Longitudinal substance abuse research has often been compromised by high rates of attrition, thought to be the result of the lifestyle that often accompanies addiction. Several studies have used strategies including collection of locator information at the baseline assessment, verification of the information, and interim contacts prior to…

As teacher professional development research includes more experimental designs, new challenges arise. We examine the threat of participant attrition as an example of the types of problems researchers face. Counter-intuitively, higher levels of recruitment effort were related to higher dropout rates among teachers. We also found that teachers left…

Reasons dropouts offer for withdrawal from college and differences between respondents and nonrespondents to a followup questionnaire were studied. During the spring 1980 semester, freshmen and sophomores completed a questionnaire describing their background and college experiences. A total of 156 dropouts (those who did not complete courses…

Arguing that reliable and valid dropout rate estimates are prerequisite to establishment of causal factors and intervention programs, this article examines differences in definitions of dropouts, computational methods, and the complexities in defining cohorts, as well as the importance of sample attrition. Several sources of error are discussed.…

The study presents an investigation of the association between freshman year voluntary persistence/withdrawal decisions and different types of student-faculty informal contact beyond the classroom. (JMF)

Clients who contact mental health centers but fail to follow through for treatment present a significant problem for therapists. Being able to predict which clients will not follow through with an initial therapy session could be very beneficial. At intake, subjects (N=27) who had requested service from a mental health center provided demographic…

This 2003 study was designed to collect data on the outcomes of short stay students, or former students who leave British Columbia's colleges, university colleges, and institutes after completing between 9 and 23 credits. Out of 2,273 former students eligible for surveying, 871 completed the survey, for a response rate of 38%. The survey collected…

One of the six national goals in the United States is to achieve a 90 percent graduation rate by the year 2000. In the last 50 years, high school graduation has become the norm. Concurrent with the new expectation of high school graduation came the dominance of the word "dropout" to describe those without diplomas. Many Americans view…

A study was conducted to determine the extent and nature on non-respondent bias in the follow-up survey in 1981 of Michigan secondary vocational education students from the class of 1980. The response rate to the annual survey has been approximately 76 percent in past years, yet there remains a significant non-response bias potential. This study,…

The validity of Tinto's (1975) theory of student attrition, which asserts that withdrawal relates most directly to students' integration in the social and academic systems of an institution, is examined. This study supports that theory and also suggests that informal interaction with faculty plays an important role as well. (Editor/LBH)

Lack of money may not be the major factor in student dropout rates. Some studies indicate that attrition rates are more affected by learner attitudes and goals and a good "fit" between student and institution. Current theories about student retention and attrition are reviewed. (Editor/LBH)

This is a study of the dropout rate during the 1998-99 academic year at Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST). A total of 1,025 of 7,174 students (14%) withdrew from their program of study before the end of the year. This report categorizes the reasons for leaving as follows: (1) exited by institute; (2) personal…

A survey involving 125 students who voluntarily withdrew from the State University College at Oswego, was conducted to determine student characteristics and their reasons for withdrawing, as well as to examine suggestions for reducing attrition. Examination of the data suggests that seniors withdrew less frequently than did members of other…

The School District of the City of Saginaw (Michigan) has annually reported on the rate and nature of the dropout population; this dropout report is the fourth edition of the State defined generation of dropout reports. Two hundred twenty-four, or 8% of Saginaw's 2,805 students in grades 9-12, voluntarily terminated their high school education…

Three basic designs for studying college student attrition are described and the comparative assets and liabilities of each are discussed. It is noted that administrators faced with declining enrollments and costs for students not completing degree programs are likely to call for attrition studies, yet methodological inadequacies exist in many…