The Impact of Group Size on the Behaviour and Involvement of Male Mature Students in Tutorless Seminars

Current demands to increase the number of student places without a commensurate increase in resources have forced academics to seek ways of becoming more 'efficient'. Increasingly, tutorless seminar groups are seen as a way of doing this. Group size has been shown, in other contexts, to af...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British educational research journal 1992-06, Vol.18 (3), p.287-296
Main Author: Kniveton, Bromley H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Class size
Classroom relations
College students
Educational research
Educational sciences
Group size
Peer tutoring
Psychosociology of school environment
Recommendations
School life
Social interaction
Standard deviation
Tutorials
Tutoring
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Summary:Current demands to increase the number of student places without a commensurate increase in resources have forced academics to seek ways of becoming more 'efficient'. Increasingly, tutorless seminar groups are seen as a way of doing this. Group size has been shown, in other contexts, to affect individual participation. One hundred and nine male mature students in small seminar group sizes of 3 were compared to those in larger groups of approximately 6. Observational measures of behaviour were made and all students completed a questionnaire. It was found that large groups were more negative, felt less satisfied and were less involved and that they had less influence on the discussion than the small groups. It is suggested that the results imply being a member of a larger seminar group is a less satisfactory experience for a student than being a member of a small group.
ISSN:0141-1926
1469-3518
DOI:10.1080/0141192920180306