Using Statistical Analysis to Evaluate Past Student Outcomes: Early Indicators of Delay in Online Classrooms

Abstract

This case describes the research process followed by two professors who chose to study student outcomes in our online accounting classrooms. Motivated by the discovery of a possible anomaly in classroom outcomes, we decided to look further. We thought the anomaly might be explained by student procrastination. If our perception proved true, the study would make an interesting contribution to the literature on procrastination in distance learning and offer useful information to online instructors. Reviewers said that delay would be a better explanation than procrastination. This led to the need to learn about a different and more recent theory and to do an extensive rewrite. From the case, students will learn about and use online resources with information about the ethics of doing research using data collected from people. They also will gain an understanding of the use of single and multiple ordinary least squares regression analysis and the roles of dependent, predictor, and control variables in a regression. Finally, students will learn how to respond to difficult reviewer comments to move a paper from revise and resubmit status, through an extensive rewrite process, to a publication.

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