Date of Award
2009
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to interpret the meaning found throughout the formal educational experience stories of Native American, Asian American, and African American women born after 1944, who had earned an education doctorate degree after 1976, and were working with adults in an educational capacity within the community. Utilizing the snowball technique, 14 participants from across the United States volunteered to collaborate with the researcher. The study's conceptual framework included adult learning principles and practices, Nussbaum's 'narrative imagination,' which were used to examine the women's motivation to participate in an education doctorate program as well as the barriers, the enhancers, and the application of the degree in the community. Data collected included an in-depth, face-to-face interview, two reflective narrative guides, document analysis, and researcher journals and analytic memos. All data was coded and analyzed with Atlas -ti 5.0 software, and thematic analyses completed in order to triangulate the data. Six major themes for motivation to participate were found: self-awareness through placement in the family, family and community expectation in importance of education, personal strengths and weaknesses, perceived differences in the classroom and mainstream society, and knowledge of motivation to pursue doctorate. Five barriers emerged: racism, gender, advisers, institutional changes and problems, and juggling multiple roles in limited time. Five main enhancers arose: family and community foundation, financial, friends, and others which motivated participation.
Extent
xx, 384 p. : ill.
Recommended Citation
Bamdas, Jo Ann, "Emerging narratives of Native American, Asian American, and African American women in middle adulthood with an education doctorate degree" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1667.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1667
Identifier
FADT186326
Comments
by Jo Ann Marie Bamdas.|Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Jo Ann Marie Bamdas.