A Study of Student Diligence and Academic Performance Among Part-Time and Full-Time Higher Education Students in Brazil
The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare part-time and full-time School of Education students in order to identify any significant differences between diligence and academic performance. In addition, this study verified how demographic elements such as gender, marital status, age, years of study, hours worked, period of study (morning, afternoon, or evening), and family income were linked to the diligence and academic performance of these undergraduate students, who were enrolled full-time or part-time. Student diligence was measured through the Diligence Inventory—Higher Education Form (DI-HE). t tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Cohen’s d and w2 were also used to test mean differences in the level of diligence existing in the different groups and subgroups in the study. Results of the study showed that it was not possible to conclude significant differences between part-time and full-time students. However, on demographics it was possible to conclude that there were five significant differences. 1. Gender—This was the highest significant difference (effect size 2.32) from all the null hypotheses. Women are better than men on Academic Performance (marginal difference). 2. Year of Study—Students in their sophomore year are well adjusted and performed better than each of the other years. 3. Marital status—Married and divorced students were more diligent than are single students. 4. Age—Older students were more diligent than are younger students. 5. Period of study—Morning and evening students performed better than did afternoon students. Further studies on diligence and academic performance could be applied at the elementary school and secondary school levels to connect with higher education. It would be helpful to develop new strategies to enhance the chances of students performing well and not dropping out of school.
Diligence, Students, Higher Education, Brazil, Educational Psychology
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