Developing An Academic Success Model: A Qualitative Study

The aim of the present study, which is done qualitatively, is to develop a conceptual model of academic success for the first-year high school students. To do so, the data required were gathered through interview and reviewing the related literature. The research population consisted of the parents of successful students, the instructors and the specialists of psychology and counseling as well as the related literature. The sampling was purposeful so that unless new information is gained, the sampling may terminate. The sample included 40 successful students’ parents, 15 instructors and 15 specialists of psychology and counseling participating in a semi-structured interview. Additionally, the related literature consisted of books, theses, and the available published papers from 1990 to 2014. Data obtained from the interview and literature review were analyzed through the grounded theory and qualitative content analysis method, respectively, and the main categories of academic success were extracted. Then, the factors affecting the academic success were encoded into four main categories, each containing some subcategories. The main obtained categories are: 1. Consistent personal factors including subcategories of intelligence, personality and interest; 2. Inconsistent personal factors including academic self-concept, academic self-efficacy, academic engagement, academic procrastination, academic skills, achievement motivation, career adaptability, emotional intelligence; 3. Family factors including parenting style, paternal involvement, attachment and socioeconomic status; 4. Factors related to the academic atmosphere including students’ perception of school environment and society.