Academic Folk Wisdom: Fact, Fiction and Falderal

• Published in: Psychology learning and teaching 2009-03, Vol.8 (1), p.46-50
• Main Author: Skinner, Nicholas F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1475-7257; 1475-7257; 2057-3022
• DOI: 10.2304/plat.2009.8.1.46

Each generation of professors and students is heir to the academic folk wisdom of its predecessor. However, empirical evidence calls several tenets of this well-intentioned legacy into question. Specifically, data presented here suggest the following iconoclastic conclusions: placing a few easy questions at the beginning of a multiple-choice examination does not build student confidence; changing the first-chosen answer to a multiple-choice question can frequently be beneficial; printing multiple-choice examinations on paper of different colours (to discourage cheating) can be disadvantageous to students; choosing ‘c’ when in doubt about an answer is not an effective multiple-choice examination strategy; students sitting in front/middle seats do not always receive the highest marks; most students are not academically dishonest; humour on examinations enhances student performance; the highest grades are not achieved in morning classes; most students do not perform considerably better on multiple-choice than essay questions (or vice versa); and, students with unusual names do not typically earn poor grades. Consequently, caution is advisable in the acceptance of apparent academic truisms.