Background: Two main approaches to studying have been distinguished by several researchers, the deep approach and the surface approach. In addition, an achieving or strategic approach employs either deep or surface strategies, depending on the demands of the task. Aims: The present study investigated factors contributing to the choice of…

This study examined the factors affecting student dropouts in an online certificate program. In this research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Online Course Dropout Survey was developed and used to determine which factors affect student attrition from the program. The dropout survey was sent by e-mail to 98 students…

Increasing numbers of full-time university students mix their studies with paid employment. The current research examined the nature, extent and correlates of paid work amongst a sample of 246 university students. Approximately 85% of the sample reported having a paid job during semester, a figure that exceeds that found in previous studies. Five…

Advice for students entering college is provided. Overall topics include the challenges presented by college, the new freshman's interest in learning and study habits, course selection, class attendance, time management, and note taking. Specific topics that are briefly discussed are as follows: adjusting to many new experiences, the independence…

The study compared gifted achievers (N=50) and underachievers (N=50) with each other and with average ability achievers and underachievers. Subjects were obtained from the total standard 10 Afrikaans speaking cohort in the Orange Free State (Republic of South Africa). Ability/achievement discrepancy scores were calculated for the entire cohort,…

Certain study habits and attitudes of 102 disadvantaged college students were investigated. The students were assigned to one of four groups, and each group, except the control group which received no instruction, was taught reading by either the teacher-guidance, the individualized, or the audiovisual instructional approach. The course content…

A sample of 132 college students was randomly assigned to lecture, lecture-discussion, independent-study, or control conditions in an investigation of the relationship of reading efficiency, personality factors, and study habits to instructional conditions. Analysis of results revealed that there were no significant differences in success rates of…

Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (I-E) and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes were administered to 138 undergraduate students in a personalized system of instruction course. Results indicated that the I-E scale is related only to academic attitudes and that study habits are related to two measures of performance. (Author/JAC)

Survey of 174 college students reveals that the ideas proposed by Becker, Geer, and Hughes (1968) apply to students in 1988: a Grade Point Average (GPA) orientation is translated into patterns of teacher evaluation, resource assessment, and test taking and studying behavior. (BJV)

Compared the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of college freshmen in 1969 and 1979. Results showed the class of 1983 (tested in 1979) obtained lower Scholastic Aptitude scores but higher scores on certain measures of study habits and attitudes. Differences in verbal aptitude between men and women may have narrowed. (JAC)

The purpose of this study was to identify graduate students' predominant study skill strengths and weaknesses. Also examined was the relationship between specific study skills and library anxiety. Participants were 133 graduate students from a number of education disciplines at a university in the southeastern United States. These individuals were…

Describes an investigation of student approaches to study and briefly relates the results to the need for instructional improvement. Open University students in England were interviewed to determine their study habits and two approaches were identified: deep-level (relating ideas and constructing meaning from learning materials) and surface-level…

College students were assigned to either take their own personal notes or to use full or partial notes that were distributed in class. The use of personal or partial notes resulted in higher scores on the essay test, and students preferring personal notes scored higher on the multiple-choice exam. (Author/JN)

Designed a questionnaire and created a scale measuring studying and learning based on motivation with items answered from ideal, "capability," and studying and learning behavior perspectives. Results for 372 Australian college students support the view that striving for excellence, desire to learn, and personal incentives are important…