An Introspective Approach to Study Problems

Abstract

THE INSIGHTFUL analysis of written introspections of students on how they view problems of studying is one method of ascertaining factors that facilitate or hinder learning. From their firsthand experience students can report di rectly on factors that aid or interfere with effective study. In freely w r i tten compositions on the topic, What makes studying easy or difficult for me, they give psychologically sound insights, down to earth and practical. Such compositions were obtained from 536 students whose grade levels ex tended from the fifth grade to the sophomore year of college. The writers of these compositions represent a wide range of intellectual ability and socio economic backgrounds. Their responses, totaling 2,285 separate statements, were classified into forty-five different categories. This analysis may serve three purposes. First, it shows how certain fac tors affecting study are viewed by individual students as especially potent in fluences for them. These individual differences are shown i n the compo s i tions as a whole and in especially insightful excerpts from them. Second, by the relative frequency of mention of the various factors, one may obtain an in dication of how students in general view the factors that affect their study. Third, by partitioning the data into different grade levels, one may acquire some evidence of the increase or decrease in influence of a particular factor as the individual passes through certain developmental stages. The individuality of response is impossible to present adequately in a short article. However, a few excerpts from the compositions** will show the vari ety of conditions uppermost in the writer's mind. Many emphasize the impor tance of privacy: