indicating a better environmen
selected their method of planning from a list that included a computer planning pro-
gram, a commercial planner, a calendar, a daily to-do list, and keeping it in their
head. These responses were coded to create a planning variable. Participants who re-
ported that they used long-term planning that included some advanced planning
(e.g., a computer program, commercial planner, or calendar) were coded as having
long-term planning (53%). If they used a daily list or kept their plan in their head,
they were coded as not using long-term planning (47%). The study methodologies section asked participants about their study habits
including how much they studied, where they studied, and whether they studied
alone. Participants reported the average number of hours they studied per week
for their courses using two different approaches. First, they were asked to report
the number of hours per week they studied for each of their classes. They were next
asked the number of hours per week that they studied in a variety of locations (e.g., a
home, library, etc.). The total number of hours that they reported studying across
each of these measures was summed. These two measures of study time were strongly
E.A. Plant et al. / Contemporary Educational Psychology 30 (2005) 96–116 105
correlated with each other (r = .71), and, therefore, the two totals were averaged to
create a single measure of total study time.
To determine whether participants typically studied in a quiet, solitary environ-
ment, we examined the percentage of the time that they reported studying at the li-
brary versus at home and the percentage of time that they reported studying alone versus with other people present. Based on the concept of deliberate practice people
should study most effectively if they study alone in a quiet environment with few dis-
tractions. Therefore, the two percentages were summed to create an index of the de-
gree to which they typically studied in a quiet environment with few distractions
(study environment) with higher numbers indicating a better environment.
2.3.3. Daily time logs
After completing the questionnaire, participants were requested to complete a dai- ly time log for seven consecutive days. Space was provided to note the participant�s activities (e.g., studying, sleeping, hanging out with friends) in 15-min segments
throughout a 24-h day. Participants were instructed to note ‘‘Personal’’ in the time
slots for those activities that they felt uncomfortable reporting. In addition, partic-
ipants reported whether the week covered by the daily time logs was a typical or
atypical week (for either academic or non-academic reasons). The number of hours
that participants reported studying across the daily time logs was tallied as an addi-
tional assessment of study time. Unfortunately, the time logs were only completed by 60% of the participants and could not be universally compared to the questionnaire
data.