Distance as a Barrier and Online Learning: A Qualitative Phenomenological Case Study on Challenges of Doctoral Students in Distance Education

Author(s) : Fareed ul Hassan, Dr. Syed Abdul Waheed, Dr. Nadia Gilani

Abstract:

The present qualitative research focused on exploring the challenges and barriers confronted by
doctoral students in distance education. The study was conducted on doctoral students of a
public sector distance education university in Pakistan and employed a phenomenological case
study approach. The study included three focus group interviews and sixteen semi-structured
interviews with distance doctoral students, who were selected through snowball sampling.
Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to analyze the data gathered through the interviews. The
findings showed that doctoral students encountered different difficulties in the context of
distance and online learning. To address these challenges faced by doctoral students, organizing
on-campus face-to-face workshops during summer and winter vacations and implementing a
training session on network troubleshooting before conducting regular seminars, would
alleviate the difficulties experienced by distance learners. This research is anticipated to bring
about various reforms to minimize the challenges encountered by distance doctoral students.
Keyword: Online learning, distance barriers, distance education, digital learning,
phenomenological case study.