Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 241 de 957
Both SEEQ questionaries contained Likert-scale items for measuring student´s beliefs of
how high was their motivation. The survey contained another items that will be analysed
in future researches.
Data Analysis
Both questionnaires were given online and they were graded automatically with the
Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) of the UR
(http://www.campusvirtual.unirioja.es). The students only have to click the icon for the
evaluation and are off and running. These surveys are anonymous and the feedback, both
numerical and written is only available to the course teacher and LCMS administrator.
Bellow, the results of information provided by both SEEQ questionnaires are presented.
The participants who took both tests were thirty-four (N=34), because eleven students
dropped one course:
In this case, researchers wanted to investigate differences between two surveys. There
wasn’t a pre-existing theory to guide the formation of the hypothesis about relationships,
and the hypothesis was formulated as: the interest shown by students would be higher
when the didactic method proposed in the article is applied to them, than in those cases in
which actual methods are used.
Since the dependent variable examined in the study is continuous, Student´s t-Test has
been used to analyse the results. This test has been performed to establish whether the
mean values of the descriptor for the selected Likert-items are significantly different, so
the hypothesis can be either rejected or accepted based upon the results of the statistical
analysis (Howell, 2002).
The results show the motivation of the students who are enrolled in both Manufacturing
Engineering and Materials Testing subjects:
• The mean of question LEARNING (1) was not significantly higher in pre-test
(mean=3.6) than in post-test (mean=3.7; t=2.039, p=0,0455 (two-tailed),
df=64.85).
• The mean of question OVERALL (1) was significantly higher in pre-test (mean=3.9)
than in post-test (mean=3.7; t=0.392, p=0,6963 (two-tailed), df=63.85).
Overall, the results suggest (OVERALL (1)) that the majority of students agreed that this
course was significantly better than other courses they had had at UR. But they also
suggest (LEARNING (1)) that they did not find the course more intellectually stimulating
after the didactic method proposed in the article is applied to them.
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011