Zooming in on Research
In the article Effects of Quality and Quantity of Study on Student Grades, Dickson and O’Connell proceeded testing if and what studying strategies lead to higher grades and/or the relationship between the two. They wanted to know if reading, reviewing and organizing had a significant impact on grades and which one was more effective on students. They used a self report/ log method. Self- monitoring requires the subjects to record the frequency or duration of events as they occur or when cued to record (Dickinson & O’Connell, 1990). Students were required to maintain a log of their studies over a period of time.
All 91 women and 22 men, undergraduate students who were admitted to the teacher education program of Tennessee University took place in the study over a 10 week quarter. Participants were asked to log the date and time of each start and end of a study session and also were required to list whether it was reading, reviewing or organizational. There were more specific directions and detailed definitions of reading, reviewing and organization given to clarify specifically what each one meant. Each time a student took a break they were asked to record the exact time they stopped. If the participant did no studying they were required to write a zero as the total. Time spent on classroom activities such as class readings and exams were not listed on the time log. Each week they had to compute the total amount of time spent studying for each group. The tests given were either all multiple choices or multiple choices and matching, they were based off the reading and were similar to the reading assignments. The students’ average study time was based on minutes per week rather than total study time for the course (Dickinson & O’Connell, 1990).
On average the students studied approximately 3 hours per week, with emphasis on reading and reviewing (Dickinson & O’Connell, 1990) Results showed that students who did more reading and reviewing but less
All 91 women and 22 men, undergraduate students who were admitted to the teacher education program of Tennessee University took place in the study over a 10 week quarter. Participants were asked to log the date and time of each start and end of a study session and also were required to list whether it was reading, reviewing or organizational. There were more specific directions and detailed definitions of reading, reviewing and organization given to clarify specifically what each one meant. Each time a student took a break they were asked to record the exact time they stopped. If the participant did no studying they were required to write a zero as the total. Time spent on classroom activities such as class readings and exams were not listed on the time log. Each week they had to compute the total amount of time spent studying for each group. The tests given were either all multiple choices or multiple choices and matching, they were based off the reading and were similar to the reading assignments. The students’ average study time was based on minutes per week rather than total study time for the course (Dickinson & O’Connell, 1990).
On average the students studied approximately 3 hours per week, with emphasis on reading and reviewing (Dickinson & O’Connell, 1990) Results showed that students who did more reading and reviewing but less
References: Harrington, C., & Daidone, E. W. (2013). Skills You Need: Study strategies, memory, and note taking. Student success in college: doing what works! : a research-focused approach (pp. 174-179). Boston: Wadsworth.