Study time and academic performance: A conditional relation?

Abstract

Study results depend on many interacting factors, including students’ and teachers’ personal characteristics, their conceptions, preferences and strategies with respect to learning and teaching, and contextual variables (e.g., Biggs, 2001; Broekkamp & Van Hout-Wolters, 2007). The current study aims to specify the role and place of study time (ST) in this complex set of variables and relationships in a self-regulated learning environment. Although, intuitively, more ST is expected to result in higher performance, research results have been inconsistent (Stinebrickner & Stinebrickner, 2004). In some cases, ST has been shown to predict academic performance beyond a myriad of intellective (e.g., high school GPA, SAT scores) and non-intellective student characteristics (e.g., gender, health; Brint & Cantwell, 2010). In other cases, no significant association was obtained (e.g., Gortner & Zulauf, 2000). This pattern of findings suggests that the role of ST depends on other factors. Aim of the current study was to explore interactions between ST and the quality of learning activities involved. Consistent with the work of Vermunt (1992) and Masui and De Corte (2005), the focus will be on the affective-motivational, cognitive, and metacognitive processing of course content. Moreover, based on Biggs’ (2001) model of learning, the predictive value of (quantitative and qualitative) features of the learning process will be evaluated within the context of relevant student characteristics and for different courses.