Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Former Gifted Urban High School Dropouts

My name is Bradley M. Camper, Jr. and I am a doctoral candidate at Walden University. Recently I have received IRB approval to collect data for my dissertation. The title of my dissertation study is called, �A Case Study Analysis among Former Gifted Urban High School Dropouts.�

I am looking for potential participants for this study. Unfortunately, I have struggled locating this population of students. These are some of the criteria for the study; they were identified as a gifted student at some point in their academic career and dropped out of an urban high school, between the ages of 18 and 30 (those older than 30 can be considered for participation). If you know of any persons that were identified as a gifted student at some point in their academic career and dropped out of an urban high school please contact me via email at: bradley.camper@waldenu.edu. I am looking forward to hear from you or your organization.

Any assistance you can offer me, with locating potential participants, will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Bradley M. Camper, Jr. , MPA, MA
PhD Student
Walden University
Human Services: Family Studies and Intervention Strategies

I would suspect that a large percentage of gifted people who dropped out of high school were not identified as gifted by their schools. For example, highly creative folks who don't present as "schoolhouse gifted" and 2E individuals are very often missed by gifted screening.

You may want to broaden your definition of gifted in order to capture gifted high school dropouts who weren't identified as gifted in school.

I chose to leave school at 15. I didn't drop out because I had no choice about going in the first place and made no commitment to stay longer than legally required. Gifted didn't exist where I was though. Eta and it was expected that only about 1/10 students would finish high school because that is how the NZ system was designed.

You may wish to clarify if there is a distinction between students who left high school prior to graduation to pursue higher education (as I and others I know did), and those who left for other reasons. Since technically both dropped out of high school.

aeh makes a good point. My BFF did just that, our sophomore year.

(I was furious that my own mother wouldn't permit me to skip that last two years, too!)

She went on to earn a CPA by age 21, and became a hot-shot tax auditor.

A few thoughts...

In your post I do not see the name of a professor overseeing your work, therefore I am leery.

Additionally, some might say it would violate ethics to contact you and identify a third party. I have a concern for protecting the privacy of any prospective human subject. I would think you may cast a wider net by creating and posting a survey which individuals could review and consider participation. It is possible that readers on the forum may be willing to share a link to a posted survey, while they may be unwilling to contact you directly via e-mail. The potential benefits of participating must outweigh the potential risks, and confidentiality/anonymity must be guaranteed.

Is this your Walden University? You might consider reading more about IRBs on the internet... such as...
While I understand your thesis is titled "a case study analysis", I see little benefit to society from such an endeavor unless there is a companion study on non-urban (rural, suburban, etc) youth... allowing one to compare/contrast experiences after dropping out. For example: existing support system and/or ability to build a support system leading to positives such as GED, apprenticeship, community college, or floundering with possibly a series of low-wage jobs, crime as a source of income, incarceration.

Your dissertation sounds as though it will consist of anecdotal evidence, and not be based on empirical evidence. Therefore I have a concern for an incomplete picture. Some may call this bias.

As a means to find your target subjects, you may wish to review longitudinal data collected by various State's Department of Education. You may be able to identify high schools with gifted pupils not graduating and communicate with these schools regarding your research.

As an alternative, could you consider a literature review? Would that meet the criteria for your dissertation?

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for replying to my post. The name of my dissertation chairperson is Dr. Gregory P. Hickman and he can be contacted at Gregory.hickman@waldenu.edu. The Research Participant Advocate at Walden University is Dr. Leilani Endicott you may contact her at 1-800 -925 -3368 extension 3121210 or email at irb@waldenu.edu if you have questions about rights as a participant in this study. Walden University�s approval number for this study is 12-30-16-0317762 and it expires on December 29, 2017.

I apologize for any misunderstanding my post created. I posted my information for anyone that maybe leery could contact me prior to passing the information along. What I am asking is that, if you are a person that meets the aforementioned criteria and you are interested in participating that you contact me. Therefore, I am not asking anyone to give the names of or identify third party individuals. Also, if anyone reading this post knows of such persons, that you pass my information to them and let them contact me directly, if they choose to participate. I am fully aware of the IRB requirements and regulation, as I have completed the process. With respect to your understanding the benefit is it had to be narrowed down first. With any research and especially with dissertation studies, suggestions for future research are made in the last chapter, of which studying the same population in rural and suburban areas will be made. In addition, so you understand the benefit of this study is to understand from the perspectives of the lived experiences of the participant why they chose to drop out while they had the cognitive ability to do the work assigned. My study is a qualitative study that is addressing a specific phenomena and requires participant to be interviewed. The interviews are then transcribed and later coded using a qualitative coding program like Dedoose or NVivo. I have used data mining to assist in my search of participants.

I hope this helps quell some of your skepticism.

Hi Kai,

You are absolutely correct in that assertion. That is why I am doing this study. I am trying to see both, why they choose dropout and maybe determine why they are missed too? I will discuss your suggestion further with my dissertation chair and methods persons.

Thanks

Brad

Hi Puffin,

Can we discuss your situation in private? You may be perfect for my study and I would like to learn more. You can email me at bradley.camper@waldenu.edu. Hope to hear from you.

Brad

Honestly, AEH, I have had this issue come up and my chair person stated I could use those potential participants that have dropped out prior to graduation in order to pursue higher education. So, if you know of anyone please give them my information and have them contact me.

Thanks

Brad