TDNet Discover

In response to the problem of rapid increases in higher education offering more programs in a hybrid format after COVID-19, educators questioned the best way to make these changes in delivery in such fields as health sciences and specifically with students in an associate degree program of science radiologic science. To achieve an answer, this quantitative study aimed to compare two radiography program outcomes of first-time board pass rates and retention in traditional and hybrid associate degree radiologic science programs concerning a 5-year average (2018-2022) of first-time American Registry of Radiologic Examination pass rates for radiologic science programs in the United States. The independent variable for the study was one distinguishing hybrid from traditional, on-ground radiologic science programs, which analyzes radiologic science programs through the theoretical lenses explicated by Tinto (1975) and Kolb (1984). The statistical procedure of a t-test was used to determine if any statistically significant differences exist between these outcomes and these two types of program delivery methods. The study's results did not support the theory-driven hypotheses of a statistically significant difference between hybrid and traditional, on-ground radiologic science programs for either of the dependent variables. The probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the null hypothesis is true for the five-year average first-time pass rate dependent variable was .94, which means that the result for the first research question strongly opposed the alternative hypothesis. The findings suggested no significant relationship between hybrid on-ground program retention and traditional on-ground program retention from 2018- 2022 regarding retention rates in the United States.