Factors that possibly affect first year performance in college Essay

Factors that possibly affect first year performance in college - Essay Example For this study, the dependent variable was â€Å"First Year Performance† which was measured by taking the average of the grades received by the student from the courses he was taking. Independent variables were region of origin, age, and gender. Region of origin referred to the student’s place of study, and took the values of EU, OS, and UK. Age was divided into two values: regular (below 21 years old as of 1st September at the year of intake) and mature (below 21 years old as of 1st September at the year of intake). Gender took the values of Male and Female. In order to find if there were any regional effects on first year performance, Analysis of Variance was used. Analysis of variance tests for mean differences among a sample of three or more groups. To find if either age or gender had effects on first year performance, differences of the means of two groups were investigated using t test. Relationships between the variables which, incidentally, contained categorica l variables, were investigated using cross tabulation techniques and the chi square test. First year performance in college is a crucial measure because it says a lot regarding the initial progress of a student. In summary, age, gender, and region did not have significant effects on the overall first year performance of students. However, these factors did have certain effects on selected course units. Also according to the research findings regular students tended to come from OS more than from UK or EU.... Presentation and Discussion of Results Descriptive Statistics Table 1 shows a summary of the frequency and percentage distribution of a total of 238 respondents for this study. The figures show that 53. 8% were from OS (n = 128), 36.1% were from UK (n = 86), and 10.1% were from EU (n = 24). When grouped according to age, 87.4% were regular students (n = 208), while 12.6% were mature students (n = 30). When grouped according gender, 46.2% were male (n = 110) and 53.8% were female (n = 128). Figures from Table 2 indicate that the students had a mean average grade of 56.6 (SD = 12.2). Students had the highest mean grades in BMAN10001 (10) – Economic Principles: Microeconomics (Mean = 69.7, SD = 15.4) while lowest mean grades were in BMAN10621 (M) (10) – Fundamentals of Financial Reporting (Mean = 45.9, SD = 20). Effects of Age T test results showing effects of age on first year performance are summarized in Table 3. No significant effect of age was found in the average sco res of students, t(38) = .43, n. s. However, age was a significant factor in unit courses such as BMAN10801 (10) – Introduction to Work Psychology and BMAN10812 (10) – The Modern Corporation, t(36) = 2.06, p = .05, and t(191) = 3.27, p < .01, respectively. In both cases, Regular students scored higher (Mean = 56.4, SD = 11.9 and Mean = 57.4, SD = 12.1) than Mature students (Mean = 51.1, SD = 13.37 and Mean = 47.8, SD = 21.1). No other significant differences were found. Effects of Gender T test results showing effects of gender on first year performance are summarized in Table 4. No significant effect of gender was found in the average scores of students, t(231) = .70, n. s. However, gender was a significant factor in