Factors that Deter Enlisted Personnel in Army Military Intelligence to Obtain a College Degree
Open AccessFactors that Deter Enlisted Personnel in Army Military Intelligence to Obtain a College Degree The purpose of this convergent, mixed-methods study was to identify the factors that deter United States Army mid to senior level enlisted service members within the Military Intelligence (MI) to obtain a college degree. The literature shows that service members transitioning out of the military face greater challenges than their civilian counterparts in securing employment. In this study, the researcher collected data through quantitative survey (DPS-G), and a focus group interview. Using the data from the quantitative survey, logistic regression analysis was conducted to test the study’s hypothesis and answer its research questions on factors that deterred mid-senior NCO’s in Military Intelligence from obtaining a college degree. The results of the simple logistic regression indicate that lack of self-confidence, lack of course relevance, time constraints, cost, personal priority, and personal problems were not statistically significant predictors of participating in formal education. From the multiple logistic regression, personal problems when measured alongside with time was a statistically significant predictor of participating in formal education. The qualitative data was analyzed using a thematic method and the four themes that emerged were time constraints, lack of self-confidence, personal priority, and lack of interest. The integration of the data from the quantitative and qualitative phases of the study revealed that the lack of participation in formal education may be as a result of lack of interest and not deterrents as previously reported. An explanation of this findings could be that the lack of interest and prioritization on the parts of the service members was because they did not see the value that formal education brings in the short term. Many of the participants were at the mid-point of their career and felt secure in the knowledge that they had a guaranteed source of income so therefore were not interested in participating in formal education. The study concludes with implications for practice related to communicating the value of formal education and the need to prioritize, and recommendations for future research related to studying a different sub-group of the population as well as those that have completed formal education.
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