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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Factors Affecting Business Students' Performance:
The Case of Students in United Arab Emirates
Nasri Harb & Ahmed El-shaarawi
To cite this article: Nasri Harb & Ahmed El-shaarawi (2007) Factors Affecting Business
Students' Performance: The Case of Students in United Arab Emirates, Journal of Education for Business, 82:5, 282-290, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.82.5.282-290
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.82.5.282-290
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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ABSTRACT.
ABSTRACT.Inthisstudy,theauthors foundthatthemostimportantfactorthat
n this study, we sought to identify factorsaffectingstudentperformance in the College of Business and Eco-nomics(CBE)atUnitedArabEmirates University(UAEU)intheUnitedArab Emirates(UAE).Weexaminedwhether studentperformancewasmorearesult of factors endemic to the culture and societyoftheUAEthanfactorsuniver-sallyacceptedintheWest.
The UAE is composed of seven Emirates: Abu-Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman,UmmAlQuwain,Fujairah,and RasAl Khaimah. The UAEU is locat-ed inAl-Ain city inAbu Dhabi Emir-ate, and the CBE offers seven majors: accounting, economics, finance, man- agement,managementinformationsys- tems,marketing,andstatistics.InFeb-ruary 2004, student population at the CBE was 2,207.The majority (63.2%) ofthestudentswerewomen.
WithintheUAEU,thehigherfemale presence in the student population is mainly because many UAE male high schoolgraduatesprefertojointhepub-licservice,especiallythearmyandthe police, instead of attending college. In addition, some of those male high school graduates who do go to col-legeprefertoattendEuropeanorNorth Americancollegesanduniversities.
Becauseofthetraditionandculture, there are two separate UAEU cam-puses—one for female students and one for male students. About 80% of the students are nationals whereas the remaining20%arenonnationals.Many
of these nonnationalstudents areArab studentswholivewiththeirfamiliesas residentsintheUAE.Inaddition,there are also non-Arab students who come fromAfrica,therepublicsoftheformer SovietUnion,andotherplaces.
Besidetheconventionalfactors(e.g., mathematical aptitude, parents’ educa-tion,familyincome)thataffectstudent performance,weinvestigatedtheeffect ofgendertodetermineanyperformance differences that may result from the UAEU maintaining separate campuses for male and female students.We also investigated whether living on campus affectsstudentperformance.Thisfactor interactswithgenderbecausethereare morerestrictiverulesinthefemalecam-pusthaninthemalecampusespecially with regard to movement of female students outside of the campus (e.g., although male students have the free-domtogoinandoutoftheirdormitory and bring in their friends, female stu-
is English.We have included students’ competence in English in our list of variables to test its effect on student performance.
Educators, academics, and policy makers have debated the factors that determine student performance. Many researchers in the United States and Europehaveexaminedthisissue.Their findings have shown that hard work, discipline, education, parents’ educa-tion, family income, and self-motiva-tionarefactorsthatexplaindifferences in students’ grades. Kennedy and Tay (1994) identified students’ aptitude as the most important determinant of stu-dentperformanceineconomicscourses. They also identified study efforts, age, andagoodmatchbetweenthestudents’ learningstyleandtheinstructor’steach-ing style as factors that had positive effectsonstudents’performance.
Zimmer and Fuller (1996) indicat-ed that anxiety, attitude, and computer experience were linked to student per-formance in statistics courses. Some researchers have found students’ apti-tudetohavepositiveeffectsonstudent performance(cf.Anderson&Benjamin, 1994; Devadoss & Foltz, 1996; Ellis, Durden, & Gaynor, 1998; Karemera, 2003; Siegfried & Fels, 1979). Others have found that students’ attitudes or perceptions have a positive effect on their performance (e.g., Beron, 1990; Lane&Porch,2002).
As for gender, Williams, Waldauer, Duggal, and Vijaya (1992) found no evidencetosupportthehypothesisthat significantandconsistentgenderdiffer-ences exist in college students’ perfor-mancewhereasAndersonandBenjamin (1994) showed that male students out-performtheirfemalecounterparts.Some researchersfoundthenumberofcredit hours students enroll in each semester to have negative effect on student per-formance(e.g.,Ellisetal.,1998).
Some studies show evidence that class attendance has a positive effect on student performance (e.g., Deva-doss & Foltz, 1996; Ellis et al., 1998; Romer,1993).Memoryandnotetaking also appear to positively affect student performance (Cohn, Cohn, & Bradley, 1995).Withregardtostudents’financial status, Devadoss and Foltz found that
studentswhosupportthemselvesfinan-cially are likely to have better perfor-mance. Ellis et al. found that member-shipinfraternityorsororitynegatively affectedstudents’performance.
The literature review presented here centers on studies conducted in the West. The fact that there are cultural differences between Western societies and traditional Middle Eastern ones, and that the organization of the learn-ing environment is different within the UAE may play a role in determining studentperformance.Weexaminedthe significance of the variables and their implicationsonpolicymatters.
This study is important for two rea-sons: (a) We focused on factors that affectstudentperformanceintheUAEU, of education and the effectiveness of educationdeliveryontheotherhand. first set addressed the individual stu-dent’s background information such as highschoolmajor(i.e.,scienceandmath orliterature),workexperience,andstudy hours. The second set covered the stu- dents’perceptionsoftheuniversityenvi-ronmentsuchastheattitudetowardthe university and the professors. The third set of questions addressed the socio-economiccharacteristicsofthestudents, suchasparents’education,andhowlib-eralorconservativethefamilyis.
To conduct our econometric evalua-tion of those factors (seeAppendix B) thatmayaffectstudentperformance,we
For the factors that represent dents’ aptitude, we included the stu-dent’s grade in English on the univer-sity general requirement unit (UGRU) (grade_ug). Some students pass the English challenge exam and skip the EnglishcourseatUGRU;therefore,we included a dummy variable to indicate whetherthestudentpassedtheEnglish challengeexam(challenge).
The education system in the UAE requires high school students to con-centrate on either math and science or literature. Therefore, for the students’ educational background, which may affect their performance, we included adummyvariableforstudentmajorin high school (science). From our per-sonalobservationintheclassroom,we noticedthatstudentswhoattendedpri-vate schools were better prepared for college education compared to those whoattendedpublicschools;therefore, weincludedadummyvariableforthis type of education (private). We also included the number of credit hours achievedatthetimeofthequestionnaire (credits).
Datafordailystudyhourswereunre-liable. Therefore, for students’ study-inghabitsandattitudes,weincludedin our list of explanatory variables study hours during the weekend (weekend). We also included dummy variables for classparticipation(participation),class attendance(miss),andstudent’sattitude towardtheuniversity(attitude).
For the students’ socioeconomic background, most students could not providefiguresoftheirfamilyincome. Therefore, we used family size com-paredtothehousesize(crowded),and thenumberofdomestichelpers(maids) inthehouseholdrelativetofamilysize as a proxy for the student economic background.Forsocialbackground,we includedthetimespenttoperformsome familyrelatedresponsibility,whichmay betimeconsumingespeciallyforsome male students (responsibility).We also included a dummy variable for movie- going,whichindicateswhetherthestu-dentcamefromaliberalorconservative familybackground(movies).
Thevastmajorityofcollegestudents in the region do not work while in school. A small group of them hold a full-timejob.Fromourownexperience
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andpersonaldiscussionswithothercol-leagues,wenoticedthatthosewhohold a job are more mature, more respon-sible, and take their studies more seri-ously;therefore,weincludedadummy variabletoindicatewhetherthestudent has a job (job). Some of the working studentsaresponsoredbytheiremploy-ers and took full-time leave from their jobs to attend school (leave). In addi-tiontotheabovevariables,weincluded a dummy variable for female students (female) and another dummy variable for nonnational students (nn) as deter-minantsofstudentperformance.
RESULTS
Sample
Descriptive statistics of our sample showedthatcomparedwithnationalstu-dents (nat), nonnational stushowedthatcomparedwithnationalstu-dents (nn) hadhighergradepointaverage(GPA;nat = 26%).Also, nonnational students had a higher proportion of high school sci-encebackground(nat=56%,nn=76%); more likely to have a positive attitude toward the university (nat = 40%, nn =53%).However,comparedwithnon-nationals,nationalstudentsmissedfewer classes(nat=1.74,nn=2.05).
Gender wise, female students had higher GPAs (women = 2.61, men = 2.53);higherscoresinhighschoolEng-lish (grade_hs; women = 82.8, men = 78)andinUGRU(grade_ug;women= 79.3,men=78.4),butwerelesslikelyto passthechallengeEnglishtestatUGRU (women = 8%, men = 18%). Female students also were less likely to have high school degrees with science back-ground (women = 59%, men = 64%) or to attend private schools (women = 7%, men = 17%). They studied more
during the weekend (women = 2.57 hr, men = 1.86 hr), missed fewer classes percourse(women=1.78,men=1.83), and were less likely to have a positive attitudetowardtheuniversity(women= 38%,men=50%).Theyspentlesstime on their social responsibilities (women = 6.5 hr, men = 9 hr), were less likely women were more likely than men to liveinthedorm(women=47%,men= als, (c) men, and (d) women. Because noneoftheclassicalassumptionswere expected to be violated, ordinary least squares(OLS)wereused.
Table1representstheregressionresults
TABLE1.RegressionResultsofStudentPerformancebyNationalityandGender(DependentVariableIsStudent GPA)
Student
All National Nonnational Male Female Variableregression M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
(includedinregression) 296 215 119 223 137 J-Bnormalitytest(pvalue) 0.12 0.02 0.17 0.10 0.67
Note.GPA=gradepointaverage.nn=nonnational.DefinitionofeachvariableisprovidedinAppendixB.
*Significantat5%level.**Significantat10%level.
ofourmodel.Weincludeonlythoseesti-mateswithsignificanteffectonstudent’s performance in at least one subgroup. It canbeseenfromthetablethatthemost importantfactorthatpositivelyaffecteda student’s performance regardless of gen- derornationalitywasthestudent’scom-petence in English measured as passing theUGRUchallengetestorthestudents’ grade in English at UGRU. The other backgroundschoolingfactorssuchassci-ence background, private school educa-tion,andstudyhoursduringtheweekend didnothaveapersistentandclearsignifi-canteffectonstudents’gradesinmostof the subgroups. Class participation also had a positive and significant effect on students’ grades, especially female stu-dents’ grades. This is an indication that femalestudentswhoparticipatedinclass discussion and were, therefore, not pas-sive were likely to have better perfor-mance. Having positive attitudes toward theuniversityalsohadpositiveeffecton thestudents’overallperformance.
However,thefactorwiththemostneg-ativeeffectonstudentperformancewas student’saccumulatedcredits.Thiseffect was significant for the overall sample and subgroups except for the nonna- tionalstudents(i.e.,asthestudentspro-gressedintheirstudiesattheCBE,their GPA declined). Even if the estimated effectofcredithourswassmall,itstotal effectcouldbesignificantlylargewhen astudentaccumulatedalargenumberof credithours.Thereweresomeothervari-ables that had a negative effect on stu-dents’ performance such as missing too manyclasses,whichhadanoverallnega-tiveandsignificanteffectforthewhole sample,nationalstudents,andmalestu-dents. Living in a crowded household, which was proxy for the student’s eco-nomic background, also had negative andsignificanteffectontheperformance ofthewholesampleandthatofnational students.As for the social background, the only significant variable that turned outtohaveasignificanteffectwasbeing onleave,whichhadapositiveeffecton student’sperformanceasexpected.
The results also showed that female students outperformed male students, especially among the nonnational sub-group, and both male and female non-national students outperformed their nationalcounterparts(seeTable2).
TABLE2.DescriptiveStatisticsoftheStudySampleComparingNational, Nonnational,Female,andMaleStudents
National Nonnational Women Men Factor (n=673) (n=673) (n=673) (n=673)
Studentswithprivateschool
education(%) 6 30 7 17 Studentswithsciencemajorin
HS(%) 56 76 59 64 Passedchallengeexam(%) 7 26 8 18 Employedstudents(%) 11 7 3 21 Studentslivingoncampus(%) 41 53 47 38 PositiveattitudetowardUAEU
(%) 40 53 38 50 Participationinclassdiscussion
(%) 53 62 51 61 Marriedstudents(%) 11 3 10 7 Studentswithdrivinglicense Gradepointaverage(GPA) 2.47 2.95 2.61 2.53 Hourspentonstudiesduring
weekend 2.26 2.35 2.57 1.86 Hourspentonfamily
responsibilities 7.91 5.75 6.54 8.99 GradeinEnglishinHS 79 88 82.8 78 GradeinEnglishinUGRU 77.7 83.8 79.3 78.4 Father’seducationa 1.15 3.21 1.3 2.12
Mother’seducationa 0.74 2.45 0.94 1.42
Numberofmissedlecturesor
course 1.74 2.05 1.78 1.83
Note.HS=highschool.UAEU=UnitedArabEmiratesUniversity.UGRU=universitygeneral requirementunit.
aThenumbersthatcorrespondtomother’sandfather’seducationrangefrom0to5(0=noformal education;1=lessthanhighschooldiploma;2=highschooldiploma;3=juniorcollege;4= collegedegree;5=morethancollegedegree).
DISCUSSION
Inthisstudy,weexaminedfactorsthat affect student performance at the Col-legeofBusinessandEconomics-UAEU. However,wealsofoundthatfactorsspe-cifictoUAEsociety,namelytheseparate campuslivingandlearningenvironments for female students, and large family sizesplayaroleinstudentperformance. We found that students’ performance is positively related to positive attitudes andclassparticipationalthoughitisneg-ativelyrelatedtoaccumulatedcredits.
Thefindingshaveconsiderablepolicy implications for the CBE and UAEU management. With the aim of improv-ingcollegeperformance,wesuggestthat effortsmustbemadetoimprovecampus lifeandmakeitmoreattractivetostudents
sothattheyspendmoretimeoncampus anddedicatemoretimetotheirstudies. There is also need to improve students’ advising and counseling. Most impor-tant,thefindingsofthisstudy,combined with the unsatisfactory performance of moststudents,callforsignificantchange intheuniversityadmissionstandardsand theimplementationofnewpoliciesand programstomakesurethatstudentsare well prepared especially with regard to theircompetenceinEnglish.
Thisstudyhasscopetobewidenedtoa considerationoftheentireUAEUstudent populacetodeterminetheuniversalpreva-lenceofitsfindings.Thereareimplications for the university’s financial and human resourcesasitsmanagementiscommitted to ensure that the UAEU is the premier tertiaryinstitutionintheGulfregion.
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NOTE
Nasri Harb's main areas of research are applied macroeconomics and international eco-nomics, especially heterogeneous panel data. He alsoworksinthebusinesscyclemodelsandeco-nomicsofeducation.
Ahmed El-Shaarawi's main areas of inter-estareeconometricsandinternationaleconomics with an emphasis on trade restrictions, Foreign DirectInvestment(FDI),andWorldTradeOrga- nization(WTO)issues.Healsohasresearchinter-ests in economics of education and economics education.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Nasri Harb, UAE University-Economics, PO Box 17555, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates.
E–mail:Nasri.Harb@uaeu.ac.ae
REFERENCES
Anderson,G.,&Benjamin,D.(1994).Thedeter-minants of success in university introductory economicscourses. JournalofEconomicEdu-cation,25,99–119.
Beron, K. (1990). Joint determination of current classroomperformanceandadditionaleconom-icsclasses:Abinary/continuousmodel.Journal ofEconomicEducation,21,255–264. Cohn, E., Cohn, S., & Bradley, J. (1995). Note
taking,workingmemory,andlearninginprin-ciplesofeconomics. JournalofEconomicEdu-cation,26,291–308.
Devadoss, S., & Foltz, J. (1996). Evaluation of factorsinfluencingstudentsattendanceandper-formance.American Journal of Agricultural Economics,78(3),499–507.
Ellis, L., Durden, G., & Gaynor, P. (1998). Evi-dence on the factors that influence the prob-abilityofagoodperformanceintheprinciples of economics course. RetrievedApril 9, 2007, fromhttp://www.westga.edu/~bquest/1998/per-form.html
Karemera, D. (2003). The effects of academic environment and background characteristics on students’ satisfaction and performance: The case of South Carolina State University’s School of Business.College Student Journal, 37(2),298–311.
Kennedy, P., & Tay, R. (1994). Student
perfor-mance in economics: Does the norm hold acrossculturalandinstitutionalsettings? Jour-nalofEconomicEducation,25,291–301. Lane, A., & Porch, M. (2002). Computer aided
learning (CAL) and its impact on the perfor- manceofnon-specialistaccountingundergrad-uates.AccountingEducation,11(3),17–34. Romer,D.(1993).Dostudentsgotoclass?Should
they?JournalofEconomicPerspectives,7(3), 167–174.
Siegfried, J., & Fels, R. (1979). Research on teachingcollegeeconomics:Asurvey.Journal ofEconomicLiterature,17(3),923–969. Williams, M. L., Waldauer, L., Duggal, C., &
Vijaya, G. (1992). Gender differences in economic knowledge: An extension of the analysis.JournalofEconomicEducation,23, 219–231.
Zimmer,J.,&Fuller,D.(1996,November). Fac-tors affecting undergraduate performance in statistics: A review of literature. Paper pre-sentedattheannualmeetingoftheMid-South EducationalResearchAssociation.Tuscaloosa, AL. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.ED406424) 1. Age:__________
2. Gender: ❐male ❐female 3. Maritalstatus: ❐single ❐married ❐divorced ❐widowed
4. Ifnotsingle,howmanychildrendoyouhave?_____ 5. Nationality:
❐UAE
❐nonUAE➔➔country:__________
6. HowmanyyearshaveyoubeeninUAEuniversity?_____ 7. Gradepointaverage(GPA):________
8. Onaverage,howmanyhoursdoyoustudyeverydayduringweekdays? _________hours
9. Onaverage,howmanyhoursdoyoustudyeverydayduringtheweekend? _________hours
10. Completedcredithours:__________ 11. Major:
❐accounting ❐economics ❐management
(appendixcontinues)
APPENDIXA—Continued
❐managementinformationsystems(MIS) ❐marketing
❐finance ❐statistics ❐notdecided
12. Elementaryschool(Grade1–6):
Country:__________❐public❐private 13. Middleschool(Grade7–9):
Country:__________❐public❐private 14. Highschool(Grade10–12):
Country:__________❐public❐private 15. Highschooldiploma:
❐science❐literature❐vocational
Note:Ifyouarenotsureandyoutookmorescienceandmathcourses,choosescience; otherwise,chooseliterature.
16. Whatwasyourgrade(orinpercentage)inEnglishinyourhighschooldiploma? _________
17. DidyoustudyEnglishatUniversityGeneralRequirementUnit(UGRU)? ❐yes
❐no
18. IfyoustudiedEnglishatUGRU,whatwasyourgrade(orinpercentage)inyour lastEnglishcourse?_________
19. HaveyousuccessfullypassedtheEnglishchallengeexamatUGRU? ❐yes
❐no
20. Doyouhaveajobnow? ❐no
❐yes
21.Ifyouhaveajobnow,thendoyouworkin ❐governmentsector
❐privatesector
22.Ifyouhaveajobnow,thendoyouwork ❐fulltime(morethan30hrsperweek) ❐parttime
❐onleave
23. Yearsofexperienceifyouareworkingnoworhaveeverworkedbefore? _____(years)&_____months
24. DoyouresideinAl-Ain?
❐yes➔➔withyourfamily: ❐yes
❐no➔➔ ❐oncampus ❐offcampus ❐no➔➔withyourfamily:
❐yes ❐no
25. IfyourfamilydoesnotresideinAl-Ain,thenwhere:
❐inUAE➔➔emirate_____________city______________ ❐othercountry,specify_____________
(appendixcontinues)
288
APPENDIXA—Continued
26. Numberofdomesticworkersathome(housekeeper,cook,driver,etc.) __________
27. Numberofroomsinyourhouse(excludingdomesticworkers’rooms,kitchens, halls,etc.)__________
28. Numberofpersonswholiveinyourfamilyhouse(excludingdomesticworkers) __________
29. Totalmonthlyfamilyincome_______________ 30. Didanyofyourparentspassaway?
❐mother ❐father ❐none
31. Ifbothofyourparentsarealive,dotheylivetogether? ❐no
❐yes
32. Doesyourfatherhavemorethanonewife? ❐no
❐yes
33. Ifyouansweredyestoquestion(32),doesyourmotherlivewithoneofthese wivesinthesamehouse?
❐no ❐yes
34. Yourfather’seducation: ❐noformaleducation(0)
❐lessthanhighschooldiploma(1) ❐highschooldiploma(2)
❐juniorcollege(2yearsabovehighschool)(3) ❐collegedegree(4)
❐morethancollegedegree(5)
Yourfather’scurrentorformerjob:______________________ 35. Yourmother’seducation:
❐noformaleducation(0)
❐lessthanhighschooldiploma(1) ❐highschooldiploma(2)
❐juniorcollege(2yearsabovehighschool)(3) ❐collegedegree(4)
❐morethancollegedegree(5)
Yourmother’scurrentorformerjob:_____________________
36. Ingeneral,doyouhavefavorablefeelingtowardstheUAEuniversity? ❐yes
❐no ❐undecided
37. FromyouroverallexperienceatUAEU,howdoyoudescribeitsprofessors? ❐verypoor(0)
❐poor(1) ❐good(2) ❐verygood(3) ❐excellent(4)
38. Doyoutendtoaskquestionsduringlectures? ❐yes
❐no
39. Onaverage,howmanylecturesdoyoumissineachcourseyouenrollin?_____
(appendixcontinues)
APPENDIXA—Continued
40. Doesyourfamilyencourageyoutostudyhard? ❐yes
❐no
41. Approximately,howmanyhoursdoyouspendeveryweektofulfillyourfamily responsibilities?____hours
42. Doyourfriendsencourageyoutostudyhard? ❐yes
❐no
43. Doyouplantoworkaftergraduation? ❐yes
❐no
44. Approximately,howmanynonacademicbooksdoesyourfamilyhave?________ 45. Onaverage,howlongdoyouspendwatchingtelevisoneveryday?
________hours&_______minutes
46. Onaverage,howlongdoyouspendtalkingwithyourfriendsonthephone(or cellphone)everyday?
_______hours&_______minutes
47. Onaverage,howlongdoyouspendchattingonlineeveryday? ___________hours&_______minutes
48. Onaverage,howmanyhoursdoyouspenddoingphysicalexercisesorsport acitivitieseveryweek?
___________hours&_______minutes 49. Doyougotomovietheatres?
❐no ❐yes
❐withfriends
❐withfamilymembers 50. Doyougotothemall(s)regularly? ❐no
❐yes
❐withfriends
❐withfamilymembers 51. Doyouhaveadrivinglicence? ❐yes
❐no
Thankyouforyourcooperation
290
APPENDIXB
ListofVariablesUsedintheStudySurveyonFactorsAffectingBusinessStudents’Performance
Variable Definition
UGRU TheUniversityGeneralRequirementUnitwherethestudentspreparetheirfreshmancourses. attitude 1,ifthestudenthaspositivefeelingstowardUnitedArabEmiratesUniversity;0,otherwise. campus 1,ifthestudentlivesoncampus;0,otherwise.
challenge 1,ifthestudenthassuccessfullypassedtheEnglishchallengeexamatUGRU;0,otherwise. credits Totalnumberofcredithoursthatthestudentshadaccumulatedwhentheyfilledthequestionnaire.
crowded Theratioofthenumberofpeoplewholiveinthestudents’householddividedbynumberofroomsinthehouse.Inour sample,itsvaluesvaryintherange0.14–12.57.
driving 1,ifthestudentholdsadrivinglicense;0,otherwise.
educ_f Theeducationlevelofthefather,EDUF=0,ifhehasnoformaleducation,=1ifhehaslessthanhighschooldiploma, =2ifhehashighschooldiploma,=3ifhehasjuniorcollege,=4ifhehascollegedegree,and=5ifhehasmorethan collegedegree.
educ_m Theeducationlevelofthemother,EDUM=0ifshehasnoformaleducation,=1ifshehaslessthanhighschooldiplo ma,=2ifshehashighschooldiploma,=3ifshehasjuniorcollege,=4ifshehascollegedegree,and=5ifshehas more
thancollegedegree.
families 1,ifthestudentliveswithhisfamily;0,otherwise. female 1,forafemalestudent;0,otherwise.
GPA Thegradepointaverage.Inoursampleitsvalueisintheinterval1.21–4.0.
grade_hs Thestudent’sgradeinEnglishlanguageathighschool.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesintherange50–99. grade_ug Thestudent’sgradeinEnglishatUGRU.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesintherange62–95.
job 1,ifthestudentholdsajob;0,otherwise.
leave 1,ifastudenthasapermanentjob,butisonpaidleavetopursuehisdegree;0,ifheworkswithnoleave. maids Thenumberofmaidsinthestudent’shousedividendbythesizeofthehousehold.
married 1,ifthestudentismarried;0,otherwise.
miss Numberofmissedlecturespercourse.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesintherange0–6.5 movies 1,ifastudentgoestomovieswithfriends;0,otherwise.
nn 1,ifastudentisnonnational;0,otherwise.
participate 1,ifthestudentparticipatesinclassdiscussions;0,otherwise. private 1,ifthestudenthadeverattendedaprivateschool;0,otherwise.
responsibility Thenumberofhoursastudentspendseveryweekonfamilyresponsibilities.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesintherange 0–50.
science 1,ifthestudentholdsascientificdiplomainhighschool;0,otherwise. shopping 1,ifastudentgoestoshoppingmallswithfriends;0,otherwise.
weekday Theaveragenumberofhoursthatthestudentsputonhomeworkeveryweekday.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesinthe range0–15.
weekend Theaveragenumberofhoursthatthestudentsputonhomeworkinaweekendday.Inoursample,itsvaluevariesinthe range0–12.
