Do students lie on placement surveys?: an action research study
Brian Kokensparger · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2017
Students who are new to computer science are often unsure about how to respond on pre-course surveys when taking their first computer programming courses. In two sections of an introductory programming (CS1) course, the investigator administered a pre-course survey to allow students to self-report their preparation for and interest in writing code. In one section, the investigator introduced the survey as a way to do departmental assessment. In the other section, the investigator introduced it as a way to do for pairs and group programming assignments. Average test scores on the midterm examination showed students in both sections were nearly the same in programming knowledge mid-way through the course. Results from a second common survey administered later in the semester, found that students responding to the placement survey had significantly understated their prior coding experience when responding to the pre-course survey, whereas those responding to the assessment survey showed little difference between the two instruments.