Retaining Retention? Student Populations, Frameworks, and Methodologies in Studies of Retention in Higher Education Journals

• In Event: Nuances and Challenges to Traditional Notions of College Success

Abstract

Persistence to graduation is an enduring higher education priority resulting in a significant
amount of research on this topic. Yet, the opportunity gaps that remain call for an examination of how we know what we know about whom. Our study is a systematic literature review of every article engaging the topics of retention and persistence in 10 higher education journals over the past decade. We examine trends in student populations, theoretical frameworks, and methods used to study this critical topic and their collective implications for our understanding and practice.

Authors

• Ann Marie Gansemer-Topf, Iowa State University

• Rachel Smith, Iowa State University