Introduction
To understand how lived experiences and social skills of Ghanaian undergraduate and graduate students are associated with the student’s information retention, the two interviews were conducted and coded. As for the latter, the inductive method was applied, meaning that the codes were developed based on the raw data (Cohen et al., 2017). Then, the codes were grouped into categories (Adu, 2019). They include social skills evaluation, social interaction catalysts, social interaction barriers, teacher traits, student traits, the impact of social life on performance, and the impact of religious involvement on performance and social activity, to name a few.
Discussion
For example, three codes are included in the category of social skills evaluation: namely extraverted, introverted, and neutral. Extraversion implies that a person has relatively developed social skills and high involvement with the life of a higher educational institution’s community. The interviewees used such words and phrases as ‘sociable,’ ‘able to maintain a presence,’ and ‘I communicated with my fellow students.’ On the other hand, introversion means that an individual has a problem communicating with others which was formulated by interviewees as ‘conservative,’ ‘I had limited communication with lecturers,’ and ‘I found it very difficult to approach my lecturers.’ Finally, one of the interviewees assessed social skills as ‘fair,’ which was coded as a ‘neutral’ evaluation.
Generally, the coding and categorization revealed that although the two interviewees possess different social skills, their experiences were quite similar. Both respondents mentioned that starting a higher education was associated with significant difficulties because it necessitated personal transformation. Additionally, the two interviewees indicated that social life was an important part of their life but had positive as well as negative impacts on their performance. Moreover, both interviews show that positive interaction can increase students’ motivation and performance, whereas negative interactions, as well as a lack of communication between teachers and students, lead to reduced incentives to study.
Conclusion
Therefore, the intermediate results suggest that social skills are important determinants of success in the studies, including information retention. However, as students experience difficulties entering higher education institutions, teachers should help them to break the communication barriers and provide support.
References
Adu, P. (2019). A step-by-step guide to qualitative data coding. Routledge.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge.