824 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 856 



individual student per week per credit tour 

 for each course. 



Tlie cards were then arranged in alphabetic 

 order. From the mid-term reports rolls of all 

 the classes in the university were procured. 

 By referring to the cards the time given by 

 the student to the particular course was 

 marked opposite the student's name, and the 

 average time per week per credit hour was 

 determined for each course. 



By summing the totals of the courses and 

 dividing by the total number reporting the 

 average time was determined per instructor, 

 and per department, as well as the grand 

 average for the university. 



Due to various causes, such as absence of 

 students or forgetfulness of the instructors, re- 

 ports were not obtained from all students. 

 Approximately 75 per cent, of the students 

 reported. About nine hundred cards were re- 

 turned to the committee. A few of these were 

 thrown out because they were not filled out 

 properly. The cards showed that for a total 

 of 4,438 registrations, 13,951.7 hours per week 

 spent, or an average of 3.14 hours per week 

 per credit hours (15 credit hours is regular 

 work at Indiana University). That is, the 

 average student spends 3.14 hours on each 

 recitation. If the course is one in which no 

 laboratory is required, he spends 1 hour in the 

 class and 2.14 hours in preparation. If the 

 course is a laboratory course requiring two- 

 hour, two-and-a-half-hour, or three-hour peri- 

 ods, the student spends 1.14 hour, 0.64 hour 

 or 0.14 hour respectively in outside prepara- 

 tion. 



TABLE I 



By Departments 



In order to give an idea of the range I have 

 arranged three tables — Table I., by depart- 

 ments. Table II. by instructors and Table III. 

 by courses giving the enrollment, the number 

 of students reporting, and the number of 

 hours per week per credit hour, starting at the 

 highest and ending with the lowest. 



By Instructors 



TABLE m 



By Courses 



No. Re- 

 ported 



5.38 hours (highest). 



5.07 



4.38 



4.30 



1.92 

 1.66 

 1.25 (lowest). 



It is true that the figures do not represent 

 the facts in all cases. To the lazy student who 

 has knowingly slighted his work the tempta- 

 tion would be great to increase the time of 

 study. On the other hand, the plodding stu- 

 dent would tend to underestimate his time. 

 In certain cases the student may have heard 

 that the proper time for the course was about 

 so much. Under those conditions the average 

 student will consciously or unconsciously 

 make his figures correspond to the standard. 

 Plowever, the averages of large numbers may 

 be taken to be near the true value. In any 

 case the figures are not without interest. 



R. E. Eamsey 



Indiana University, 

 Bloomington, Ind., 

 December 21, 1911 



