Literature Matrix

Abstract

Researchers function in a complex environment and carry multiple role responsibilities. This environment is prone to various distractions that can derail productivity and decrease efficiency. Effective time management allows researchers to maintain focus on their work, contributing to research productivity. Thus, improving time management skills is essential to developing and sustaining a successful program of research. This article presents time management strategies addressing behaviors surrounding time assessment, planning, and monitoring. Herein, the Western Journal of Nursing Research editorial board recommends strategies to enhance time management, including setting realistic goals, prioritizing, and optimizing planning. Involving a team, problem-solving barriers, and early management of potential distractions can facilitate maintaining focus on a research program. Continually evaluating the effectiveness of time management strategies allows researchers to identify areas of improvement and recognize progress.

Citation

Time Management Strategies for Research Productivity

Jo-Ana D. Chase, Robert Topp, Carol E. Smith, Marlene Z. Cohen, Nancy Fahrenwald, Julie J. Zerwic, Lazelle E. Benefield, Cindy M. Anderson, Vicki S. Conn

Western Journal of Nursing Research

Vol 35, Issue 2, pp. 155 - 176

First published date: August-06-2012

This study describes the process of constructing proxy variables from recorded log data within a Learning Management System (LMS), which represents adult learners' time management strategies in an online course. Based on previous research, three variables of total login time, login frequency, and regularity of login interval were selected as candidates from the data set, along with a guideline for manipulating the log data. According to the results of multiple regression analysis, which was conducted to determine whether the suggested variables actually predict learning performance, (ir)regularity of the login interval was correlative with and predictive of learning performance. As indicated in the previous research, the regularity of learning is a strong indicator for explaining learners' consistent endeavors and awareness of learning. This study, which was primarily based on theoretical evidence, demonstrated the possibility of using learning analytics to address a learner's specific competence in an online learning environment. Implications for the learning analytics field seeking a pedagogical theory-driven approach are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] . Copyright of Journal of Educational Technology & Society is the property of International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.).

References

Il-Hyun, J., Dongho, K., & Meehyun, Y. (2015). Constructing Proxy Variables to Measure Adult Learners' Time Management Strategies in LMS. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 214-225.

Abstract

This paper examines relationships between the Big Five personality factors, time management, and grade-point-average in 556 community colleges students. A path model controlling for vocabulary, gender, and demographic covariates demonstrated that time management mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and students' academic achievement at community college. Separate modeling for part-time (n = 147) and full-time students (n = 409) showed that this mediation was moderated by enrollment status. Thus, time management was a significant mediator for part-time students but not for full-time students. The greater importance of time management for part- versus full-time students suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time management may be more critical for non-traditional students. These findings gather fresh currency as ever increasing numbers of students are enrolling part-time in post-secondary education across the globe.

Citation

MacCann, C., Fogarty, G. J., & Roberts, R. D. (2012). Strategies for success in education: Time management is more important for part-time than full-time community college students. Learning And Individual Differences, 22(5), 618-623. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.09.015e.

Abstract

Save time on the small things that otherwise take up lots of time just when you don't have it. Keep gifts on hand for those birthday parties that come up at the last minute along with the gifts for the couple that invites you over to dinner and a few extras of those bar and bat mitzva gifts that you liked. Lay out your child's clothing for school the next day the night before after serious consultation with them to ensure that there won't be last minute changes. Prepare much of the breakfast and aruchat esser after supper the previous night so that you clean up dishes only once. In this way, morning does not have to be rushed and people can leave the house smiling and on time. Cook double portions of food so that one can be frozen away for a later meal. Save energy by keeping a running list of groceries needed so that you don't have to re-create the list in your mind. This may enable you to pick up those items that you need rather than the ones that look tempting as you make it down the aisles of the grocery store. Keep on hand more than one roll of toilet paper, paper towel, or other items that might be kept in storage in a less accessible place.

14Make lists for yourself if it will help keep you organized, save time and enable you to enjoy that moment when you cross out a task that got accomplished. Schedule in the important things for yourself or else they will not happen. If you view exercise as essential and your personal long-term insurance package, then plan your exercise routine with this in mind. Frequently, we drop those things we do for ourselves when we find we are short on time. Sometimes, those are the very things that should be kept in our schedule. Eat right and look after your health now so that maybe you'll need fewer visits to the doctor as the aging process takes its toll.

Citation

Dr Batya, L. L. (2001, Sep 28). Time management strategies for fall. Jerusalem Post Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.leopac.ulv.edu/docview/319335429?accountid=25355

Acknowledgement:

The purpose of this correction note is to report an error of data scoring in Freund and Baltes (1998). The error, however, does not affect the main findings reported in the original study.

Specifically, when performing standard checks of the scoring routines of the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) questionnaire against the raw data in the context of a new research study, we detected an error of scoring. Although this error resulted in multiple changes at the numeric level, there were no major alterations to the overall pattern of results reported in Freund and Baltes (1998) and summarized in the abstract to the original article.

There is one exception to the general pattern of equivalence of outcomes, however. This exception does not refer to predictive outcomes but to the internal correlational structure of the three SOC components themselves. Because of the ipsative nature of the scoring error, the correlations among elective selection (ES), loss-based selection (LBS), optimization (O), and compensation (C) turned out to be lower than reported in Table 3 of Freund and Baltes (1998, p. 535).

Reference

Freund, A. M., & Baltes, P. B. (1998). Selection, optimization, and compensation as strategies of life management: Correlations with subjective indicators of successful aging. Psychology and Aging, 13, 531–543.

Abstract:The usefulness of self-reported processes of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) for predicting on a correlational level the subjective indicators of successful aging was examined. The sample of Berlin residents was a subset of the participants of the Berlin Aging Study. Three domains (marked by 6 variables) served as outcome measures of successful aging: subjective well-being, positive emotions, and absence of feelings of loneliness. Results confirm the central hypothesis of the SOC model: People who reported using SOC-related life-management behaviors (which were unrelated in content to the outcome measures) had higher scores on the 3 indicators of successful aging. The relationships obtained were robust even after controlling for other measures of successful mastery such as personal life investment, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, control beliefs, intelligence, subjective health, or age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

References

Abstract:We investigated the benefits of strategy-adaptation training for promoting transfer effects. This learner-oriented approach—which directly encourages the learner to generalize strategic behavior to new tasks—helps older adults appraise new tasks and adapt trained strategies to them. In Experiment 1, older adults in a strategy-adaptation training group used 2 strategies (imagery and sentence generation) while practicing 2 tasks (list and associative learning); they were then instructed on how to do a simple task analysis to help them adapt the trained strategies for 2 different unpracticed tasks (place learning and text learning) that were discussed during training. Two additional criterion tasks (name-face associative learning and grocery-list learning) were never mentioned during training. Two other groups were included: A strategy training group (who received strategy training and transfer instructions but not strategy-adaptation training) and a waiting-list control group. Both training procedures enhanced older adults’ performance on the trained tasks and those tasks that were discussed during training, but transfer was greatest after strategy-adaptation training. Experiment 2 found that strategy-adaptation training conducted via a manual that older adults used at home also promoted transfer. These findings demonstrate the importance of adopting a learner-oriented approach to promote transfer of strategy training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

References

Bottiroli, S., Cavallini, E., Dunlosky, J., Vecchi, T., & Hertzog, C. (2013). The importance of training strategy adaptation: A learner-oriented approach for improving older adults’ memory and transfer. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 19(3), 205-218. doi:10.1037/a0034078.

Abstract:People of all ages are more likely to choose to restudy items (or allocate more study time to items) that are perceived as more difficult to learn than as less difficult to learn. Existing models of self-regulated study adequately account for this inverse relation between perceived difficulty of learning and these 2 measures of self-regulated study (item selection and self-paced study). However, these models cannot account for positive relations between perceived difficulty of learning and item selection, which are demonstrated in the present investigation. Namely, in Experiments 1 and 2, the authors described conditions in which people more often selected to study items judged as less difficult than as more difficult to learn. This positive relation was not demonstrated for self-paced study, which was always negatively correlated with judged difficulty to learn. In Experiments 3 through 6, the authors explored explanations for this dissociation between item selection and self-paced study. Discussion focuses on a general model of self-regulated study that includes planning, discrepancy reduction, and working-memory constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

References

Thiede, K. W., & Dunlosky, J. (1999). Toward a general model of self-regulated study: An analysis of selection of items for study and self-paced study time. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, And Cognition, 25(4), 1024-1037. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.25.4.1024.

Abstract:Many college students may find the academic experience very stressful (K. J. Swick, 1987). One potential coping strategy frequently offered by university counseling services is time management. 165 students completed a questionnaire assessing their time management behaviors and attitudes, stress, and self-perceptions of performance and grade point average (GPA). The study revealed 2 major findings. The Time Management Behavior Scale consists of 4 relatively independent factors; the most predictive was Perceived Control of Time. Students who perceived control of their time reported significantly greater evaluations of their performance, greater work and life satisfaction, less role ambiguity, less role overload, and fewer job-induced and somatic tensions. Findings are consistent with theory and advice on time management (e.g., R. S. Schuler; 1979) but also indicate that the dynamics of time management are more complex than previously believed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

References

Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L., & Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students' time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760-768. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.82.4.760

Abstract:People of all ages are more likely to choose to restudy items (or allocate more study time to items) that are perceived as more difficult to learn than as less difficult to learn. Existing models of self-regulated study adequately account for this inverse relation between perceived difficulty of learning and these 2 measures of self-regulated study (item selection and self-paced study). However, these models cannot account for positive relations between perceived difficulty of learning and item selection, which are demonstrated in the present investigation. Namely, in Experiments 1 and 2, the authors described conditions in which people more often selected to study items judged as less difficult than as more difficult to learn. This positive relation was not demonstrated for self-paced study, which was always negatively correlated with judged difficulty to learn. In Experiments 3 through 6, the authors explored explanations for this dissociation between item selection and self-paced study. Discussion focuses on a general model of self-regulated study that includes planning, discrepancy reduction, and working-memory constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

References