Research Article Critique #2

Steven M. Walters, M.Ed.

Kent State University

Research Article Critique #2 -1

Investigating students learning approaches, perceptions of online
discussions, and students online and academic performance
Silvia Wen-Yu Lee
Walters Research Article Critique #2
Background
This critique is on the paper Investigating students learning approaches, perceptions of
online discussions, and students online and academic performance by Silvia Wen-Yu Lee from
the Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Changhua University of Education in
Taiwan.
This study was conducted at a university in the northern part of Taiwan over a seven
week period using two sets of questionnaires for better understanding students approaches of
learning and perceptions of online discussions. In Taiwan, according to a survey conducted in
2005 by the National Science Council, about 80% of surveyed institutes of higher education had
adopted Internet-based asynchronous communications for teaching (National Science Council,
2006).
The researcher categorized the online postings of 111 research subjects in a general
education course titled Ecology and Human Society into three major clusters of student online
postings; Initiation, Elaborated Response (ER), and Response with Resources (RWR). An
additional 204 students in another course were surveyed to validate one of the research survey
instruments; the Perceptions of Asynchronous Online Discussion (PAOD) Questionnaire.
The objectives of this study were to validate the PAOD Questionnaire, to explore the
relationships between students perceptions of online discussions and students contributions of
different types of messages, to explore the relationships between students approaches to

Research Article Critique #2 -2

learning and students contributions of different types of messages, and through comparing
different clusters, to investigate the influence of both students perceptions of online discussions
and their approaches of learning on students overall performance in the course and students
online contributions, (Lee, 2012). Past research has shown that there are various factors on why
students contribute in online discussions. One of the major reasons for limited student
contributions is not knowing the need of online discussions (Hew, Cheng, & Ng, 2010).
Lee examined student perceptions of online discussions and overall learning approaches
in relation to their actual contributions, manifested as posting numbers, in an asynchronous
message board, (Lee, 2012). The research found that students who scored highest in the
perception scales had adopted deeper approaches driven by intrinsic motivation when it came to
the number of ER messages posted and overall student academic performance.
The Methods
Two sets of research instruments. The first was the Approaches to Learning Biology
Questionnaire (ALB) that was adopted and revised from a 2008 study by Lee, Johanson, & Tsai
called Approaches to Learning Science Questionnaire (ALS). The second and new
questionnaire, created for this study, was the Perceptions of Asynchronous Online Discussion
Questionnaire (PAOD). Both surveys utilized a five-point Likert scale to measure student
responses.
The 24 item ALB questionnaire consisted of four major concepts. The first is deep
motive that refers to students intrinsic interests in learning deep strategy. The second is surface
motive that refers to fear of failure in the class. The third is deep strategy that refers to
approaches that maximize learning meanings, and the fourth is surface strategy that refers to rote
learning or learning with narrow purposes (Lee et al., 2008).

Research Article Critique #2 -3

The PAOD questionnaire was created for this study to survey students perceptions of
four aspects of online discussion: Affective, Cognitive, Skill, and Efficacy aspects. The
questionnaire was designed based on research findings of online discussions from Exploring the
attitudes, experiences and dynamics of interaction in online groups (Finegold & Cooke, 2006),
Student contribution in asynchronous online discussion: a review of the research and empirical
exploration (Hew et al., 2010), Identifying patterns of collaborative knowledge exploration in
online asynchronous discussions (Lee & Tsai, 2011) as well as other questionnaires about
collaborative learning from University students perceptions of and attitudes toward (online) peer
assessment (Wen & Tsai, 2006).
This study provided a table of how the four surveyed aspects related to constructs or
factors in previous studies were broken down and obtained from.
Table 1
Constructs or empirical findings from past studies that relate to the four aspects of students perceptions
of online discussion.
Aspects

Related constructs or factors

Affection

Positive attitude (Wen & Tsai, 2006)

Enjoyment (Finegold & Cooke, 2006)
Negative attitude (Wen & Tsai, 2006)

Cognition

Usefulness and benefits of online discussion (Finegold & Cooke, 2006)

Perceived purpose of online discussion (Finegold & Cooke, 2006)

Skills

Improvement of critical thinking skills (Szabo, & Schwartz, 2011)

Improvement of writing skills (Cathey, 2007)
Exhibiting surface level thinking or low level knowledge construction (Hew et al.,
2010)

Research Article Critique #2 -4

Efficacy

Self-efficacy (Lee & Tsai, 2011b)

Group member confidence in using the discussion board (Finegold & Cooke, 2006)
Group members not participating or not contributing (Finegold & Cooke, 2006)
Behavior of instructor or other participants during online discussion (Hew et al., 2010)
(Lee, 2012)

The course Ecology and Human Society was designed with a combination of lectures
and face-to-face group activities. In order to receive full credit, after the class, students were
required to participate in online discussions that were facilitated by teaching assistants. Students
could also start their own discussion threads. The online discussions were to deepen students
understanding of the content in the lectures or to encourage further reflection upon issues raised
during face-to-face activities. Over the seven weeks of this study a total of 1007 online
messages were coded and divided into three categories that reflect student centered discourse;
Initiation, Elaborated Response (ER), and Response with Resources (RWR). Initiation refers to
messages that initiate a new discussion thread, Elaborated Response (ER) refers to statements
that include definitions, examples, comparison, judgments, and predictions (Hmelo-Silver &
Barrows, 2008), and Response with Resources (RWR) that refers to an explicit reference to
modern publications such as information from websites, books, and news (Lee, 2012).
Regression analysis, cluster analysis, and paired-t tests were conducted in this study. For
cluster analysis, the researcher conducted Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and determined the
number of clusters to be three based on the Ward Methods dendrogram then conducted the KMean Cluster. The differences between the three clusters regarding students course final marks
and number of messages were then compared by ANOVA test and post-hoc analysis, (Lee,
2012).

Research Article Critique #2 -5

The Results
The results of this study show that almost all aspects of student perceptions of online
discussions and the number of their online ERs and RWRs are positive in correlation. Based on
the larger postings of ERs students felt that online discussions were helpful and positive for their
learning, their positive emotions towards posting in discussions, gains of critical and analytical
skills through discussions, and were more satisfied with their own or others performance in the
discussions (Lee, 2012). The number of RWRs was influenced by students perceived affection
as well their perceived level of value in the discussion. The number of Initiation messages
showed no significant correlations to any of the constructs or concepts that were in the PAOD
questionnaire.
The results of this study also showed that the number of Initiation messages and RWRs
were significantly correlated to some dimensions of how students approach learning. The
Initiation messages were also positively correlated to deep strategy learning but were negatively
correlated to surface strategies that could have been students posting to just post something to
show they participated.
The results of the cluster analysis showed that students in the group 1, who were highly
motivated and adopted to deep strategies, scored low in all constructs of the PAOD
questionnaire. Students in the cluster 2 group, who were highly motivated, tended to adopt deep
strategies (Lee, 2012). The third cluster group was the least motivated students who were less
likely to adopt deep strategies.
Basically, this study revealed that a students increased understanding that online
discussions can help them learn ways to think about a topic and develop new skills, the more
willingness will occur to contribute in discussions. This article confirmed that students who

Research Article Critique #2 -6

contribute quality postings rather than narrow purpose postings have a higher degree of intrinsic
value and receive higher grades at the end of a semester.
Evaluation
This article was clear in what the objectives of what the researcher was looking for. I
was able to relate and appreciate the examples used to show how the TAs initiated discussions
and how student posting were compiled into the three cluster groups. The sample size was
adequate with appropriate questionnaires to measure student perception. The time length of the
study was over a long enough period to allow students who start out strong to either continue to
post ERs and RWRs or back off throughout the study.
The seven tables used in this study helped to convey the results of the two questionnaires
in data, text and groupings. This made it easier to grasp the breakdowns of findings in the study.
There were a few typos and miss use of English that was distracting and made the study a little
cumbersome to read and interpret correctly but contextually those areas made sense.
Overall, the results, findings, and implications of this study are an important part of
understanding that not all students are equal in their learning approaches and how and why
students participate in online discussions. I believe that this study shows that rubrics are required
for teachers who want their students to post meaningful and thoughtful posts of ERs and RWRs
rather than short postings that do not add real value to a discussion. This study provides the
evidence that teachers who require students to initiate a certain number of discussion threads and
do not provide a rubric may be doing students a disservice in allowing them to make their own
judgements on what to include.

Research Article Critique #2 -7

A familiar theme that needs to be investigated is how to increase online discussion
participation and improve the quality of postings rather than just asking students for a certain
quantity of postings?

Research Article Critique #2 -8

References
Cathey, C. (2007). Power of peer review: an online collaborative learning assignment in social
psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 34(2), 9799.
Finegold, A. R. D., & Cooke, L. (2006). Exploring the attitudes, experiences and dynamics of
interaction in online groups. The Internet and Higher Education, 9, 201215.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.06.003.
Hmelo-Silver, C. E., & Barrows, H. S. (2008). Facilitating collaborative knowledge building.
Cognition and Instruction, 26(1), 4894.
Hew, K. F., Cheung, W. S., & Ng, C. S. L. (2010). Student contribution in asynchronous online
discussion: a review of the research and empirical exploration. Instructional Science,
38(6), 571606. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11251-008-9087-0.
Lee, S. (2012). Investigating students learning approaches, perceptions of online discussions,
and students online and academic performance. Computers & Education. 68,345-352.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.05.019
Lee, M.-H., Johanson, R. E., & Tsai, C.-C. (2008). Exploring Taiwanese high school students
conceptions of and approaches to learning science through a structural equation modeling
analysis. Science Education, 92(2), 191220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sce.20245.
Lee, S. W.-Y., & Tsai, C.-C. (2011a). Identifying patterns of collaborative knowledge
exploration in online asynchronous discussions. Instructional Science, 39, 321347.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11251-010-9131-8.
National Science Council. (2006). 20052006 e-Learning in Taiwan. Chungli, Taiwan: National
Science & Technology Program Office for e-Learning.
Szabo, Z., & Schwartz, J. (2011). Learning methods for teacher education: the use of online

Research Article Critique #2 -9

discussions to improve critical thinking. Technology Pedagogy and Education, 20(1), 79
94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475939x.2010.534866.
Wen, M. L., & Tsai, C.-C. (2006). University students perceptions of and attitudes toward
(online) peer assessment. Higher Education, 51, 2744.