Non-Academics and Academics Agree on Writing Techniques

Hello all! I took a hiatus from data processing last quarter to focus on a wonderful teaching opportunity. Now that it is summer, I’m back in my office and cranking away at this project. Here are my newest results:

Students in the intervention group scored significantly better than those in the control group! The intervention group’s median score was >1 point better on overall improvement. WOO HOO!
Reviewers came from both academic and non-academic backgrounds. In general, both reviewer groups scored student writing the same, suggesting that the writing skills are equally relevant to a range of career paths (Woo Hoo!). Non-academic reviewers did tend to score student writing better on demonstration, i.e. the student’s ability to validate their claims by providing evidence and examples. I think this hints at academics’ ingrained high standard for evidence.

Next, I plan to dive deeper into statistical analysis with a conditional ordered logit model. This type of analysis will let me evaluate the effects of student demographics (GPA, gender, year in program, etc.). Stay tuned!

 

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