The role of response biases in the relationship between students’ perceptions of their courses and their approaches to studying in higher education

Abstract

Questionnaire surveys have found a strong relationship between students' perceptions of their courses and their approaches to studying, but this might result from the operation of response biases. Responses to the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory from 2137 students taking seven courses by distance learning were reanalysed. Both acquiescent responding and extreme responding were found to be consistent traits within individual students between the two instruments. When these were statistically controlled, the overlap in variance between the students' scores on the two instruments was reduced from 45.3% to 31.9%, and the variation in the students' course marks explained by their scores on the two instruments was reduced from 21.8% to 18.9%. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two sets of scores remained the same: students who rated their course positively were more likely to show desirable approaches to studying and less likely to show undesirable approaches.

Turning Groups Inside Out: A Social Network Perspective

“…Turning groups inside out: a social network perspective 19 GPA (F= 38.819, p < .01) for both pre-and post-test, though all with a small effect size. This is a common finding in educational literature, with previous work highlighting that better performing students are intrinsically more interested in engaging with psychometric questionnaires (Richardson, 2012). However, even if a student did not complete a SNA questionnaire, there were on average 85% of his/her classmates who did participate, which also provides insights into the social networks of non-respondents (Neal, 2008).…”

Perception, knowledge, and attitude of problem-based learning among dental college students in India: A closed-ended questionnaire study

“…Greasley and Ashworth[ 9 ] and Richardson[ 10 ] agree that a deep approach helps to read and learn to understand the meaning. Richardson[ 10 ] stated that the approaches to learning are of three types. If the students study to memorize for assessment, it is called as surface approach.…”

Impact bias in student evaluations of higher education

“…Finally, our study suggests the need for a wider and more detailed investigation into questionnaire surveys as a suitable means of evaluating students' experiences and feelings. Impact bias, it would seem, presents yet another potential methodological concern regarding such instruments, adding to previously identified issues such as response bias (Richardson 2012) and differing student interpretations of survey questions (Bennett and Kane 2014).…”