Student characteristics associated with dominant approaches to studying: Comparing a national and an international sample

Abstract

Background

Productive approaches to studying (deep and strategic learning) are associated with a variety of favourable academic outcomes, and may be of particular importance for students in multifaceted and complex disciplines such as occupational therapy.

Aim

To explore associations between student characteristics and their dominant approaches to studying in two samples of occupational therapy students: a national sample of Norwegian first-year students, and an international sample of students in different year cohorts (Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Norway).

Materials and methods

A total of 180 (national sample) and 665 (international sample) students were included in the study. Approaches to studying were measured with the Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Data were analyzed with adjusted multinomial regression analyses.

Results

Age, gender and prior higher education were not associated with the dominant study approach. More time spent on independent study (international sample: OR = 1.07/1.08, p < 0.01/<0.001) and having current study program as the top priority line of education at enrolment (national sample: OR = 2.89, p < 0.05) predicted productive study approaches.

Conclusions and significance

Factors such as age, gender and prior higher education seem to be of limited importance for understanding students’ dominant approaches to studying.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• learning
• multinomial logistic regression
• occupational therapy

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the students who volunteered to take part in this study. In addition, the authors thank Vår Mathisen (UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø) and Kjersti Velde Helgøy (VID Specialized University, Sandnes), who contributed to the data collection for this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.