RUNNING HEAD: ADULT MOTIVATION 1

What Factors Motivates and Demotivates Adult Students within the Online Classroom?

Patrick Watson

Colorado State University

Introduction to Research Methods

May 6, 2018
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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
AREA OF FOCUS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT.......................................................................................... 4
LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................................... 5
ONLINE LEARNING CHALLENGES ..............................................................................................................................6
INFLUENTIAL FACTORS ..............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................................8
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..............................................................................................................................................9
RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................................................... 10
INFORMATION ON PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................................................................10
GATEKEEPERS .........................................................................................................................................................11
DATA COLLECTION..................................................................................................................................................12
RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................... 14
PARTICIPANTS .........................................................................................................................................................14
QUALITATIVE DATA ................................................................................................................................................16
DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 20
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................... 25
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................... 26
APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................................................... 27
APPENDIX B ..................................................................................................................................................... 28
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Abstract
This research study was aimed at learning the details of the what motivates and what

demotivates students. Specifically, the target population for this research was adult students

engaging in graduate studies online. As online graduate programs continue to grow we should

have a better understanding of how adult students accomplish their goals within continued

education. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the research

process to arrive at a conclusion. A total of nine participants were surveyed on how motivation

influences their online learning. The main attributes that were taken into account for the

purpose of studying a student’s motivation included; inclusion, involvement, attitude, and

competence. Students were asked to respond to various questions in a survey format on how

these four attributes contribute to their motivation to learn. It became apparent that online

students are truly motivated individuals who are able to sustain that motivation throughout

their graduate studies.

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Area of Focus and Problem Statement

There is a constant battle between the student and the ability to learn, which partially

finds its inception from the lack of motivation. When it comes to adult learners seeking formal

opportunities to learn, they often start with the motivation of earning a degree or for personal

development (Hubackova & Semradova, 2014). With the use of technology as a medium to

access education, new factors are playing into the role of sustained motivation that can affect the

overall learning process. When students are no longer required to physically attend class but

instead digitally commute to class, one might suggest that motivation might be affected.

Knowles (1980) inclined that “adults are mostly driven by internal motivation, rather than

external factors” (p. 7).

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Literature Review
Online education continues to grow within the adult education community. As this

community of online learners grow so are the programs that they are enrolling into (Yoo &

Wang, 2013). Within this growing field of education each student has their own set of

circumstances of which affect their education. One could argue that every aspect of their life

plays into their motivation, which can have an effect on that student’s education. Essentially any

event in a student’s life could be a motivating factor or a demotivating factor. This motivation

can therefore affect the students education in a positive or negative way, which can be crippling

or uplifting. Hubackova and Semradova (2014) recognize that for adult learners to continue their

education, outside factors play an important role in that dynamic including, “person’s

characteristic features, society’s climate and its relations with learning, environment and its

relationships, and life situations” (p. 2). Motivation can be affected by countless factors which

can be significantly distinctive among students.

This idea that motivation plays an important role in engagement among adult online

learners and how to increase motivation has been under investigated (Yoo & Wang, 2013). With

this poor understanding in online learner’s behaviors their performance in these classes may have

been comprised (Yoo & Wang, 2013). With little research being conducted on this topic there is

essentially no significant answer to the problem of why students lose motivation. There are many

different aspects as to what effects motivation and this research will attempt to gain a better

grasp on how motivation affects graduate students.

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Online Learning Challenges

There is still a lot of discussion as to what variety of students are successful in online

classes. Some research presents information stating that older students might be more suited for

online education in comparison to younger students (Ransdell, 2010). It is essential to be aware

that the adult student and younger student are different in this regard (Hubackova & Semradova,

2014). Online education is still relatively new, especially when compared to a traditional

classroom setting, with that comes a possible disconnection between the students and their

learning. Theories that apply to the traditional classroom setting might not be appropriate to

impose on a student who is an online learner. This distinction is significant, as this literature

review will explore what previous studies concluded on motivation and how it affects adult

learner’s engagement in online education.

As online learning requires more motivation provided by the learner, assuming an adult

student is more mature, adults have a higher ability to be self-motivating (Ransdell, 2010). Adult

students are steadier when it comes to being responsible and self-aware, essentially stating that

adult learners should be able to sustain their self-motivation. This higher level of self-motivation

can lead to deeper critical thinking, analysis, and discussion (Randell, 2010). On the contrary,

“there is some evidence that online learning requires even more learner motivation and self-

direction than traditional classroom-based instruction” (Randell, 2010, p. 1). This particular

study finds that adults have a high potential to be self-motivated and highly engaged, but some

students might be more motivated than others.

Online learning might be a more suitable option for adult students with busy lives, as

external factors can play such a critical role in sustained motivation. One study in particular

demonstrated from their research that adult learners use technology to their advantage to support
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their learning (Hashmin & Tan, 2015). It is also important to note that the same research also

concluded that adult learner’s intention to adopt online learning can originate from their attitude.

If the learner has a good attitude toward online learning, then they are more inclined to be

engaged in the material.

Influential factors

It is often believed that adult students engage in education opportunities with the goal of

working toward a promotion, but one study in particular discovered this to be baseless. The study

found that many students where engaged in online learning for a “sense of achievement, personal

satisfaction, a general love for learning, a deep interest in the course subject, and immediate

benefit in the workplace, not in terms of promotion or financial rewards but in having more

confidence would make studying worthwhile, despite time and work pressure” (Arthur & Tait,

2004, p. 9). By going back to school, students are attaining goals to reach their full potential

which could have been their initial motivation to engage in adult education to begin with. One of

the intriguing aspects of this particular study is how goal-oriented learning can have such a

profound effect on sustained motivation. Those students who identify something to work toward

achieved a higher level of self-motivation than those who did not, regardless of outside varying

factors (Arthur & Tait, 2004). In this study in particular the way a student coped with outside

stressors was a significant attribute in attaining motivation for learning. The research exhibited

that students who were raising children had the most difficult time coping (Arthur & Tait, 2004).

The researchers also identified that is was important for students who had full support of their

partner/ husband/ wife to be fundamental to any successful activity which involved learning

(Arthur & Tait, 2004). This puts extra emphasis on how extrinsic motivation can be a factor into
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the equation. This would be consistent with the research, that presented information which

indicated that the main influential factors of adult learners in higher education included;

emotional support, self- efficacy, time management, and learner autonomy (Yoo & Wang, 2013).

All these mentioned factors play an intricate role in the student’s motivation. As it has also been

noted that these outside factors influence the student’s engagement with the class which in turn

directly effects this motivation (Yoo & Wang, 2013).

Wlodkowski (2017) states that the four motivational conditions include; “inclusion,

attitude, meaning, and competence.” Adults will continue to be motivated to learn if these four

attributes are present in their education. All four of these attributes weigh on the fact that the

student must maintain responsibility for their learning if the motivation is to become consistent.

Wlodkowski presents that the learner is also, to a degree, dependent on the instructor for their

own motivation. As the learner’s engagement is often influenced by the instruction itself

(Wlodkowski, 2017). If the instructor does not foster an exceptional environment for learning it

can become very difficult for the learner to have continued motivation.

Conclusion

The focus of this research is to better understand how adult learners are either losing,

growing, or sustaining motivation. There are a lot of variables in play for upholding motivation,

therefore it is apparent that research using qualitative methods can come closer to seeing the

parallel between the learner and their intrinsic/ extrinsic motivation. As the research attempts to

conceptualize contributing factors of the adult learner for how motivation may be affected.

Research has already been conducted with the intention to identify variables based on hypothesis

that can relate to motivation fluctuations, but qualitative research as to why this occurs is not as
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prevalent. Administrators of these formal learning opportunities can use this data and analysis to

better incorporate learning objectives to sustain adult motivation to learn, with the goal of

continued motivation throughout the students learning experience. To better develop course

material that will keep the learners engaged on that such material, as well as possible strategies

to better enhance adult’s motivation that can be fueled by the instructor.

Research Questions

The questions that this research will try to answer include; What motivates and

demotivates online students in regard to their education as an adult student? How important are

outside factors contributing to either an increase or decrease in motivation? Is there one

significant reason as to why students lose or maintain motivation, what is that reason?
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Research Methods
A quantitative research method was utilized to represent the data for this research study.

A survey research design was instituted to properly identify interrelationship of variables to learn

about a particular population (Creswell, 2015). Within the survey itself the use of general open-

ended and closed ended interview/ questionnaire inquiries geared toward understanding the

motivation of students indicates that a quantitative research method is most appropriate. The

research study will be looking at the intangibles of motivation within graduate students, more

predominately what motivates them and what demotivates them.

Information on Participants

The participants used in this study comprise of graduate students at Colorado State

University. More specifically the classes included, EDAE 624: Adult Teaching and Learning and

EDAE 520: Adult Education. With the focus being on graduate student’s motivation in particular

this sample perfectly represents the population the study seeks to research. More specifically,

these graduate students partaking in this research will be online students. With the growing

popularity of online learning, especially for graduate programs, it makes sense to identify this

population as significant to research.

These students vary in age, gender, location, and years of experience related to their

profession. Every student in the study at least has completed their bachelor’s degree, but no

uniform background or bachelor’s degree exists among students. With this diverse background

the research will be able to widen the scope to many different personalities within just two

separate classrooms of participants.

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Before entering the official questionnaire, participants were asked permission for the

purpose of participating in this study (see Appendix A for survey permission prompt). The

course instructors will disperse the questionnaire to the students, once they open the

questionnaire they must agree to release their answers to the researcher for data collection

purposes. All answers given by participants will remain anonymous. Course instructors will be

able to disperse the link which includes the survey to the class. With the student’s permission

they will then be able to proceed to the official questionnaire, where their responses to the

questions will be recorded and collected for data analysis.

Gatekeepers

Participants for the research where selected with the aid of a gatekeeper who provided

initial information on who to contact. This initial gatekeeper I contacted is my current professor

at Colorado State University who provided contact information for the professors of students

whom I was interested in researching. I then contacted that second round of gatekeepers and

from there I was granted access to these students.

To help gain access to the students the gatekeepers of this research included two

professors within the Adult Education and Training Graduate Program at Colorado State

University. By contacting the professors of two particular classes within this graduate program

the access to homogeneous sampling could take place (Creswell, 2015). The study requires that

graduate students take part in a questionnaire like survey and this process can only take place

through these gatekeepers.

Permission was gained through an email sent to both professors, within the email was a

description of the study, who the sample of the study included, and formal permission to access
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the students (see Appendix B for email). Both professors did grant access to these students in

their respected classes for the study by replying to my email, the professors also graciously

offered to post the questionnaire on Canvas for the students to participate.

Data Collection

An online questionnaire utilizing quantitative methods has been identified as the most

appropriate method for data collection. This questionnaire will be distributed using Google

Forms, to build the survey and to collect the data. Although there is no time limit to complete the

survey, participants on average should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to fully complete. At

the same time this questionnaire will take the mold of an interview, using open ended and closed

ended questions that should be thought provoking. This questionnaire essentially takes the place

of either an in-person interview or an interview over the telephone. Answers from the

questionnaire will be collected and reviewed by the researcher for patterns, differences, and

unified answers between students to help answer the research question. There are many different

variables to what motivates and what demotivates students, so correlating these variables would

be applicable for a survey research design.

Closed ended questions are important to include within this research to “net useful

information to support theories and concepts in the literature” (Creswell, 2015, p. 219). To

elaborate on the close ended questions, an open-ended question will follow to explore those ideas

more thoroughly. The process of the questionnaire will be to start with a closed ended question

which will establish a theme, that will then be followed up by an open-ended response that

should shed more light on that theme. For these questions to elicit a reaction from the participant

they must “ensure clarity of meaning, avoid possible misinterpretations, and determine whether
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the items elicit sufficient variance in responses” (Moy & Murphy, 2016, p. 21). Data will be

collected from these questions where overlapping similarities will be identified to then be

analyzed. Depending on how detailed the responses are to questions will determine how long a

participant takes to finish the survey.

The survey will be focused around the four attributes as described by Wlodkowski (2008)

that expresses motivation in adult students which include; how inclusion fosters involvement,

how attitude influences behavior, how meaning sustains involvement, and how competence build

confidence. These four-motivational condition’s will be the framework for the survey questions.

Participants will be asked on a 5-point scale is they agree or disagree to a statement, from there

they will then be asked to explain their reasoning. These scores will be tallied up to assess the

motivational level of the student when it comes to their education. With the open-ended

response, the participants will be able to explain their reasoning and what factors play into their

motivational status.
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Results
Participants

Out of 24 possible participants, a total of n=9 students participated in this research study.

All nine participants were students in the Adult Education and Training Master Program at

Colorado State University, all of the participants were first year students. Every participant had

previous higher education, as a requirement to enter the graduate program is a bachelor’s degree.

Narrative: The first attribute that participants will

Narrative: These questions were designed to
get a basic idea of where the participant
currently stood in regard to their motivation
level. This baseline will be used to compare
the participants motivation level when in
comparison to the other attributes of
motivation. Every participant identified
themselves as a motivated individual and a
majority of the participants did not “agree”
that they were losing motivation.
be asked to answer questions on is inclusion. A
high majority of participants stated that the
classroom was a respectful and friendly
environment and that the instructor respected
their opinions. A key aspect of inclusion is actively
engaging with the class, which every participant
either selected “agree” or “strongly agree”. One
clear and obvious delineation between online
versus a traditional classroom is the student
instructor communication. Participants in the
survey were not concerned about this difference
in communication.

Narrative: Not only do participants in this
research apply a good attitude toward
learning, but they are also applying what
they learn to their professional career. One
interesting aspect of this specific data is
how other students can affect each other’s
attitudes toward learning. When asked if
this was the case, 75% of respondents
“agree” that other students do indeed
affect their attitude toward learning.
15
Narrative: One significant finding within this data set
is the high percentage of participants who do not
have a difficult time passing assignments in on time.
In combination with a high number of participants
who feel that their personal responsibilities get in the
way of their education. Participants also engage with
the material on a daily basis and they view this as
vital to their success.
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Narrative: Participants in the survey identified

that their graduate studies contribute to their
future within their professional career or to
what they value. They are also using the
material they learn in present time within their
profession career. Participants in the survey
also suggested that as students’ progress
through there graduate studies program
competence increases, which may play a role in
motivation.

Qualitative Data

There were three sections within the survey where students were asked to elaborate on

specific details entailing those questions. The purpose of these open-ended questions was to gain

a better perspective on what may or may not motivate a student. The responses by each
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participant where analyzed and major themes from these responses were identified. Answers that

were common or occurred in a pattern between respondents were classified as themes.

Question 1:

Please explain how not being able to engage with your instructor (in the traditional sense)

affects your motivation to learn? If it does not then please explain, why it does not?

Themes Narrative Quote

Distance Distance signifies the distant “They don’t know me as a
relationship that some person, nor do I”
participants felt existed
between the student and the “Still like teacher feedback so
instructor. This being I miss that”
compared to a traditional
classroom setting where there
is often face to face
interaction between the
student and the instructor.
Virtual Online classrooms do not “still able to contact and
physically exist but in virtual communicate……. using
space. Communication is still virtual means”
viable but only through
means of virtual accessibility. “it does not affect my
This can be achieved through mission……available for
email, phone call, or any calls, email, and other forms
virtual means of of communication”
communication.

Daily Communication This theme was identified as “I am more enabled to

a positive for online learning.
Participants felt that
instructors where more
available to communicate
with. Participants did not feel
that online learning disabled
them from communicating
with their instructor.
contact….. I can send an
email any time of the day”
“Difficult to always log in
every day without having to
interact directly with an
instructor every day”
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Question 2:

What would be the determining factor(s) as to why I do/ do not have a good attitude

when engaging with the learning?

Themes Narrative Quote

Respect This was identified as a “Ability to engage in

positive and negative theme. respectful conversation is the
A significant aspect of online main factor”
learning is the open
discussion that takes place of “I’d like to see more
the physical classroom. This respectful testing of each
is where students engage with other’s ideas”
the material and with one
another. Some participants
responded with a trend
toward respect between
students and some responded
with a trend wishing to see
more respect between
students.
Environment Students who engage and “Tone is completely lost in
“talk” with one another do so the online medium”
in this discussion board. This “Life Influences”
creates the environment “Feeling like it’s a safe
within the classroom. environment”

Question 3:
What outside contributing factors play the largest role in becoming uninvolved with the
class as a whole?
Themes Narrative
Family Many participants identified
that family was a big
influence on their education.
That this was the main reason
as to why they might become
uninvolved the class material.
Time Limitations Online students much
continually balance between
their life outside of education
and education itself. It
became apparent that one of
the challenges of online
education for many students
was time limitations. Finding
the time in the day to
complete the required work
may be a challenge for some
online students.
19
Quote
“Family and work”
“Family, career, time limited”
“Family and work
obligations”
“Life!! Work and family”
“my job has immediacy and
urgency”
“exhausting (work) and takes
up time”
“Personal responsibilities I
have going on at that time”
“divide my time to complete
it (work)”
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Discussion
The goal of this research was to better understand what motivates and demotivates online

students. To better quantity the attributes of a motivated online learner the results of the research

study will be analyzed and discussed to better understand the implications to the problem. For

the research study four distinct attributes where recognized and students where asked questions

regarding the following four attributes; inclusion, attitude, involvement, and competence. Each

attribute will be discussed and analyzed separately.

To begin, every student who participated in the study identified themselves as a

motivated learner. With 44.4% of the participants selecting “agree” and 55.6% of participants

selecting “strongly agree” when asked if they would describe themselves as motivated or not.

Adult learners have the ability to be self-motivating, as they are often steadier when it comes to

being responsible and self-aware (Ransdell, 2010). When asked if their motivation had decreased

since the start of graduate school, 44.4% of respondents “strongly disagreed”. This to go along

with 22.2% of respondents who “agreed” and 22.2% of respondents who identified that they

struggled to complete the assigned work in on time. This would represent a trend toward students

who generally are consistently motivated and showing no significant signs of fatigue, as 77.8%

of students do not struggle to complete the assigned work.

The learner’s engagement is often influenced by the instruction itself, which can have

influence over a student’s motivation if they do not feel that the classroom is an inclusive

environment (Wlodkowski, 2017). Not one participant in the study believed that the classroom

was disrespectful or unfriendly, toward both classmates and instructors. Every participant

believed that they had a voice within the class that could be heard, which allowed them to

become more engaged with the material.

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One significant difference between online and a traditional classroom setting is in the

way a student communicates with their instructor. Participants who responded did not look at the

inability to communicate with their instructor in a traditional sense as a limitation to their

learning. 44.4% of participants disagreed and 11.1% of participants strongly disagreed that they

were concerned about the difference in communication between a student and the instructor. This

would lead to the acknowledgement that students who participate in online learning are not

feeling the physical distance of distance education. Online learners still are being engaged with

the material and with each other regardless of the fact that the actual classroom is virtual.

Arthur & Tait (2004) identified that students who were engaged with online learning did

so for an “immediate benefit in the workplace, not in terms of promotion or financial rewards but

in having more confidence would make studying worthwhile, despite time and work pressure”

(pg. 12). The research conducted would agree with that statement as 88.9% of participants

“strongly agree” that they apply their own experiences to their education and 88.9% of

participants believe that their graduate program is relevant to their professional career. Not only

are students being motivated by their own learning, they are also being motivated by each other’s

positive attitude toward learning. As 75% of participants “agree” that other students in class

effect their attitude toward learning and 88.9% of participants have a positive attitude toward

learning when actively engaging in the material. Students enroll in graduate programs with the

correlation of being relevant to their professional career. Not to mention how other student’s

positive attitude toward learning effects the general class as a whole. Each other’s individual

motivation can have a profound effect on a group of learners who are collectively working

toward a common goal within their own professional lives. This can create a domino effect of

positive attitudes toward learning that is created by relevancy to the student’s professional career.
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There is no doubt that one of the more important factors that can influence motivation is

involvement. It would be difficult to be able to sustain motivation without also sustaining

involvement. Participants in the research displayed that even though their own personal

responsibilities may affect their education, it does not limit their involvement on a daily basis

with the material. 66.7% of participants engage with the material on a daily basis and believe this

to be vital to their success in regard to their learning. At the same time, 55.5% of participants feel

that their personal responsibilities get in the way of their education. This all adds up to students

not losing interest in the class material, which feeds their involvement and in turn their

motivation.

Participants in the study purposefully selected their graduate program for the purpose of

their studies being relevant to their professional careers. This would be an indication for the

initial motivation of the student. Now as the student becomes more involved with the material

they begin to apply this newly acquired knowledge to their professional career, creating a

reciprocal equilibrium. 88.9% of participants feel that they are confident in their work, 62.5% of

participants actively use the material they are learning in their professional career. If a student

does not feel confident in their own work, then they will not apply that work in a professional

setting. Students not only are feeling confident in their work but are also feeling more confident

as they progress through their graduate program.

One specific finding the research was able to identify from the study could have

implications on instructors as well. Only 44.4% of participants in the study “agreed” that

instructors help work through problems experienced within the material. This along with the

possible impersonal setting of online education might indicate that more value should be stocked

in the development, facilitation of the course, and the environment in which instructors create
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rather than the instructors own expert knowledge on the subject. More specifically when it comes

to online education instructors might not be as valuable when physically lecturing the course, but

more so in how the course is designed. Expertise of the instructor within the course work was

identified as a motivating factor for students by Raymond J. Wlodkowski, but this might be a

moot point in terms of online education. Students are not as inclined to ask questions in an online

class in comparison to a traditional classroom. In essence the actual physical design of the class

might have a larger presence in student motivation than the actual instructor. It is not understood

if the expertise in the subject matter and the design of the course go hand in hand, as this might

be different when conducting research on students who are not enrolled within a Master of

Education program. This would lead to the implication for a future research and a limitation

within this research study.

One of the disadvantages of a survey design is how “considerable variance can exist in

the degree to which respondents comprehend, retrieve, judge, and respond accurately” (Moy &

Murphy, 2016, p. 19). Some participants in the study were more involved with the questions than

others and provided more considerable answers. The online nature of this survey also did not

guarantee a high volume of participant involvement. These limitations were indeed a factor when

analyzing the data, as there was a limited number of participants. When conducting future

research, a larger outreach for student participation should be taken into account.

Research questions that where presented at the start of the research study were affectively

answered, as discussed above. More research can be done to better understand students who are

engaging with an online classroom. Such as how students digest the material and how students

can better recognize what is important to them. As this classroom setting continues to grow it is

important for the student’s voice to be heard and not get lost in the shuffle. It has become clearly
 24

apparent that each of the four attributes of motivation that where studied in this research affect

one another. At times it can be difficult to separate and give distinctions to each, which was why

questions concerning each attribute where not asked separately but as one collective unit.

Themes that were identified as contributing factors that played a role in the student’s engagement

with the course material should be taken into consideration for future research. Understanding

specific qualities of what effects students outside the classroom might lead to indications for

enhanced facilitation of the material. The specific purpose of this research was to better

understand what motivates and demotivates adult online learners and the research was able to

determine such factors. Each student is different in their own respect, but trends in motivation

between students were identified.

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Conclusion
In reference to the data there is very little evidence that online students are unmotivated

or even losing motivation throughout the course. One of the goals of the research was to identify

contributing factors that play a role in a student losing motivation to learn. Once the data was

collected it was apparent that daily aspects of life for an adult might get in the way of their

education, but it is not a reason for a decrease in motivation. In fact, there was no evidence that

this hindered students from completing their course work on time. When analyzing the data, it

became apparent that if students where to lose motivation it would be attributed to a student’s

performance suffering within the class or if they did not deem the course work relevant to their

professional career.

Adult online learners have been proven to be highly motivated individuals who apply

their growing knowledge to their professional career. In the end the research identified this to be

the largest contributing factor to motivation for adult students. Another significant aspect of

online learning is how the class as a whole can motivate each other. A large percentage of the

participants in the study identified that the class environment was important to them being

engaged with the learning. When other students have a positive attitude toward learning and a

high drive to learn it can create an infectious environment between the students. Which leads to

the aspect of how important the design of the course can become. With a strong infrastructure,

students are able to engage with the material more effectively which undoubtedly effects the

student’s engagement with the learning. For adult students engaging in post graduate studies,

research would indicate that there is no significant factor that plays into universal demotivation

and there are significant factors that play into universal motivation for students as discussed.
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Appendix A
Introduction Permission Page for Research Survey
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Appendix B

Email to Gatekeepers/ Instructors

Gatekeeper 1,

Good evening, my name is Patrick Watson and I am a grad student here at CSU. I am currently
enrolled in EDU 600 where we are in the middle of conducting our research study.

I am emailing you this evening to ask permission to survey your students in EDAE 624 for the
purpose of this research.

The specific focus of this research is to understand the motivation of adult learners participating
in an online masters program and what keeps adults motivated or demotivated to continue/
discontinue there education.

I hope this email finds you well! And I look forward to hopefully working with the students of
EDAE 624!

Thank you!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gatekeeper 2,

Good evening, my name is Patrick Watson and I am a grad student here at CSU. I am currently
enrolled in EDU 600 where we are in the middle of conducting our research study.

I am emailing you this evening to ask permission to survey your students in EDAE 520 for the
purpose of this research.

The specific focus of this research is to understand the motivation of adult learners participating
in an online masters program and what keeps adults motivated or demotivated to continue/
discontinue there education.

I hope this email finds you well! And I look forward to hopefully working with the students of
EDAE 520!

Thank you!
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