Coping with stress among post-graduate students at UNISA during research report writing

Abstract

Recent and past research on goal attainment emphasises the value of underlying factors impacting on student success. These studies either investigate psychological sub-dimensions or combine these with other factors to the factors impacting on student success Tinto (1975), Cope (1978), Fraser & Killen (2003) and(Okopi, 2011). It is against this background that this paper will investigate, describe and understand the coping mechanisms post-graduate students adopt in dealing with stress when writing research reports in an Open Distance Learning environment in South Africa. A census will be conducted among all the colleges whereby students will be invited to complete electronic web-based questionnaires by accessing a unique URL. At the end of the survey, the data will be downloaded to a statistical programme that is the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20 for tabulation and analysis. The results from this study are expected to improve understanding of stress and coping mechanisms adopted by post-graduate students at UNISA. The results should further be indispensable in the life design of programmes and initiatives to provide support to post-graduate students at UNISA.