The Failing Process of the University Entrance Applicants based on Grounded Theory

This study aimed to draw a conceptual model of the failing process of the university entrance applicants. The study was carried out by qualitative method and grounded theory. In this study, the statistical population was all the applicants who had failed the university entrance exam 2020 in different fields of study, in Khodabandeh city, Iran. To this end, 12 applicants of the university entrance exam 2020 in different fields were selected by purposive sampling. They had failed the examination once or twice before. The data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interview. To analyze the data, first, the study used open and axial coding to place the relevant categories into a paradigm model, which is casual factors, contextual, confounding, strategies and consequences. Then, the main category of the research was extracted in the selective coding phase. The results of the research identified 110 sub-themes and 18 main themes. The main category extracted from the themes was "motivation of success in the university entrance exam". This study drew the conceptual model and identified the components related to the failing and how they interact with each other. The results indicated that motivation of the success could link the causal factors, contextual, confounding and strategies.