Identification of the reasons behind students' lack of participation in classroom activities using a Delphi technique

Background: Participation is considered as a pivotal concept in understanding classroom instruction and development of critical thinking skills necessary for students. Students who actively participate in classroom settings will perform far more than those who do not. Therefore, it is important to establish a consensus about the underlying reasons for students' lack of participation in classroom activities as interpreted by faculty members. Methods: A Delphi technique was used in three rounds to obtain the perspectives of faculty members of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (KMU) concerning students’ lack of participation in class activities in 2014. A total of 13 expert panelists from diverse disciplines were invited to the study using purposive sampling. Content analysis ensured consensus on the identified reasons.  Results: In the first round, 78 reasons were identified by the panelists. After removing duplicates and similarities 52 reasons were obtained and categorized into 14 condensed units. In the second round, preliminary consensus was obtained and the included 14 factors were scored on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 to rank order them. In round three, final consensus was granted from all participants. Data were analyzed using content analysis and by obtaining the sum of answers, seven factors were highlighted as the most important. These included factors related to motivation (4.80), grading system (4.72), meaningful teaching (4.50), major influence (4.27), peers influence (4.13), challenging assignment (4.03), and environmental influence (4.00). Conclusion: Students' learning to a large extent is dependent upon their participation in the classroom. The identification of the reasons concerning students’ lack of participation in this study may help teachers arrange an environment to enrich dynamic learning for every learner to enthusiastically take part in classroom activities.