Short-Run Production of Academic Achievement: Does Lecture Attendance Matter for Grades?

1. Références

Référence complète APA : Delaney, L., Harmon, C. and Ryan, M. (2012). Short-Run Production of Academic Achievement: Does Lecture Attendance Matter for Grades? Working paper.

Auteur(s) : Liam Delaney, Colm Harmon & Martin Ryan

Revue : pas encore publié

2. Copies

Copie en ligne : http://ucd-ie.academia.edu/MartinRyan/Papers/565353/Short-Run_Production_of_Academic_Achievement_Does_Lecture_Attendance_Matter_for_Grades

Copie locale : Fichier:Delaney Harmon et al 2012.pdf

Copie physique :

3. Mots-clés

absentéisme

4. Abstract

This is the first longitudinal study to examine the relationship between lecture attendance and grades across multiple subject areas. There are a number of unobserved characteristics that may affect the decision to attend, as well as affecting exam-performance. Therefore, the econometric specification benefits from repeated measures of attendance and achievement. Besides the inclusion of individual fixed effects (which account for the stable traits of students that cannot be directly measured), the specification benefits from the direct measurement of noncognitive traits. This means that traditionally unobserved time-varying traits can be included in the specification: students’ attitude to risk and their future-orientation. In addition, an approximate measure of time-varying class-rooms is included in the specification (this is an interaction between subject area, university affiliation and year of enrolment). This accounts for time-varying factors such as quality of teaching, class-size, or assessment procedure. Results from fixed effects regression show that lecture attendance is not associated with higher grade-scores. Academic achievement appears to be mainly driven by unobserved individual differences, at least in the short-run.

5. Résumé (facultatif)