Rubrics and in-class feedback on a higher education course with statistical content

INTRODUCTION: This study analyzed the influence of two types of feedback (via rubrics and in-class) on students' academic achievement in a higher education course with statistical content. Students' views regarding the usefulness of these types of feedback were also examined. METHODS: After validating the rubrics in a sample of 100 students, a sample of 135 students was used to address the main objective of the study. The samples comprised undergraduates from the University of Barcelona who were taking a course called Research Designs as part of the Universiy of Barcelona's Degree in Psychology. RESULTS: The majority of students regarded both types of feedback as being useful. Academic achievement did not differ according to whether students used rubrics, attended feedback classes, or made use of both types of feedback. However, there was a positive association between the frequency of attendance at feedback classes and academic performance. Finally, the students who reported feeling less anxious about exams as a result of using rubrics or attending feedback classes obtained better exam grades. DISCUSSION: This study shows that teaching approaches which include feedback may lead students to have a more favourable view of their learning, especially when the feedback is more personalized and given in class

Math anxiety and perfectionistic concerns in multiple-choice assessment

We examined the relationships between math anxiety, perfectionism, and academic achievement in undergraduates enrolled in a course with high mathematical content. Participants were 251 students who completed math anxiety and perfectionism questionnaires, and whose academic achievement was measured via a multiple-choice examination. The number of hits, errors, and unanswered questions on this examination were analyzed to explore the possible influence of math anxiety and perfectionism on students' performance. Results showed that highly math-anxious (HMA) students were more perfectionist than their low math anxious (LMA) peers, insofar as they were more concerned about making mistakes and had more doubts about their own actions. The HMA group also obtained worse grades than did their LMA counterparts, although this was because they left more questions unanswered, not because they made more mistakes. Analysis of the relationship between math anxiety and the number of unanswered questions revealed that concern over errors and doubts about actions played a mediating role in this relationship. In conclusion, HMA students' fear of making mistakes and doubts about their own actions are important factors influencing their performance in multiple-choice tests

Academic anxieties: Which factor contributes the most to low academic achievement in methodological courses?

Students' academic achievement in courses with a high mathematical content can be affected by their levels of trait, math and test anxiety. In this study, 180 university students were assessed on these types of anxiety and the relationships between them and students' performance were evaluated. Higher levels of math anxiety were related to a low academic achievement, but a high level of test anxiety was related only to an increase in the number of errors. Moreover, although women reported higher levels of trait, math and test anxiety than their male peers, their academic achievement was similar. We conclude that math anxiety is the main emotional factor that can affect students' performance in these courses and some proposals to help highly math-anxious students are discussed

Report quality of generalized linear mixed models in psychology: A systematic review

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) estimate fixed and random effects and are especially useful when the dependent variable is binary, ordinal, count or quantitative but not normally distributed. They are also useful when the dependent variable involves repeated measures, since GLMMs can model autocorrelation. This study aimed to determine how and how often GLMMs are used in psychology and to summarize how the information about them is presented in published articles. Our focus in this respect was mainly on frequentist models. In order to review studies applying GLMMs in psychology we searched the Web of Science for articles published over the period 2014-2018. A total of 316 empirical articles were selected for trend study from 2014 to 2018. We then conducted a systematic review of 118 GLMM analyses from 80 empirical articles indexed in Journal Citation Reports during 2018 in order to evaluate report quality. Results showed that the use of GLMMs increased over time and that 86.4% of articles were published in first- or second-quartile journals. Although GLMMs have, in recent years, been increasingly used in psychology, most of the important information about them was not stated in the majority of articles. Report quality needs to be improved in line with current recommendations for the use of GLMMs

Construcción y validación de rúbricas para evaluar las prácticas de diseños de investigación

Con el objetivo de complementar el sistema de evaluación formativa de la asignatura Diseños de Investigación, construimos las rúbricas de cada una de las actividades prácticas buscando el consenso, entre los profesores que imparten la asignatura, respecto a los indicadores y descriptores. Además, cada rúbrica ha sido validada mediante las puntuaciones en la autoevaluación de los estudiantes, en la coevaluación de sus compañeros de clase y en la evaluación del profesor

Current Practices in Data Analysis Procedures in Psychology: What Has Changed?

This paper analyzes current practices in psychology in the use of research methods and data analysis procedures (DAP) and aims to determine whether researchers are now using more sophisticated and advanced DAP than were employed previously. We reviewed empirical research published recently in prominent journals from the USA and Europe corresponding to the main psychological categories of Journal Citation Reports and examined research methods, number of studies, number and type of DAP, and statistical package. The 288 papers reviewed used 663 different DAP. Experimental and correlational studies were the most prevalent, depending on the specific field of psychology. Two-thirds of the papers reported a single study, although those in journals with an experimental focus typically described more. The papers mainly used parametric tests for comparison and statistical techniques for analyzing relationships among variables. Regarding the former, the most frequently used procedure was ANOVA, with mixed factorial ANOVA being the most prevalent. A decline in the use of non-parametric analysis was observed in relation to previous research. Relationships among variables were most commonly examined using regression models, with hierarchical regression and mediation analysis being the most prevalent procedures. There was also a decline in the use of stepwise regression and an increase in the use of structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, and hierarchical linear modeling. Overall, the results show that recent empirical studies published in journals belonging to the main areas of psychology are employing more varied and advanced statistical techniques of greater computational complexity

Feedback docente: un factor asociado a la reducción del efecto negativo de la ansiedad a las matemáticas

Podeu consultar la Vuitena trobada de professorat de Ciències de la Salut completa a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/66524El objetivo de este estudio fue implementar y evaluar la eficacia de un sistema de evaluación formativa en la asignatura Diseños de Investigación del grado de Psicología de la Universidad de Barcelona. Con este sistema los estudiantes realizaban una serie de pruebas a lo largo del semestre de las que recibían un feedback personalizado, con el objetivo de que los estudiantes corrigieran sus errores y a la vez aprendieran de ellos. Esperábamos que este sistema fuese útil para todos los estudiantes, pero especialmente para aquellos que tenían un nivel elevado de ansiedad a las matemáticas. Esos estudiantes tienen problemas para demostrar sus competencias en el sistema de evaluación tradicional por la tensión inherente a los exámenes, por lo cual esperábamos que la evaluación formativa les permitiese mostrar las competencias reales que habían alcanzado a lo largo del curso. Para evaluar la utilidad de nuestro sistema de evaluación formativa recogimos información de 166 estudiantes voluntarios durante el curso 2012-13: sus notas, su puntuación en ansiedad a las matemáticas (ansiedad a exámenes de matemáticas, a tareas numéricas y a cursos de matemáticas) y sus actitudes hacia las matemáticas (disfrute, autoconfianza y motivación). Se calcularon las correlaciones entre el rendimiento y la ansiedad y actitudes hacia las matemáticas y ninguna fue significativa. Al comparar estos datos con los que obtuvimos en el curso 2010-11, pudimos comprobar cómo, en aquel curso, las correlaciones sí que fueron significativas (Núñez-Peña et al., 2013), es decir, que niveles elevados de ansiedad matemática y las actitudes negativas hacia las matemáticas estaban relacionas con la obtención de notas bajas en el examen. Estos resultados sugieren que el hecho de dar feedback de los errores habría podido ayudar a los estudiantes con ansiedad a las matemáticas a ganar confianza en su capacidad para aprender la asignatura, reduciendo el impacto negativo de la ansiedad matemática sobre el rendimiento

Feedback de los errores en educación superior. ¿Una manera de reducir la ansiedad ante los exámenes?

Estudiamos la eficacia de un sistema de evaluación formativa para reducir el impacto de la ansiedad a los exámenes (AE) sobre el rendimiento en una asignatura de grado. Esperábamos que el feedback sobre las prácticas hiciese que los estudiantes se sintieran más preparados y menos preocupados por la evaluación. La AE se relacionó con peores notas en el examen de teoría, pero no en el de prácticas, lo que sugiere que el feedback podría contribuir a reducir el impacto de la AE sobre el rendimiento

Evaluación formativa en Educación Superior: Impacto en estudiantes con ansiedad a las matemáticas

Our objective was to implement and evaluate a formative assessment system in a mandatory course of the degree in Psychology. With this system, students received feedback from the tests they performed. We found a positive correlation between feedback classes' attendance and students' grades. The correlation between math anxiety and course's performance was not significant, suggesting that feedback could have helped to reduce the negative impact of math anxiety on performanc

Rúbricas de Diseños de Investigación en Psicología: problemas, casos prácticos y trabajos autónomos del alumno

En este documento se presentan las rúbricas de los problemas, casos prácticos y trabajos autónomos de la asignatura Diseños de Investigación que se imparte en el grado de Psicología de la Universidad de Barcelona