Chicago, Illinois
June 18, 2006
June 18, 2006
June 21, 2006
2153-5965
International
15
11.21.1 - 11.21.15
10.18260/1-2--183
https://peer.asee.org/183
438
Shi Lan ("Stan"), Ph.D., is an Academic Dean responsible for Electroics, Computer Engineering Technology, Biomedical Engineering Technology, and Health Information Technology at DeVry University Chicago, IL.
Yaqing Mao, Ph.D., is a professor and the deputy dean of the College of Educational Administration at Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
A Comparative Analysis on University Student Characteristics between Electronics Students in China and in the United States
Abstract How much time did university students spend on learning, working, and doing leisure activities in China and in the United States? Were there statistically significant differences between university students in China and in the United States, in regard to the time investment on learning and doing other activities? This research statistically compared student characteristics between electronics students in China and in the United States. The research statistically analyzed, in China and in the United States, the average hours per week electronics students spent on taking lectures and scheduled labs, studying outside classrooms on reading and homework, working on paid-jobs, and doing leisure activities. Meanwhile the research compared the above student characteristics between female and male students in the sample. The research also tried to compare these statistical data between students in China and students in the United States for the same gender group. The study used various statistical tools (2X2 ANOVAs, t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, etc.) to conduct analysis and comparisons.
The actual survey was conducted to a sample of electronics students at a four-year university in the United States, and a comparable group of students at a university in Beijing, China. Among surveys being collected, about 100 (approximately 50 from each country) had valid data which were used in the analysis.
The research resulted in several interesting findings in descriptive statistics regarding the percentage of American and Chinese students’ average time spent in classroom taking lectures and performing scheduled labs, studying outside classrooms, working on paid-jobs, and doing leisure activities.
The research found that there were statistically significant differences between Chinese university students and American university students, in regard to almost all areas that were investigated. University electronics students in China spent significantly more time on taking lectures and performing scheduled labs, studying outside classrooms, and doing leisure activities than their counterparts in the United States. On the other hand, university electronics students in the United States spent significantly more time working on paid-jobs than their counterparts in China. There were no significant differences found between two gender groups for all research questions investigated. The significance of this research was to develop better awareness to facilitate the cultural understanding of recent university student characteristics in different educational settings.
Introduction
This research was attempted to find whether there were statistically significant differences between electronics students in China and electronics students in the United States, in regard to the time they spent weekly on (a) attending classroom lectures and scheduled labs; (b) on studying outside the classroom; (c) on paid-jobs; and (d) on leisure activities.
Lan, S. S., & Mao, Y. (2006, June), A Comparative Analysis On Learning Characteristics Between Electronics Students In China And In The United States Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--183
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2006 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015