Student Use of Academic Resources in Assignments

Dr. Nancy Evans Weaver

Principal Lecturer, Psychology

Estelle Barnard

Subject Librarian, Psychology

Open Polytechnic of New Zealand

Overview of PresentationIntroduction: Background and rationale

Method: Participants, Materials, Procedure

Results: Descriptive statistics, Statistical testing

Discussion: Summary of findings, critique, future plans

IntroductionEstelle’s question:

What library sources do psychology students use? Expanded version:

What sources from the scholarly literature do tertiary-level students use in completing their assignments?

Collaborative nature of our researchNancy: Psychology lecturer, teaching in one of our

large introductory psychology coursesEstelle: Psychology librarian, helping lecturers to

develop resources for students in this course.

Our GoalsUse our data to advise faculty.

Do faculty expectations about type and frequency of use match student use patterns?

How can faculty improve instructions about source use in scholarly writing?

Use our data to advise librarians.Are current library resources used by

students?How can library programmes better fit needs?

Our Data We collected data on:Sources used

Textbook?Instructor-provided sources?Library-provided sources?

Student characteristicsPrevious and current study

Assignment characteristicsSubmitted online or in print?Mark received?

MethodParticipants

Students enrolled in 73195 general & applied psychology, trimester 1 2010

124 students

Previous and current study55% had NCEA levels 2 or 353% had previously enrolled at OP for a course(s)67% studying only this course this trimester

This course

One of a pair of Intro Psych courses at the Open Polytechnic

ODL (online and distance learning)

Assignment 1: Set up, run, and report on a psychological experiment on memory

Specifically instructed in APA citing and referencing (counts for 5% of mark)

Materials

Collected the References page from Assignment 1 for all 124 students

Coded to remove identity

Coded to record type of submission (in print or online)

Procedure

Stratified random sample (n=12) of entire assignments pulled and checked to see how accurately References page captured sources cited.

32/36 sources on References page were cited (as they should be) within the assignment: Accuracy = 88.89%

32/33 cited sources were on References page (as they should be): Accuracy = 96.97%

Categorized and counted sources used

Results

Two types of data analysis

1. Descriptive statistics: Categories, with central tendencies, ranges, frequencies

2. Statistical testing: Chi square tests of 3 hypotheses

Results: Descriptive Statistics

Total number of sources usedMean = 3.62 sources (none required)Range = 0 – 11Median and Mode = 4

Results: Descriptive StatisticsInstructor-recommended sources

Textbook Frequency: 73/124 student (59%)

Provided journal articles Frequency: 83%, 57%, and 53%

Provided background summary Frequency: 45%

Results: Descriptive StatisticsLibrary sources

Subject Guide (online list of 73 library-held materials specifically for this course and this assignment) Frequency: 6% Range: 0-2

Recommended and Additional Resources (online list of 17 library-held materials useful for psychology in general) Frequency: 2% Range: 0-4

Results: Descriptive Statistics

Other sourcesNot textbook, not instructor-recommended, not

library-providedFound by student (?)Frequency: 21%Range: 0-7

Results: Descriptive StatisticsType of submission

Students choose In this assignment, 80% submitted online and

20% submitted in print.Mark achieved

Mean = 64.47Mode = 75Median = 67Range: 18 to 91

Results: Statistical Testing

Just beginning – many more to run.

Based on pilot study (2009) and experience in this course, we tested two general effects:Hypothesis 1: There would be an effect of

type of submission. Hypothesis 2 : Some source variables would

affect mark achieved.

Results: Statistical TestingHypothesis 1:

There would be an effect of type of submission.

Specific test: Use of journal articles would differ between online and print submissions.

Result: When we grouped the articles used (no articles used, 1 article used, 2 articles used, all 3 articles used), there is the suggestion of an effect. Online submissions may have used more of these articles than did print submissions (Chi square = 7.44, df = 3, p = .059).

Results: Statistical TestingHypothesis 2:

Some source variables would affect mark achieved.

Specific Test # 1: The number of sources used would be related to the mark achieved.

Result: Grouping number of sources (0-1, 2-3, 4 or more), there is a weak effect on mark. Assignments using more sources got higher marks (Chi square = 12.59, df = 6, p = .05).

Results: Statistical TestingHypothesis 2:

Some source variables would affect mark achieved.

Specific Test # 2: The use of instructor-recommended articles would be related to the mark achieved.

Result: Grouping article use (no article used, 1 used, 2 used, all 3 used) and grouping marks into letter grade categories (0-49, 50-59, 60-74, 75-100), there is a significant effect on mark. Assignments using more of these articles got higher marks (Chi square = 24.78, df = 9, p < .01).

Results: SummaryWe categorized source types, collected descriptive statistics

on all of them, and ran some statistical tests.

On average, students used 3 or 4 sources in this assignment.

The most frequently used sources were the instructor-provided set of three journal articles, the textbook, and the instructor-provided background.

Library sources were infrequently used.

Statistical testing suggests some effects of type of submission and two variables that affect mark.

DiscussionCan we measure the types and frequencies of sources

used by tertiary-level students beginning their study of psychology? Yes.

Our results relate well to a body of literature on the use of citation analysis. Journal articles are often used heavily in student writing, and advice from faculty affects what sources students use (e.g., Krause, 2002). We found both these effects among ODL students at the Open Polytechnic.

SurprisesMore use of sources than we expected, given

that none (other than their own data) are required: average of 3 – 4 sources used, with one student using 11.

As we found in the pilot study, assignments submitted online may differ in some ways from those submitted in print.

Very low use of library sources, even those specifically geared to this assignment in this course.

Limitations to our workVery limited sample:

Students in one course, in one trimester, in one discipline, at one institution (which is ODL).

Limitations involving participants: We assume competency in citing and referencing. We assume honesty in citing and referencing.

Limitations involving statistics: We have only begun testing. Some categories have low numbers, which can affect

results.

Future directionsFinish stats testing.

Analyse data from Assignment 2.

Collect and analyse data from assignments in a Level 6 course for which 73195 is a prerequisite.

ThanksOur colleagues for help with data collection

and analysis.

Our students for their hard work in learning how to run an experiment and write a scholarly report.

You, our audience today. Comments and suggestions: Nancy.Weaver@openpolytechnic.ac.nz