Do diligent students perform better? Complex relations between student and course characteristics, study time, and academic performance in higher education

Abstract

Research has reported equivocal results regarding the relationship between study time investment and academic performance in higher education. In the setting of the active, assignment-based teaching approach at Hasselt University (Belgium), the present study aimed (a) to further clarify the role of study time in academic performance, while taking into account student characteristics (e.g., gender, prior domain knowledge), and (b) to examine the relation between a number of student and course characteristics and study time. Data included course-specific study time recordings across the entire term, grades for 14 courses, expert ratings of six course characteristics, and other data from the records of 168 freshmen in business economics. For most courses, study time predicted grades, even beyond student characteristics. However, there were differential results depending on the course considered, stressing the importance of examining relations at course-level instead of globally across courses. As to study time, course characteristics were strong predictors.