The Exploratory Factor Analysis of Undergraduate Students’ Dropout at Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study and analyze the factors that affect the dropout of undergraduate students at Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University using exploratory factor analysis technique. Data were collected from 280 samples between the academic year of 2015 and 2017. The research instrument was undergraduate students’ dropout questionnaires. The statistics used to analyze data comprising of percentage, mean, standard deviation, and exploratory factor analysis. The findings revealed that the factors that involved with the dropout of the students were divided into 5 parts. The first is institutional factor, which is composed of 13 variables that affect the dropout at 53.14%. The second is personal factor, which is composed of 14 variables that affect the dropout at 6.95%. The third is environmental factor, which is composed of 10 variables that affect the dropout at 6.28%. The forth is family factor, which is composed of 6 variables that affect the dropout at 2.81%. And the final is financial factor, which is composed of 2 variables that affect the dropout at 1.64%. When combining these all 5 factors together, they totally affect the dropout of students at 70.83%.