Page 66 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

proportion of obtained credits in comparison to the attempted credits. GPA was
used in 14 studies, and persistence in 12 studies. Fi een studies used more than
one outcome variable. Most studies were cross-sectional. e most frequently used
methods of analysis were path analysis and regression analysis (46% respectively
36%). Other analyses used were methods to compare groups, multilevel analysis,
correlation, and cluster analysis. We found many studies that used background
variables (i.e., ability, demographic factors, and prior education) and variables from
one or two other categories. More comprehensive studies, i.e., studies that used 3 variables from three or more categories, were less common. Table 3.3 presents an
overview of the foci of the studies included in this review.
Table 3.3 e categories included in the studies and the extent of integration of di erent categories
Systematic review of rst-year success
Categories
1. Ability
2. Demographic factors
3. Prior education
4. Personality
5. Motivation
6. Characteristics and perceptions of the learning environment
7. Psychosocial factors
8. Learning strategies
9. Engagement
Integration of categories
Background factors only (1, 2, and/or 3)
Background factors (1, 2, 3) + factor(s) from one other category Background factors (1, 2, 3) + factor(s) from two other categories Background factors (1, 2, 3) + factor(s) from three other categories Background factors (1, 2, 3) + factor(s) from four other categories No background factors + factor(s) from one category
No background factors + factor(s) from two categories
No background factors + factor(s) from three categories
Total number of studies
3.4.2 Synthesis of the results per category
Number of Dutch studies
17 16 8 4 16 15 10 8 9
0 8 9 2 3 2 2 3 29
Number of Flemish studies
3 6 6 1 6 0 3 2 1
1 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 9
Total number of studies
20 22 14 5 22 15 13 10 10
1 11 11 2 3 3 3 4 38
Below we describe the results per category, which are presented in Tables II.1 to II.9 in the Appendix. ese nine tables (one per category) show for each variable how many positive, negative, and non-signi cant relationships with the three student success outcomes were found in each of the two countries and at each of the two types of higher education.
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