Date of Award
2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Thesis
Department
Mathematics
First Advisor
Rasitha Jayasekare
Abstract
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) surveys students at four-year institutions around the United States in order to offer Universities accessible ways to evaluate their students' experiences and performance. The NSSE data is collected in the form of a Likert-scale survey geared towards first year and senior year students. It asks questions about how they spend their time throughout the academic year and how they rate their experience. This thesis looks at the NSSE survey data from Butler University in 2016 and attempts to apply classification techniques and predictive models to draw conclusions about student performance. Methods such as Multinomial Logistic Regression and Generalized Linear Mixed models are used to identify significant factors affecting students' experiences and performance. These methods, along with Naive Bayes classification and decision tree classification are then used to predict students' grades and experience ratings.
Recommended Citation
Wynn, Abigale, "Investigating the Factors That Best Describe Student Experience and Performance in College" (2019). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. 460.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/460