SCREENING FIRST YEAR
STUDENTS FOR READINESS TO
STUDY PSYCHOLOGY
John Bathurst,
Aaron Jarden &
Nancy Weaver
INTRODUCTION
• The Open Polytechnic of NZ provides
Psychology courses from Level 5 – 7 as
part of Diploma and Degree courses
• Many of our students are:
– Adult learners
– Part-time students
– Sometimes with minimal secondary
qualifications
– Some have not studied for several years
before enrolling with us
• Students vary greatly in:
– Motivation
– Preparedness to study
– Ability to complete the course work
Overall, many students struggle with the transition
from their previous education into tertiary level
courses. This is particularly evident in the
introductory courses, 73195 General and Applied
Psychology, and 73196 Social and Individual
Psychology
THE PROBLEM
• Limited student success in these courses:
– Poor retentions: Currently around 40-50%
– Poor successful completions
– Low pass rates: Currently around 60-65%
• Lack of student understanding of
Psychology as a field:
– Students are unprepared for the scientific
level of content in psychology
– Students are unaware of what studying
psychology entails
THE PROBLEM (2)
• Stressful workload for tutors:
– High maintenance lab report and essay
assignments with marks often around 4060%
– Large volume of student contacts (email,
phone), many of which reflect:
• Lack of basic study skills
• Lack of general academic preparedness
THE SOLUTION
• Develop a pre-test to measure basic
readiness to study
• Calibrate the pre-test
• Divert identified strugglers into a
preparatory / bridging programme
THE PRE-TEST
• The aim of the psychology pre-test is to
distinguish between students who are
likely to successfully complete the course,
and those who are likely to fail
• The pre-test is designed to work on two
levels:
– Firstly the pre-test provides students with
a glimpse into psychological study content
areas and requirements, which should
reduce the discrepancy between student
expectations and the reality of the course
– Secondly, the pre-test is intended to gauge
general academic proficiency, specifically
student verbal and numerical literacy, and
therefore their likely ability to complete the
course work
TEST DESIGN (1)
• Two preparation items. Do students have
the time and resources to complete this
course now?
– Time:
• Do you have 10-12 hours a week to devote
to studying for each course you would like
to enrol in?
– Resources:
• Do you have the necessary resources for
your courses? For example, money for text
books, access to a computer for writing
assignments, access to a phone to contact
your tutor, etc
TEST DESIGN (2)
• 11 understanding items. Do students
have the basic verbal and numerical
literacy needed to complete this course
now?
– 3 maths items: Calculate mean,
calculate mode, create a table
– 3 comprehension items requiring
student writing: Read a short text
then summarize in own words
– 5 multi-choice items requiring student
to choose correct answer: Read a
short text and then answer multiple
choice questions on it
TYPICAL MATHS ITEM
Researchers in psychology often calculate
averages or “means” for groups of scores.
For example, a researcher may read out a
list of words to a group of research
participants and then test how many words
on average are remembered. A mean (or
average) is calculated by adding scores in a
group of scores and then dividing that total
by the number of scores in the group. For
example, 3 + 4 + 12 = 19. 19 divided by 3 =
a mean of 6.333
Calculate the mean of the following set of
scores (you may use a calculator for this task
if you wish):
18 7 65 46 90 12 4 22
Mean = _______
RESPONSES
• 90% get the right answer of 33
• 3.0% have answers around 33
• 0.8% find it too hard and don’t give an
answer
• 1.7% have answers around 14.67 (total / 18)
• 3.3% have answers around 88 (total / 3)
• 0.4% give an answer of 244.75 (how?)
Simple arithmetic errors abound
N=781
A surprisingly hard item (1)
Researchers in psychology often show their
scores in a Table to depict their results to others
who are interested in the findings. In the Table
below, enter the following mean scores, where
three different groups of participants have
completed a reaction time task. The symbol ‘n’
is used to show the number of participants in a
particular group while the symbol ‘N’ is used to
show the total number of participants in the
experiment. Enter each ‘n’ and the ‘N’ into the
table also
A surprisingly hard item (2)
20 ambidextrous people gave a mean time
of 1.2 seconds, 23 right handed people gave
a mean time of 2.6 seconds while 17 left
handed people gave a mean time of 1.8
seconds
Table 1
Mean reaction time to complete task (in seconds)
Handedness
n
Mean time (in seconds)
Ambidextrous
Right handed
Left handed
N=
36% are unable to do this correctly
TYPICAL COMPREHENSION ITEM
Read the following paragraph, then
summarize the key information in the
paragraph in one SHORT sentence, IN
YOUR OWN WORDS
When parental love seems conditional, that is,
dependent on certain behaviours, children often
block out of their self-concept those experiences
that make them feel unworthy of love. They do
so because they’re worried about parental
acceptance, which appears precarious. At the
other end of the spectrum, some parents make
their affection unconditional. Their children have
less need to block out unworthy experiences
because they’ve been assured that they’re
worthy of affection, no matter what they do
TYPICAL MULTI-CHOICE ITEM (1)
Read the passage below and then choose the
best answer to the question by circling the
letter beside it. Answer the question on the
basis of what is stated or implied in the
passage
A Russian physiologist called Ivan Pavlov did
some research early last century. He found that
when he repeatedly sounded a tone to some dogs
as he presented them with food, the dogs
eventually salivated to the tone on its own. By
being associated with the food, the tone itself had
acquired the capacity to trigger the response of
salivation. This came to be known as classical
conditioning, where the unconditioned stimulus
(the food) evokes an unconditioned response
(salivation), that is, a response that occurs without
previous learning. The previously neutral
conditioned stimulus (tone) acquires, through
conditioning, the capacity to evoke a conditioned
or learned response (salivation)
TYPICAL MULTI-CHOICE ITEM (2)
Question:
• Rachel has found that when she opens
the cupboard door to get the cat food, the
cats come running to the kitchen. Rachel
knows that this is classical conditioning,
and that the unconditioned stimulus is the
______ and the conditioned stimulus is
the _____.
a. cupboard door opening; cat food
b. cat food; kitchen
c. cat food; cupboard door opening
d. kitchen; cat food
Answer: _______
MULTI-CHOICE RESPONSES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A
B
C
D
AB
AC
AD
CD
N=781
14.3%
1.7%
75.8%
1.2%
2.3%
2.7%
1.3%
0.5%
NUMBERS OF ERRORS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
#
%
Cum %
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
15.4%
27.1%
24.6%
14.1%
7.7%
6.5%
2.2%
1.4%
1.0%
15.4%
42.5%
67.1%
81.2%
88.9%
95.4%
97.6%
99.0%
100%
N = 781
Withdrawn
Failed to
submit
Failed exam
Academic
Withdrawal
Failed
Mandatory
Component
Absent
E
D
C
B
A
Errors
SOCIAL AND INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
5
4
3
2
1
0
ERROR DISTRIBUTION BY GRADE
Errors A
B
C
D
E
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
10
10
6
1
1
9
11
8
3
2
1
1
7
5
10
2
2
2
5
8
6
0
1
N=120
5
4
EFFECT OF EXCLUSIONS
• Allowing 2 errors excludes 2 Bs, 7 Cs, 4
Ds and 1 E
• Allowing 3 errors excludes 1 B, 4 Cs, 2
Ds and 1 E
• All “Failed Mandatory Component” grades
excluded by either
ACTIONS
• Two or fewer errors: enrol in psychology
courses
• Three errors: advise diversion to 424 Tertiary
Study Skills
• Four or more errors: require diversion into
424
TERTIARY STUDY SKILLS (1)
• Organise learning effectively
• Write in a style that meets given criteria for
a report, an essay and a learning journal
• Demonstrate information literacy skills
appropriate to study at tertiary level
• Operate computer applications to support
study
• Perform numerical operations that support
tertiary-level study
• Free entry into 73196 on successful
completion
TERTIARY STUDY SKILLS (2)
• Correlations:
– 424 result with in-course 73196
assignments: r = 0.802
– 424 result with 73196 exam: r = -0.338
– 424 prepares students well for incourse work but does not give them
exam skills
What to do next ?
THANK YOU FOR COMING!