer Connections, Faculty Connections, Pandemic
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.9,
September
18,
2023
ABSTRACT: Thriving in academic settings has been extensively studied in multiple
settings, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed life inside and outside the classroom.
This mixed method study was designed to measure doctoral students’ level of
thriving in an online learning environment in the midst of the pandemic and to
determine the factors that contributed to thriving. The purposive sample of 88
doctoral students at a Christian university in the southeast region of the
United States completed the Graduate Thriving Questionnaire (Schreiner, 2015) in
November 2021 to address the research questions. Analysis of the survey results
revealed that students at the university were thriving despite the struggles
introduced by COVID-19 restrictions. From the survey respondents, 16 students
were randomly chosen to be interviewed regarding the factors that contributed
to their thriving during the pandemic. The interview transcripts were analyzed
qualitatively to determine the primary factors contributing to positive levels
of thriving. Two primary themes emerged from the data analyses: 1) The level of
connectedness students felt to one another in their cohorts and the doctoral
faculty during the crisis and 2) The importance of personal faith when facing
the uncertainty and fear generated during the pandemic.