Understanding Student Self-Reports of Course-Taking Behavior and Academic Performance

• In Event: Conducting and Validating Surveys

Abstract

Surveys are a common ways to collect information about students, yet student surveys can only produce credible information if students provide accurate answers. Using a nationally representative sample of high school students, the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, our paper seeks to answer the following research questions;
1) How accurate are student self-reports of courses taken and academic performance?
2) Are there systematic patterns in the direction of error? Do students tend to over-report positive outcomes and under-report negative outcomes?

3) How do student, question and interview characteristics explain self-report accuracy?

Our results will help inform the practice of collecting student data via surveys and will inform policy decisions related to, for example, using student self-reports in accountability systems.

Authors

• Jeffrey A. Rosen, RTI International

• Stephen R. Porter, North Carolina State University

• Jim Rogers, RTI International