Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
ECONOMIC MODELS OF TIME IN LEARNING (ECONOMICS EDUCATION, SUMMER SESSION, STUDY-TIME, ACADEMIC CALENDAR, INTENSIVE COURSES)
Abstract
This dissertation uses economic models to examine time, a limited resource in economics learning. Two related problems are addressed: (1) determining if college students' available study time affects their demand for an education product, e.g., economics; and, (2) investigating whether college students achieve more in short-term or semester-length courses. For the first problem, a theoretical model is presented that examines economics achievement in a demand framework which originates from earlier models of money demand. A second revised demand model is developed from the first model incorporating the different assumptions which apply to summer session students. A third model is developed to test the influence of calendar periods--summer-term or semester--on economics achievement. Much of the published research on achievement in education is based on ad hoc models of an input-output of production-function type, where achievement is the dependent output variable and various factors thought to affect achievement are tested as independent input variables in a linear regression equation. However, the model assumptions often are not explicit or limited. The first two models in this research test a theory of economics students' behavior regarding study time allocation and use, using the assumptions which are explicit and limited. Therefore, tests of the model allow for rejection or support of the theory. The third model follows the more traditional approach where achievement is treated as an output produced by factor inputs including a time variable for calendar period. This study is unique because it presents a demand theory of time and learning which is tested for the first time. Also, a new model is developed to measure the influence of calendar period on economics learning. The models were tested using data from students in several introductory macroeconomic classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In general, the results did not support the two demand theories of economics achievement. Tests of the model measuring the influence of calendar period on achievement indicate that economics students do at least as well in summer sessions as in the regular semester. These models provide a foundation for adapting research on the relationship of time to learning in all subject areas.
Subject Area
Economics|Higher education
Recommended Citation
GLEASON, JOYCE PECKHAM, "ECONOMIC MODELS OF TIME IN LEARNING (ECONOMICS EDUCATION, SUMMER SESSION, STUDY-TIME, ACADEMIC CALENDAR, INTENSIVE COURSES)" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8609803.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8609803