SQ4

For SQ4, please review the 2nd draft of the student learning and studying behaviors survey. Consider any wording that may still need to be modified and answer options that need to be further developed. I have left some notes in caps on questions that the class was split on.

In addition, we need to define ‘studying’ and ‘assignments’ for our participants. If you have an idea of how these can be defined, please also post that here.

You don’t need to address every single question in your SQ response. Focus on what sticks out to you and what may need more work. I think it might be best to post your responses directly on the blog, rather than in individual word docs, but I leave it up to you to decide how you want to respond to the SQ.

Survey draft version 2

30 thoughts on “SQ4”

  1. 7.) This question is fine, but I believe there should be a question after this if the answer is yes. I believe the mode of how someone takes notes also affects their learning style (hand-written, laptop, recording, etc.)

    15.) I believe the question should be changed to, “What is your preferred studying location?” Choices: A. The library, B. At home, C. While traveling (public transportation maybe?), D. Another location, maybe cafe, Starbucks?

    16.) I believe this question should be kept. Music can help/hinder one’s studying habits.

    21.) I believe this question should be kept. It plays a role in how well you manage your time and also keep up with your studying and schoolwork.

    Studying: devoting time to study a topic or subject in more detail in order to further understand.

    Assignment: a task provided by a professor to be completed in full by a certain deadline.

    1. Jayanti,

      I agree with your response to #7. How a person chooses to take notes could give insight on their learning style and this could also have a relationship with a certain personality trait. I also think your question for #15 could be relevant to the study. Asking an individual if they study in a quiet place helps us understand how much noise the student can tolerate while studying, but it doesn’t give us much information on their learning style.

    2. Hi Jayanti,

      I agree with your response for question #7. The way a student takes notes can give us some insight on personality traits and if their preference affects their academic performance. For question #15, I don’t think that it is relevant to know specifically which location as long as we know that it is a quiet place to study or not. I also really like your definitions for studying and assignments and agree with your responses for questions #16 and #21.

  2. Studying should be defined as dedicating a significant amount of time reviewing the material for a given class or spending a significant amount of time learning new material for a given class.

    Assignments should be defined as any task given to students with a due date or deadline.

    4) I think we need to define what it means to “plan ahead.” Planning ahead could refer to planning a week in advance or two days in advance—there should be a time frame.

    7) I think how often a person takes notes depends on the class itself. In some classes, students do not need to take any notes while in other classes they may need to.

    14) Again, I think participation and involvement in class discussions depends on the class itself. Students may feel more comfortable to speak in some classes more than others.

    16) I think this question should be kept. Listening to music while studying is a learning style that could be correlated with a personality trait.

    18) We should specify when the assignment is due.

    21) We should keep this because having a job might impact how often a student studies.

    1. Afifa,
      I really liked the definitions that you gave for studying and assignments. I agree with your response to questions #7 and #14. How often a student takes notes or participates, is dependent on the class that they are in. I also agree with #21 because depending on how much a student works, has an influence on how much time they have to study and how much time they put aside for completing assignments.

    2. I disagree, I think 7 and 14 are acceptable without the need to consider the differences in classes. The main objective of those questions are to learn the learning habits and participation habits. Classes do vary and are subject to situational behavior differences but I think the main point of the question is to determine whether or not the person makes it a habit to write notes (though the question should include what types of note taking is being considered) and participate in class (participation can be in the form of joining in group discussions or just asking questions, so the question should specify what participation is considered.

  3. 4) Plan ahead needs to be defined. Planning ahead can mean that you devote time in your schedule to complete the assignment or it can mean you sit down and outline your assignment multiple days in advance.

    7) Taking notes depends on the class so maybe it should read “On average, how often do you take notes in your classes?” Also, I think a separate question should ask “How do you take your notes? A) writing by hand B) typing on the computer C) using a tablet D) Other ____

    15) This question can say, “Where do you prefer to study? A) at the library B) at home C) at a café D) Other ___. I think that where a person feels they do their best studying tells about their personality.

    16) I think this should be kept because music can have an influence on learning style and personality.

    18) When the assignment is due should be specified and what is considered an assignment. I think that assignment should be defined as: a task that is assigned as part of your course material

    19) I think ranges should be given for this question, for example: a) 4.0+ b) 3.0-3.99 c) 2.00-2.99 d) 1.00-1.99 3) less than 1.00

    21) Should be kept because depending on if and how much they work, can show time management skills

    1. Hi Simona,

      I agree with your suggestion to question #19. Maybe it is better to give multiple choice option for the GPA as opposed to leaving it as an open-ended answer. I also agree with defining what plan ahead means since it can mean different things to different people.

  4. 9. a) Visual Learning
    b) Auditory Learning
    c) Kinesthetic Learning (Hands-On)
    d) Reading/Writing Learning

    16. This question should be kept. It’s relevant to a student’s studying habits and can alter their mood which can affect the way that they tackle their work.

    20. I suggest that we use freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, post bac. instead because some people might have a hard time keeping track of the number of year and would prefer them nominally, maybe?

    21. We should definitely keep this question because the amount of time a student dedicates to school is definitely altered by outside factors such as work, family, social life, etc.

    Overall, the rest of the questions look pretty sound and easy to understand.

    Studying: The time students devote on their own to go over notes and topics from class in order to further their knowledge. (I believe that we have to emphasize that it is on their own because it is up to the student to further their understanding outside of class as well in order to succeed in academics.)

    Assignments: The work that is assigned to a student by a teacher to be completed outside of class and is expected to be completed by a certain due date.

    1. Hi Elif,

      Regarding question #20, I agree with you in using freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior instead of the actual years in school. It would be easier for the participants to know, according to their number of completed credits, in which category they fall into. Like you, I also believe that using nouns would enhance clarity.

      Good thinking!

      1. Hello guys,
        I definitely agree with both of you. Using freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior will make it easier for the participants to answer the question. Nominal data is also very straight foward and it also agree with how nouns will enhance clarity.

  5. I believe assignment can be defined as “homework, papers, and online quizzes”. Studying may be defined as “reviewing material of a class, possibly in preparation for a quiz or exam.”

    4) I think this question is fine but maybe someone will wonder how far ahead in planning (ex: several days, one week, several weeks?)

    16) This question should be kept. I think it would be helpful to compare the personality styles to their preference of music during studying, as well as to their overall GPA.

    18) I like this question but I feel like people can experience different levels of stress depending on the type of assignment they have. I feel like this needs to be clarified in the question.

    19) I think it needs to be clear whether or not the GPA is their most recent one from the semester or their overall cumulative GPA up to that point.

    20) I feel like this can be difficult to answer for some students. It might be helpful to use Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. In addition, I think it would be helpful to add an “Other” option because some students—usually those who came to Hunter with Associate’s degrees— aren’t really sure what year they are.

    21) I think this question is important to keep. We can see if there is a relationship between personality and those who choose to work while in school, and how that affects their academic performance. (Also maybe it would help to know whether they are in school full-time or not?)

  6. Hello everyone,

    Here are my suggestions for the survey:

    9) We need to provide a list of different learning styles for the participants to choose from.

    20) Personally, I believe that it would be more practical to use: freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior instead of years.

    Having asked if the participant prefers to study in a quiet place, I don’t think is necessary to have question #16.

    Studying is voluntarily dedicating time and effort to the acquisition of knowledge on any given subject through reading or practice.

    An assignment is a task given by a professor to be completed outside an academic institution.

  7. An assignment should be operationally defined as work related to school which includes homework, papers, quizzes, writing notes.

    Studying should be operationally defined as the student devoting extra time to read notes or book content in preparation for future exams or to simply acquire knowledge.

    I suggest that for the questions who have the answer options ranging from (1-5) we should define what 2, 3 and 4 mean and not just 1 and 5.
    I.e 1 (Very Comfortable) 2 (Comfortable) 3 (Not sure) 4 (Uncomfortable) 5 (Very uncomfortable)

    For #9 the options for visual learning should be: Physical learner, Auditory learner, and Visual learner.

    I do feel like music is relevant to how one studies or completes an assignment. I personally enjoy listening to soft classical music simply because I feel like its an enhancement to the way I study or finish work. Question #16 should stay because I think in the end it may prove something and help us with our findings.

    For the question regarding having a job (#21), I do think its relevant because it can have an effect on the effort one is able to put into their school work. In this case, not only can your personality affect your studying habits but having a job can do so as well. Then again, our findings are not based on wether a job affects scholarly habits but instead based on personality.

    #20 I do not see a problem with having the 1st year, 2nd-year… ect., but if Freshman, Sophomore… etc. works better then we can do that as well.

  8. Some suggestions:
    I believe most questions in this draft are relevant for the survey.
    We should define assignments like paperwork, homework, online hw or notes.
    9) We should come up with a list of type of learning style common amongs college students. ( We can discuss in class what these style can be)
    16) I do not think we should have this questions since it is not relevant to our study. But if we do end up putting this question we should keep it like (1-5) like the other questions.

  9. Studying should be defined as time spent working on understanding a particular subject through the means of homework, readings, or general research on the subject.

    Assignments should be defined as mandatory allocations of work that have to be done by a particular time/due date.

    16) I don’t think that question is relevant to studying the relationship between personality and procrastination behaviors.
    I think we should remove it from the study.

    21) I think this question should be kept because that way we can monitor what other factors cause students to work on assignments last minute.

    1. Hey Faiza, I like your definitions. I agree that number 21 should be kept because jobs may distract students from studying and affect their learning styles. Also, take a look at my comment on number 16 as it differs from yours.

  10. Jayanti,

    I agree with your opinion regarding number 7 and adding an additional question. I believe it is important to know what style of note taking they choose. Maybe we can add a question building off of that about whether or not they choose to just listen in class and then take the notes outside of the classroom.

  11. Thoughts on the survey:
    Regarding question 7, I think there should be a follow-up question about what type of not taking tactics they use. An example could be in a multiple-choice question: “What is your note-taking preference?: a. Writing b. typing c. recording”
    I also think it would be cool to ask if they tend or prefer to take notes in class, or at home. Personally, I try to listen in class and then catch up on my notes at home.
    I vote for keeping question 16 and 21. 21 is important because it could show if they are able to juggle working as well as being a student.

    I also think we should add a question about if they are a part-time or full-time student. Other than these points, I think the survey came out great!!

  12. Assignment can be defined as work given by a professor that has a fixed due date.
    Studying can be considered as preparing for an exam.
    9. Learning styles- some options you might be able to use:
    Memorization, Understanding what you are studying, Visually studying (watching videos, or writing things out in order to learn it) orally learning (reading out loud) etc.
    16. Music can be an essential part of one’s studying routine, so I think it is relevant to include it. However I feel like its randomly placed onto the survey, maybe another question about music and learning should be added? for example: “What type of music do you listen to while studying?”- this might help us get a sense of how students incorporate music into their studying session. Also we might want to know if music distracts them or helps them focus, because some people might say they do listen to music but might focus on the music rather than getting their work done (I sometimes find myself getting distracted when my favorite song plays, but most of the time I do listen to music while studying).
    Overall, the survey is easy to read.

  13. Studying can be defined as the amount of time spent on understanding and memorizing material for a specific or range of subjects. Assignments can be defined as homework, classwork, worksheets and other written or reading materials through which a person can accumulate knowledge or understand a certain concept.

    Questions 10 and 11 seem similar so maybe only one should be kept.
    9) I think a learning style that can be online, in person as in in a classroom, in person and online (hybrid), or even just self-studying.
    21) I personally think this question doesn’t really serve relevance to the entire questionnaire or the topic at hand. It can help determine how students split their time but if an assignment is due or they have an exam, they’d do it regardless of their job.

  14. Assignment – A task such as a paper, reading material, quiz, or exam given by a professor that has a finite amount of time to be accomplished
    Studying – Use of time and attention to review and understand information or knowledge.

    8 – Maybe a n/a option should be available for those who are not assigned any readings or just don’t do the work at all?
    9 – Perhaps this should be a “check all that applies” because many students may utilize different styles. We can not only include the styles mentioned in Komarraju but also ones such as visual, auditory, etc.
    13 – We should specify in the question that attending office hours is specifically referring to receiving help or assistance from the professor regarding material from the class.
    15. This may be another “check all that applies” where different locations can be listed – but this may not be an indicator of what someone looks for in a study location. Maybe the question should be changed to “what types of things do you look for in a study location”.
    16. I would remove this question entirely, music hasn’t been mentioned so far in the quiz, I also don’t think it’s entirely relevant to keep because I’m not sure how personality and whether or not you listen to music is related.
    18. This question should specify a time, is it 1 day or 1 week before an assignment is due?
    19. I think this should be multiple choice, students may not feel comfortable writing in an exact number and we would have too many different answers.
    21. I would remove this question. We have questions more focused on time management – also part time can be anywhere from 1 hour to 39 hours, knowing that they work part time may not be that helpful for us.

    1. Emily,
      For your definition of assignment I agree with it all except for lumping quizzes and exams as assignments. I feel like they are a category of their own.

      As for the music question I believe is relevant because it does have to do with studying habits whether or not you enjoy peace and quiet or to have background noise.

  15. 8. I feel like this question shouldn’t just ask about assigned readings. It could also pertain to class lectures and/or slides. Incorporating this into one question could make more problems and potentially turn this into a double-barreled question, so it could be possible that we make this as a separate, follow-up question.
    9. Some choices could be the usual Tactile, Visual, and Verbal learning styles, but I’m unsure as to how to include it with specifically studying habits over learning habits as a whole.
    21. This question can help determine whether people can get distracted from their schoolwork by their jobs, thereby negatively impacting grades. However, it could be possible that this effect is very small on some people, since people who manage their time efficiently do actually exist (contrary to popular belief).

    Assignments: Anything that the professor gives out for the students to complete within a set time period for a grade.
    Studying: Focused intervals of time in which an individual reviews any notes taken prior or related readings and materials for the purpose of learning.

  16. Other learning styles for question nine can be
    a. logical (mathematical) prefer using logic, reasoning and systems
    b. social (interpersonal) prefer learning in groups with others
    c.solitary (intrapersonal)prefer learning alone
    d. visual (spatial) prefer using pictures, images and spatial understanding.
    20. Instead of putting years it would probably be more helpful to categorize students based on whether they are freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors. Then one can compare the study strategies/ techniques employed by each group.
    21. A job can have an impact on how much time a person can dedicate to their studies. Time management is an important aspect in ones academic career. I think the questions should be phrased as how many hours per week do you work?
    a. 10-15 hours
    b. 16-21hours
    c. 22-27 hours
    d. 28 hours or more
    assignments are any tasks that must be completed outside of class and must be turned in by a deadline designated by the professor.
    Studying is the act of concentrating ones energy into reviewing information and practicing in order to better comprehend a concept.

  17. I feel as though questions 4 and 5 are can be a bit confusing to the person taking the questionnaire. Someone could misinterpret “plan” to mean taking steps such as outlining a paper so in a way the word plan is ambiguous. Instead I think it would be better to ask “how likely are you to plan time in advance to complete an assignment”

    Also, I think question 16 isn’t very necessary as question 15 answers that for us. If someone does like to listen to music when they study then they will answer yes to 15 and if not they will answer no. If listening to music while studying is important to know in regards to studying styles then we can include it in question 9.

  18. In regards to the definitions of ‘assignment’ and ‘studying’ I believe that assignment should be defined as work given by the professor that is graded and a part of the curriculum. Studying should be defined as reading, working through problems, watching videos or educating oneself on a topic that has to do with a class currently being taken for more than an hour at a time.

    In regards to the survey,
    Q16 seems relevant since certain people might enjoy peace and quiet while studying and others might listen to music and this could be based on their personality (ie. extroverted people like music)

    Q19 Im not sure if we should ask about GPA since self reporting might be biased and although GPA is a good way of gauging academic achievement it is not the only way.

    Q21 is relevant since it shows time management and having a job on top of school could potentially affect academic achievement.

  19. George Gainor III
    3/12/18
    Psych 250
    Survey
    Studying: is time devoted to acquiring knowledge on a particular subject
    Assignment: a task or piece of work assigned to someone as part of a job or course of study

    2) I feel this question is a little unnecessary considering that one of the options in question 3 is never
    19) Even though a typical gpa only ranges from 0.00-4.00 I believe that it should be broken up into .5 intervals as a multiple choice question. This will make grouping data as well as drawing conclusions much easier
    23) The age should be multiple choice as we as broken up into 2-3 year age ranges. Because such this is a commuter school, the age range wil be very large with many outlier

  20. Studying can be defined as how much time students put into a subject reading, writing, or annotating on it

    Assignments can be a task or work the student has to do for a class.

    2 – What does it mean to study all night?

    6 – Could be a yes or no.

    7,8 – Could be the same question

    10,11 – Could be the same question

    22 – Could be a fill in the blank

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