Running Head: GAP YEAR

Exploring the Reasoning and Motivation of Pre-University Gap Year Students

Jessica Gore

Georgia Southern University

J Gore

GAP YEAR

Exploring the Reasoning and Motivation of Pre-University Gap Year Students

In a time when all students are encouraged to pursue some form of higher education upon

graduating high school, little if any consideration is given to if the student is truly ready for

college or university. A growing trend, especially within the United Kingdom, has been that of

students taking a deferred route to university, or what has come to be known as a “gap year.” A

gap year is defined by Martin (2010) as period of time in “which an individual takes ‘out’ of

formal education, training, or the workforce where that time sits in the context of a longer term

career trajectory” (p.1).

The gap year can trace its origins to those of wealth and privilege and the ‘Grand Tour’

that was undertaken by well-educated upper middle-class young men during the Victorian Era

(Heath, 2007). The Grand Tour provided these young men and moratorium between their formal

education and a professional career, with the opportunity to gain experiences such as visiting

sites in classical European culture and outstanding site of natural beauty (Heath, 2007).

Today, more students are taking part in the pre-university gap year experiences based on

the perceptions that this time off can offer you life-changing experiences that you cannot gain

from a traditional formal education route. With professional organizations helping students to

find volunteer, world travel and work experiences prior to entering university, students are

examining themselves to determine the benefits of a gap year and the role it will play upon

reentering the formal education world. According to O’Shea (2011), by delaying their formal

education, these students are “making significant gains in personal, civic and intellectual

development” (p. 575 – 576). With students being perceived as more mature, independent, self-

reliant, global citizens and life long learners as a result of taking a gap year, why is this not a

more common route of study for students in the United States of America?

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Because much of the research on students who have taken part in gap years and gap year

programing has been conducted outside of the United States, the purpose of the study is explore

the stories of American students who have participated in a pre-university gap year. I want to

understand the motivation and reasoning behind why a student may choose to take a gap year

and if there are any common characteristics. In addition, I want to explore the student’s

perceptions of college and themselves before they embark on their gap year experience.

As a professional who works with students during their college search process, this study

will help in the understanding of why students may choose to take a non-traditional route to

formal education through a gap year experience.

Annotated Bibliography

Birch, E. &Miller, P.W. (2007). The Characteristics of ‘Gap-Year’ Students and Their Tertiary

Academic Outcomes. Economic Record, 83(262), 329-344.

doi:10.1111/j.14754932.2007.00418.x

With more students in Australia choosing to take a break between completing high school

and entering university, a gap year, it is important to study the impact this may have on a

student’s success once at university. Similar characteristics have emerged about students

who do partake in a gap year, which include gender, home location, birthplace and prior

academic achievements.

This study indicates that students who do take a gap year between high school and

university are showing that this experience has a positive impact on their academic

outcomes; earing marks that are 2.3 percent greater than their peers who do not take gap

years. In addition to earning better marks, gap year students appear to be more motivated

for entering university as well as being of value to low-achieving students.

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Heath, S. (2007). Widening the gap: Pre-university Gap Years and the ‘Economy of

Experience.’ British Journal of Sociology of Education. 28(1). 89-103.

As the popularity of taking a pre-university gap year becomes more popular among

British students, so is its weight in gaining an advantage over those students who do not

pursue this route. As the gap year has developed over the years, so have organizations

that provide help and opportunities to students seeking to take some time off. This article

explores the popularity of the pre-university options for British students as well as the

presumed benefits. It also defines a hierarchy of the various opportunities based on the

‘economy of experience’ surrounding the gap year; those experiences that are well-

structured and purposeful such as volunteering have more weight than those that are not,

such as overseas activities and work experience.

As research about the benefits of taking a gap year emerged, five categories emerged:

It provides for self-reflection and enhances the students’ sense of perspective for being able to make better informed decisions

There is an opportunity for self-development and enrichment of ones self. Due to their experiences, students who take a gap year are more mature and

adaptable to university life ‘Soft skills’ such as communication, organizational and team working skills are

acquired Gap year students are more desirable by employers because of these attributes.

Development of UK-based volunteering programs has increased as it promotes social

cohesion and ‘civil renewal.’ In addition, many organizations that offer overseas

experiences have developed due to British gap-year students comprising of the majority

of the international backpacker community. But even with new programs being

developed throughout the UK, the majority of the students who embark on a gap year

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experience are from well-informed, middle-class families; therefore, attempts to widen

access to students In the UK seeking full-time volunteering opportunities have developed

and increased with aid from the government. As competition increases as well as an

emphasis on the ‘economy of experience,’ the gap that exists between students in the

world of positional competition will continue to widen.

King, A. (2011). Minding the gap? Young people’s accounts of taking a Gap Year as a form of

identity work in high education. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(3), 341-357.

doi:10.1080/13676261.2010.522563

As students enter into university, they encounter a bit of uncertainty with their identity as

they are neither dependent children nor are they fully independent adults: as a result,

many students choose to take gap year to help with this identity confusion. In this article,

King goes one step further and explores how three psychosocial attributes, confidence,

maturity, and/or independence are used to help with the identity work within the context

of higher education.

Based on previous research, the majority of gap year participants are middle class, white,

females from Southern England (this study was conducted in the United Kingdom).

Despite these common characteristics, all students can gain psychosocial developments

and social distinctions from taking a gap year.

This study gathered data using a theoretical and methodological perspective and looked

to focus on social action, in situ, as it is accomplish in talk. There were 23 participants

who were chosen based on convenience and snowball sampling. They also had to have

taken a pre-university gap year within the previous five years. The data collected for this

study was by means of interviews, in which several themes emerged:

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Confidence, maturity and/or independence in gap year talk Confidence, maturity and/or independence and gaining entry to university Confidence, maturity and/or independence and different types of students Confidence, maturity and/or independence and gaining graduate employment

Overall, student’s talked about their gap year experiences by referencing confidence,

maturity and/or independence, how they relate to people and events in the current

biography, and their future, such as employability. The study also supports previous

research, which indicates that students undertake identity work as they transition to

adulthood and the gap year act as a time and space where this significant biographical

change occurs.

Martin, A. J. (2010) Should students have a gap year? Motivation and performance factors

relevant to time out after completing school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3),

561-576. doi:10.1037/a0019321

One of the major reasons that gap year participants take time off is so that they can have a

break for formal education or work.

O’Shea, J. (2011). Delaying the academy: A gap year education. Teaching in Higher Education,

16(5), 565-577. doi:10.1080/13562517.2011.570438

This article focuses on the international volunteering gap year from an educational

perspective by students in the United Kingdom. It does so, by examining case studies of

participants of a prominent gap year organization in the UK that specializes in helping

students to participant in 12-month overseas volunteer programs in developing countries.

The study made use of multiple methods of qualitative inquiry, which included document

analysis of organizational material and volunteer reports as well as semi-structured

interviews.

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From this study, O’Shea suggest that student’s embark on these volunteer experiences

with altruistic and egoistic motives. Based on the study, many students encountered

common experiences:

Cultural shock and trying to assimilate to a new way of life Development of their civic education which tended to develop an awareness,

appreciate and criticism of cultural and political structures A change in their religious perspectives or a stronger sense of the religion with

which they regularly practice An appreciation for community and family life A better understanding and tolerance of other cultures as well as identifying more

with their own British culture Greater perceived intellectual development within themselves that leads to more

confidence and the ability to make decisions Understanding of their personal identity and growth Difficulties returning to the UK and formal educational settings; revere culture

shock

By delaying their term of entry into college, students who are partaking in international

volunteer gap years are experiencing gains in personal, civic, moral and intellectual

development. These experiences that they are able to gain cannot necessarily be found

within traditional formal educational settings and are thus setting these students apart in

university and the work force. It is creating not just involved and motivated students and

employees, but global citizens of character.

Rubin, M. (2008). Gap year: Transition from high school to college. Time off or time on?

Hispania, 91(1).

In order to gain a good educational experience, many students are turning to the option of

taking a gap year. The gap year is no longer associated just with students who are rebels,

dropouts or who have nothing better to do, but instead for students from all backgrounds.

By participating in a gap year, these students are proving to be prepared and serious

learners who are more focused, have more self-awareness and who are more flexible with

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working with others of diverse backgrounds. When students are able to take time off

before entering into the rigorous college atmosphere, they are able to encounter real-life

situations and understand their role within this world, thus making them global citizens as

well as life-long learners.

Method

Research Design

For this study, the qualitative method of research will be used to help in the

understanding of why students choose to take a pre-university gap year and what do they believe

they will gain or learn from doing so. It will be necessary to gain consent from each of the

participants in order to conduct and use any of the student’s personal accounts (Appendix B).

The participants will be asked to participate in a one-on-one interview with the research

(Appendix A). All interviewees will be asked the same questions in order to compare and

contrast their perceptions of college and themselves before their experience; however, should the

interviewee bring up other topics of interest, this information may be taken into account. The

researcher will record and transcribe the interviews, as well as make notes during the interview

process to ensure that any non-verbal information is documented.

Participants

The participants for this study will be determined through the use of homogeneous

sampling; a form of purposeful sampling in which the researcher identifies and selects

individuals “based on membership in a subgroup that has defining characteristics” (Creswell,

2012, p. 208). The subgroup selected for this study is students in the state of Georgia who will

be partaking in a pre-university gap year. Furthermore, these students are defined as those who

have been admitted to a four-year college or university for the fall entry term directly following

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their graduation from high school and who have decided to defer their college entry for one year

to the next fall entry term. The goal is to identify and obtain permission to interview between

five and ten students. The recruitment of participants for this study will rely on help from the

Admission Office of four-year colleges and universities in the state of Georgia. Once the

students have been identified, the researcher will communicate with these potential participants

via their school e-mail address, which will explain the purpose of the study, include a copy of the

informed consent form as well as how to indicate that they are interested in participating in the

study.

Data Collection

In order to gain understanding behind a student’s desire and motivation to take a pre-

university gap year, the researcher will engage participants in individual open-ended interviews

before their gap year experience. Since this study is focusing on the participants’ stories before

their experience, questions to be asked during the interview will be prepared in advance

(Appendix A). The researcher will serve as interviewer and will follow the prescribed interview

questions, however, if the interviewee should disclose additional information, this may also be

used. The researcher will determine what is important to the study as well as ethical. It is also

their responsibility as interviewer to record field notes accordingly as to accurately capture and

portray the entirety of the interview from the setting to the actions of the interviewee.

Data Analysis Procedures

In order to explore the reasoning and motivation behind why students decide to take a

pre-university gap year, the researcher will engage in a grounded theory design. The process

will engage in the emergent design, which relies on “exploring a basic social process with preset

categories” (Creswell, J. W., 443). As the researcher codes and analyzes the data, common

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categories and themes will emerge within each interviewee’s story. The emergence of these

themes within the data will continue to develop, as the researcher will then compare each story’s

themes. The researcher will then be able to identify a core category or central phenomenon that

will lead to the development of a theory. Once a theory is determined, it must be validated in a

process called discriminant sampling, in which the new found theory is compared to existing

process found in the literature (Creswell, J. W., 442). Based on the linking of concepts or

categories, the research can write their research report that is to include the problem, methods,

discussion and results, as well as the researcher’s generated theory and abstraction of the process

under examination (Creswell, J. W. 442).

Ethical Considerations

Before this study is conducted, a proposal as well as all materials that will be used will

be presented to the Institutional Review Board. The research will not take action to conduct any

part of this study until proper approval is gained. In addition, the researcher is to work closely

with their advisor of the project.

Due to the nature of this study wanting to understand the reasoning and motivations of

students who take a pre-university gap year, there is a precaution to the sensitivity of the

participants. Before conducting any interviews, the researcher must obtain informed consent

from all participants. The researcher is responsible for reading the Informed Consent Form to all

participants, as well as the participants are to read the form before signing. By having the

information reiterated, the participant will be made aware of the purpose, procedures and

inherent risk of the study as well as the fact they may remove themselves from the study at

anytime.

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Because of this study is gathering personal information and stories about gap year

students, it is important to maintain the confidentiality of the students. As a researcher, it is

important to maintain the voice of the participants and to not recreate or falsely portray them in

the final work. In order to avoid this, participants of the study will have the opportunity to read

and review the researchers final work in order to check for validity and accuracy. Participants

will also be assigned a pseudonym in the final work in order to keep their identities unknown.

This study is meant to be a stepping-stone into further research about students who chose

to take a pre-university gap year in the United States. With much of the previous research being

conducted abroad, it is important to understand the educational aspirations of our own students

and if the idea of taking a gap year is something of interest to them. The choice to take a non-

traditional route to university is often looked down upon in the United States so this study is

looking to understand the reasoning and motivations behind why some students go against the

grain. The hope is that this study will lead to further studies of students who take a gap year and

the effects of their experience and success at university and in the work force.

References

Birch, E. &Miller, P.W. (2007). The Characteristics of ‘Gap-Year’ Students and Their Tertiary

Academic Outcomes. Economic Record, 83(262), 329-344.

doi:10.1111/j.14754932.2007.00418.x

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluation quantitative

and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Ltd.

Heath, S. (2007). Widening the gap: Pre-university Gap Years and the ‘Economy of

Experience.’ British Journal of Sociology of Education. 28(1). 89-103.

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King, A. (2011). Minding the gap? Young people’s accounts of taking a Gap Year as a form of

identity work in high education. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(3), 341-357.

doi:10.1080/13676261.2010.522563

Martin, A. J. (2010) Should students have a gap year? Motivation and performance factors

relevant to time out after completing school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3),

561-576. doi:10.1037/a0019321

O’Shea, J. (2011). Delaying the academy: A gap year education. Teaching in Higher Education,

16(5), 565-577. doi:10.1080/13562517.2011.570438

Rubin, M. (2008). Gap year: Transition from high school to college. Time off or time on?

Hispania, 91(1).

Sparks, S. D. (2010). Research suggests a ‘gap year’ motivates students. Education Week, 30(4).

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Appendix A

Interview Protocol

Project

Time of Interview:Date:Place:Interviewer:Interviewee:Sex of Interviewee:Race/Ethnicity of Interviewee:

[Interviewer will describe the research study to the interviewee by reading the informed consent form, which explains the purpose of the study, the individuals and sources of data being collected, what will be done with the data to protect the confidentiality of the interviewee and how long the interview will take.[Have the interviewee read and sign the consent form.][Turn on the tape recorder and test it.]

Questions:

1. What higher education institutions did you apply to? Were you accepted? And in what order would you rank these institutions based on your top choice?

2. What do you intend to do during your gap year? And how did you decide on this particular experience?

3. What is the major reason for wanting to pursue a gap year?4. Is there anything that you believe you will miss out on by not attending college in the

fall?5. Describe what you expect to gain from your gap year experience.

(Thank the individuals for their cooperation and participation in this interview. Assure them of the confidentiality of the responses and the potential for future interviews.)

(Creswell, 2012, p. 226)

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Appendix B

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study, which will take place from June 1, 2013 to August 30, 2013. This form details the purpose of this study, a description of the involvement required and your rights as a participant.

The purpose of this study is:

To understand the stories of students who have decided to take a pre-university gap year instead of the traditional high school to college route.

The benefits of the research will be:

To better understand the reasoning and motivations behind why students want to embark on a pre-university gap year.

To identify common characteristics of students pursuing a gap year experience. To learn how students view themselves and college before their gap year experience.

The methods that will be used to meet this purpose include:

One-on-one interview pre gap year experience

You are encouraged to ask questions or raise concerns at any time about the nature of the study or the methods that are being used.

Our discussions will be audio taped to help me accurately capture your insights in your own words. The tapes will only be heard by me for the purpose of this study. If you feel uncomfortable with the recorder, you may ask that it be turned off at any time.

You also have the right to withdraw from the study at anytime. In the event you choose to withdraw from the study all information you provide (including tapes) will be destroyed and omitted from the final study.

Insights gathered by you and other participants will be used in writing a qualitative research report. Though direct quotes from you may be used in the paper, your name and other identifying information will be kept anonymous.

By signing this consent form I certify that I agree to the terms of this agreement.

_____________________________ _____________________________ _________ (Print Name) (Signature) (Date)

(http://ling-blogs.bu.edu/lx540s11/files/2011/04/Informed-Consent-Examples.pdf

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Jessica, good work! Thanks for all your hard work on this. You have done an exceptional job and

demonstrated you have a strong understanding of research design. I think you chose nice articles

for the annotated bibliography and summarized them well. I would like to have seen you

formally state your research question and your significance. I hope you will find my comments

and suggestions useful as you work on future papers.

Paper: 26/30 points

Class points (including 1 point for discussion this week): 94.5/100

Class Grade: A

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