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Class Attendance and Exam Performance: A Randomized Experiment

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Author Info
Jennjou Chen () (National Chengchi University)
Tsui-Fang Lin (National Taipei University)
Abstract

The determination of college students' academic performance is an important issue in higher education. Whether students' attendance at lectures affects students' exam performance has received considerable attention. The authors conduct a randomized experiment to study the average attendance effect for students who choose to attend lectures, which is known in program evaluation literature as the average treatment effect on the treated. This effect has long been neglected by researchers when estimating the impact of lecture attendance on students' academic performance. Under the randomized experiment approach, the results suggest that class attendance has a positive and significant impact on college students' exam performance. On average, the effect of attending lectures corresponds to a 9.4 percent to 18.0 percent improvement in exam performance for those who choose to attend classes. In comparison, the improvement is only 5.1 percent, using the empirical method of existing studies, which measures the overall average attendance impact.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Helen Dwight Reid Foundation in its journal The Journal of Economic Education.

Volume (Year): 39 (2008)
Issue (Month): 3 ()
Pages: 213-227
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Handle: RePEc:jee:journl:v:39:y:2008:i:3:p:213-227

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Related research
Keywords: attendance; experiment; treatment effect; undergraduate;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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  1. Luca Stanca, 2004. "The effects of attendance on academic performance: panel data evidence for Introductory Microeconomics," HEW 0411003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Durden, Garey C & Ellis, Larry V, 1995. "The Effects of Attendance on Student Learning in Principles of Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 343-46, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Tsui-Fang Lin & Jennjou Chen, 2006. "Cumulative class attendance and exam performance," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(14), pages 937-942, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Romer, David, 1993. "Do Students Go to Class? Should They?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 167-74, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Heckman, James J & Smith, Jeffrey A, 1995. "Assessing the Case for Social Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 85-110, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Dolton, Peter & Marcenaro, Oscar D. & Navarro, Lucia, 2003. "The effective use of student time: a stochastic frontier production function case study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 547-560, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Burtless, Gary, 1995. "The Case for Randomized Field Trials in Economic and Policy Research," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 63-84, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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