Presentation by Dr Simon M Smith, UCLan
20/06/2013
EXAMINING AN INNOVATIVE UNDERGRADUATE
DISSERTATION APPROACH: AN INTERNATIONAL
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
INTRODUCTION
Initial data analysis regarding a project on
undergraduate dissertations
 Longitudinal study over 1 year (for final year
students) – 5 temporal points
 Researches a unique approach towards writing
a dissertation
 100% international students

LITERATURE BACKGROUND [1]
Under-researched area of study (Greenbank et
al., 2008; Heinze and Heinze, 2009)
 “we believe that the dissertation … remains
valid, relevant and purposeful” (Derounian,
2011)
 The issue of managing larger cohorts (Day and
Bobeva, 2007) has led to innovative
approaches (Akister et al., 2009)

LITERATURE BACKGROUND [2]

3 examples of competency values that can impact
on autonomous learning (Greenbank and Penketh,
2009):
Previous experiences of writing
 Level of confidence in their ability to write
 Nature of their relationship from those they seek advice
from


Definitely worth exploring these issues with
international students (i.e. second language
learners)
A UNIQUE APPROACH
4 stages of 6000 word dissertation:
 Proposal: formative feedback
 Literature review (2000 words): January deadline
 Data analysis and discussion (2000 words): March
deadline
 Final dissertation (whereby introduction, research
methods and conclusions are primarily marked)
 At five temporal points, data were collected

SAMPLE DETAILS
310 dissertation students (total of 546
responses)
 Questionnaire 1: 144 responses (46.5%)
 Questionnaire 2: 104 responses (33.5%)
 Questionnaire 3: 172 responses (55.5%)
 Questionnaire 4: 79 responses (25.5%)
 Questionnaire 5: 47 responses (15%)
 Data were fed into SPSS

Participant Frequency Over Time
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Questionnaire 1
Questionnaire 2
Questionnaire 3
Questionnaire 4
Questionnaire 5
Participant Frequency By Nationality
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Chinese
German
French
Spanish
Questions
Questionnaire
Question codes
Out of
1
2
3
4
5
4 Course happiness
5
3.78
(0.77)
3.74
(0.80)
3.48
(0.66)
3.87
(0.68)
3.80
(0.86)
5 Transition
5
2.29
(0.85)
2.16
(0.870)
2.18
(0.84)
1.93
(0.60)
NA
6 Module happiness
5
3.80
(0.73)
3.55
(0.74)
3.21
(0.85)
3.69
(0.872)
NA
7 Ass’t anxiety
4
2.36
(0.77)
2.36
(0.75)
2.34
(0.65)
NA
NA
8 Challenge
5
3.12
(0.79)
2.92
(0.68)
2.82
(0.87)
2.59
(0.82)
NA
9 Mark/ feedback
5
NA
NA
3.06
(0.99)
3.73
(0.91)
3.59
(0.95)
10 Feedback/ usefulness
5
NA
NA
3.41
(0.89)
3.63
(0.85)
NA
11 Support
5
NA
NA
3.53
(0.88)
3.65
(0.94)
NA
12 Next ass’t anxiety
4
2.22
(0.73)
2.31
(0.73)
2.42
(0.72)
2.30
(0.78)
NA
13 Confidence
4
2.56
(0.72)
2.57
(0.71)
2.40
(0.69)
2.94
(0.84)
NA
14 Content relevance
4
1.87
(0.56)
2.00
(0.63)
2.15
(0.58)
1.94
(0.61)
NA
15 Lang’ Understanding
5
2.28
(0.93)
2.07
(0.87)
2.20
(0.88)
1.92
(0.84)
NA
16 Teaching style
4
2.46
(0.81)
NA
NA
NA
NA
INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE DATA ANALYSIS








Student perceptions of marks changed for different
assessments:
Literature review mark:
Negative = 27.4% versus Positive = 32%
Data analysis and discussion mark:
Negative = 8.9% versus Positive = 58.2%
Final dissertation mark:
Negative = 12.7% versus Positive = 59.6%
Interestingly, the negative responses for feedback on
the assessment and support from the tutor do not
coincide with these – they are generally more positive
INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE DATA ANALYSIS
Happiness on the course remained fairly
consistent throughout the study
 However, happiness with the dissertation module
changed significantly in questionnaire 3
 Here are the accumulative questionnaire
responses that were negative (questionnaire 1-4):
2.1% to 6.7% to 17.5% to 9.1%
 Coincides with the first summative mark given to
the students for the literature review
 It is clear that, for some students, there were
some real issues on this module

INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE DATA ANALYSIS
Chinese students struggled much more with
transition into UK life, as well as with
understanding the language in class – these
issues remained persistent throughout the year; it
only reduced slightly over time
 Spanish and French students are a distant second
and third respectively
 German, Italian, Turkish, and Vietnamese students
have found transition comfortable or simple

DEFINITE PATTERNS FOR EXTENDED ANALYSIS
Marks, feedback and support
 Nationality, transition and understanding of the
language
 Course happiness and module happiness
 Anxiety of assessments and challenge of
assessments
 Relevance of classroom input and support from
the tutor

WHERE NEXT?
Finishing the data analysis using SPSS
 Draw together overarching findings and
conclusions
 Collecting further qualitative data – contacting
former students and possibly staff (if time
permits)
 Produce a REFable paper
