A Quantitative Analysis of Study Habits Among Lower- and Higher-Performing Students in CS1

Abstract

Our prior work found differences in study habits between high- and low-performers in a small-scale qualitative study, and this work seeks to verify and extend these findings by examining the study habits of a larger population of CS1 students. To do this, we devised a survey based on the findings of our prior qualitative study. The responses of CS1 students reveals that some study habits are more frequently practiced by higher-performers then lower-performers or vice versa. One concern with these findings is that the differences in study habits might simply be explained by prior experience. As such, we compare study habits between students with and without prior experience as well. We find that although prior experience translates to better class performance, it is not associated with the same study habits as lower- and higher-performers, suggesting that prior experience and study habits are separately associated with better student performance. These findings encourage further inquiry into the role of study habits in student success and whether explicit instruction on better study habits might be the basis for successful future interventions.