The Effect of Class Attendance on Quality of Education, and

an Analysis of Factors Contributing to Student Absences

Adam Boole, Ryan Callahan, Kristen Carroll, Abby Zikmund

Abstract
One of the great achievements of any developed nation is the ability for its citizens to
pursue higher education. Not only does this allow more people access to a higher socioeconomic status, but creates a better educated populace as well. A country with a welleducated population has the distinct advantage of being more competitive on a global scale.
Many societies consider education an investment into the future and this makes the quality of
education for students an important topic for researchers. This information is not only important
for researchers to understand, but for companies looking to hire, as well as general public
health and safety. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to gauge if a student has fully internalized
all the necessary information upon graduation. This may especially be true if a student develops
a habit of skipping class.
Through various research methodologies, this report will present evidence that suggests
skipping class more frequently ends up lowering the quality of education for students. The
methodologies used to find this included surveys and references to online articles and texts.
The survey was conducted with a relatively small sample size of 56 people at North Dakota
State University. The survey results include a bar graph plotting the mean of student gpas
separated by how often they skip class. Analysis was also used to find evidence for the most
common reasons students skip class. This research will hopefully shed more light into how
important it is for students to attend class, and offer up solutions to how higher class attendance
may be achieved.
Keywords: Education, university, absence, attendance, gpa

Introduction
The average college demographic consists of people coming right out of high school and
a few years beyond. For these students the experience is a transition into adulthood. The
transfer from living at home with parents to living independently in college is a major adjustment
that most college students face. In order for students to successfully adapt to this change, they
must learn how to manage new responsibilities. One of these responsibilities includes the
decision of whether or not to attend class. With this being one of the most significant factors to
learning and passing in college, the analysis and cause of class attendance has become
particularly fascinating to researchers, professors, and faculty members.
So why is class attendance so important? According to an article published in the Wall
Street Journal, attendance in the best known predictor of college grades (Belkin, 2015). A
study by Michael D. Aaron, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, found similar results
that showed a positive correlation between attendance policies and student grades (Aaron,
2012). Students that receive poor grades that do not accurately reflect their true capabilities,

however, is a problem limited to only those students who skip class. Those who skip class out of
habit experience larger consequences following college and when entering the labor force. They
may still be able to perform the duties for jobs they went to college for, but skipping class means
missing out on information that may be helpful/necessary later in life. For instance, if a student
enrolled in a medical terminology class chooses to skip the class regularly and pursue medical
school, it is more likely that the individual will not be as educated as other med students. As a
result, they not only might underperform their peers, but they may also become a liability and
health risk to any future patients. Another example would be an engineer who might miss critical
information about bridge design and safety. There are many ethical dilemmas that can
potentially arise from those who lack sufficient knowledge in their field.
It is no secret that many college students choose to skip class. In fact, Romer, 1993,
points out that previous statistics found student absenteeism to be as high as 40 percent (as
cited in Dobkin, Carlos, Gil, & Marion, 2010). On average, the student enrollment in a lecture
hall on a normal class day is noticeably less than the legitimate enrollment of the class. On the
day of a test, however, empty seats are sparse. While it can be easily observed by other
students that not all of their classmates are present, less is known about the actual reason
students have for choosing not to attend class. David Romer states in The Journal of Economic
Perspectives that students who are more interested in the material, or are more skilled
academically, or more focused on academics are almost certain to attend class more often than
students who are less interested, less skilled, or less focused (Romer, 1993). For that reason,
educators are becoming increasingly interested in ways to improve class attendance.
One effort to improve class attendance was recognized by Belkin (2015). He noticed that
administrators at large universities are beginning to track student attendance with various
technologies. An advanced technology at Villanova University uses a system that scans student
ID cards. Other universities such as Harvard and the University of Arkansas use video
monitoring to observe student attendance. The development of apps and programs, such as the
retention alert system, monitor behaviors that might lead to skipping class. Subsequently,
professors hope that delving into these behaviors may help find ways to decrease the likelihood
that students will skip class (2015).
Professors are seeking to understand why students skip class and decrease truancy not
only because they want to see students succeed, but because these behaviors often impact the
morale of faculty members, says Wyatt G, 1992. He claims that professors believe their
classrooms are designed for success, and if a student does not succeed, a professor may take
this to offense (as cited in Gump, 2004). Further, the efforts to increase class attendance will
work hand-in-hand with efforts to make the class more interesting or appealing (Gump, 2004),
whether it be through classroom interaction or extra-credit points.
While previous literature lacks the causes of student absences, this research will strive
to fill in the gap. The purpose of the study is to examine why students skip class, and whether or
not there is a relationship between GPAs and class attendance. In this study, we created a
survey that asked students at North Dakota State University about their grade level, reasons
and the associated likelihood that students will skip class, and GPAs. This research is important
because professors and other faculty members may use it to create efforts that will encourage
class attendance. Students may then be more apt to succeed in college and after entering the
labor force. We hypothesize that there is a statistically significant, negative correlation between
how often students skip class and student GPAs.
Methods
To carry out this experiment, a seven-question survey was created using
surveymonkey.com. An example of the survey and questions asked can be found in the
appendix section. This survey was distributed to classes of various sizes at North Dakota State
University (NDSU), which is a student-focused, land grant, research university. NDSU has a

student population of approximately fifteen thousand students, and the campus is located in the
north side of Fargo, North Dakota. Students in one section of Writing in the Sciences, General
Biology I, General Microbiology II lab, a psychology class, and an upper level computer science
class were given the opportunity to take this survey, which was sent out via email. To make sure
that all students in these classes received the email, a mass email was sent out from the tools
section on NDSUs Blackboard system. Also, these classes were chosen for survey distribution
because we as researchers were enrolled as students, and the classes had students of varying
majors and grade levels. The purpose for completing this research through survey distribution is
because it is easy to distribute and collect data, cost effective, and college students are more
likely to participate in a study that will only take a small amount of time to complete. The survey
was available to take for a time period of two weeks.
Results
After the survey was closed to participants, the results for each individual question were
automatically evaluated by surveymonkey.com. A total of fifty-six responses were gathered with
twenty-six of those being female and the other thirty respondents were male. The following
graphs indicate the results from the survey. They are further analyzed and explained in the
Discussion section.
Figure 1: Plot of respondents average GPA vs. frequency of skipping class

Figure 2: Responses to survey question How often do you skip class?

Never

21.43%
12

Rarely (1-2 classes / month)

41.07%
23

Sometimes (3-7 classes / month)

23.21%
13

Often (7-10 classes / month)

8.93%
5

Weekly (multiple classes per week)

5.36%
3

Daily (multiple classes per day)

0.00%
0

Total

56

Figure 3: Frequency of skipping class broken down by grade level

Freshman

Sophomore Junior

Never

14.29% (3)

37.50% (3)

Rarely

47.62% (10) 0

Senior

28.57% (4) 8.33% (1)

35.71% (5) 66.67% (8)

Sometimes 23.81% (5)

25.00% (2)

28.57% (4) 16.67% (2)

Often

4.76% (1)

25.00% (2)

7.14% (1)

8.33% (1)

Weekly

9.52% (2)

12.50% (1)

Total

21

14

12

*The lone graduate response is not displayed

Figure 4: Weighted averages of factors causing students to skip class
Prompt: Please rank each reason by likeliness as a factor causing you to skip class (1 - not a
likely reason for skipping class, 5 - commonly a reason for skipping class)
1

Tota
l

Weighte
d
Average

Sleep

55.36
%
31

12.50
%
7

14.29
%
8

8.93%
5

8.93%
5

5
6

2.04

Work

74.55
%
41

10.91
%
6

5.45%
3

7.27%
4

1.82%
1

5
5

1.51

Sickness

26.79
%
15

17.86
%
10

14.29
%
8

19.64
%
11

21.43
%
12

5
6

2.91

Emergency

30.91
%
17

10.91
%
6

3.64%
2

18.18
%
10

36.36
%
20

5
5

3.18

Bad
Teaching

38.18
%

14.55
%

18.18
%

12.73
%

16.36
%

5
5

2.55

21

10

SelfLearner

43.64
%
24

9.09%
5

20.00
%
11

12.73
%
7

14.55
%
8

5
5

2.45

Stress

52.83
%
28

22.64
%
12

5.66%
3

11.32
%
6

7.55%
4

5
3

1.98

Schoolwor
k

33.93
%
19

16.07
%
9

10.71
%
6

26.79
%
15

12.50
%
7

5
6

2.68

Figure 5: Responses to survey question If you do skip class, how many people are
generally in the class?
Answer choices

Response Percentage

Less than 50

25.00% (14)

50 - 200

35.71% (20)

200 or more

17.86% (10)

I do not skip

21.43% (12)

Number of responses 56
Discussion
Figure 1 shows the average GPA of students after grouping them into frequency of
classes skipped. The initial trend of the graph shows that as the number of classes skipped
increases, GPA decreases. The group of students in the Often category, however, actually
had the highest average GPA. This group did have a much smaller sample size than the other
categories though, so one high GPA may have been enough to skew the entire average. The
GPAs for the Never and Sometimes categories were tested for significance using a p-test. A
p-test was performed for these two particular groups because they were nearly equal in sample
size and also represent large differences in frequency of skipping class. The result of the p-test
yield a p-value of 0.12, meaning that while there is a difference in GPA between the two groups,
the difference is not significant. This finding does not provide support for our hypothesis that
there is a statistically significant negative correlation between GPA and frequency of classes
skipped.
The second purpose of this research was to determine the likelihood of certain factors to
cause students to skip class shows. As Figure 4 illustrates, students responded that emergency
and sickness were the two most likely factors that would cause them to miss class. This is an
important piece of information to keep in mind when assessing the trend of skipping class.
Neither emergencies nor sickness are preventable, but both can be serious in nature. Because
of this, it is understandable that many students may need to skip a class at some point. Two
other factors that students ranked rather highly were schoolwork and bad teaching. Students
may choose to skip class because they are busy with work from other classes or feel that their
time is better suited working on assignments instead of attending class. Likewise, students who

feel they are receiving bad teaching in a particular class may elect not to attend and instead
learn the material on their own. Because of this, universities should conduct regular instructor
evaluations if they do not do so already.
Another factor examined in this study was the effect of class size on frequency of
skipping class. Many universities stress the importance of smaller class sizes in improving the
quality of education students received. Figure 5 shows, however, that the largest classes (200
or more) were actually the least frequently skipped. The smallest classes (less than 50) were
also not frequently skipped. This may be attributed to absences in small classes or required
attendance in small laboratory-based classes or recitations. These results indicate that class
size does not factor heavily into students decision to skip class.
All research has its limitations, with this study being no exception. One such limitation
faced stems from the nature of the survey respondents. This studys purpose was to understand
and identify factors that contribute students skipping classes. It is possible that many of the
students who choose to skip class are also likely to choose not to respond to an optional survey.
As a result, the best source of data for factors contributing to skipping class may be missing
from the results. Another limitation is that this study is not entirely representative of the entire
student population at North Dakota State University. Due to the authors backgrounds in
microbiology, computer science, and psychology, the survey was distributed amongst classes
related to these topics. Because of this, students outside of science-oriented majors may be
underrepresented.
In discussing possible future research, it may be important to get more survey results to
see if the unusual spike in Figure 1 for the often category would be reduced. If the average of
the gpas consistently remains high in this category it might lend credence to the importance of
this research. This is because people who skip class often and still retain a high gpa may
indicate that gpa is not enough to determine if the person in question has sufficient knowledge
of their field. After all, they may have missed out on important real-world demonstrations of
safety, ethics, and proper practices associated.
The results of this study may bring awareness to the reasons that students skip class.
Professors or universities as a whole can use this information to attempt to decrease the
number of students that make a habit out of skipping class. Further research may be needed to
determine the efficiency of methods used to reduce the number of students who skip class.
While perfect attendance is not completely obtainable, skipping class may be reduced to only
emergency situations in which the student cannot attend. In which case, it is possible that
students may see slight increases in their grade point averages.
References
Aaron, Michael D. The Relationship Between Attendance Policies and Student Grades. The
University of Texas at San Antonio. 2012. Web. 7 March 2016.
Belkin, Douglas. Cracking Down on Skipping Class. The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones &
Company, Inc., 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.
Dobkin, Carlos, Ricard Gil, and Justin Marion. Skipping Class In College And Exam
Performance: Evidence From A Regression Discontinuity Classroom Experimen.
Economics Of Education Review 29.4 (2010): 566-575. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7
Mar. 2016.
Gump, Steven E. Guess WhoS (Not) Coming To Class: Student Attitudes As Indicators Of

Attendance. Educational Studies (03055698) 32.1 (2006): 39-46. Academic Search

Premier. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Romer, David. Do Students Go To Class? Should They? Journal of Economic Perspectives
7.3 (1993): 167-74. The American Economic Association. 1993. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Appendix
1. What is your current academic level?
a. Freshman
b. Sophomore
c. Junior
d. Senior
e. >Senior
f. Graduate
2.
a.
b.
c.

What is your gender?

Female
Male
Prefer not to answer

3.

What is your current GPA?

4.

What is your current major(s)?

5.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

How often do you skip class?

Never
Rarely (1 - 2 classes / month)
Sometimes (3 - 7 classes / month)
Often (7 - 10 classes/month)
Weekly (Multiple classes per week)
Daily (Multiple classes per day)

6.
a.
b.
c.
d.

If you do skip class, how many people are generally in the class?
Less than 50
50 - 200
200 or more
I do not skip class

7.

Please rank each reason by likeliness as a factor causing you to skip class
( 1 - not likely a reason for skipping, 5 - commonly a reason for skipping)

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.

Sleep
Work
Sickness
Emergency
Bad Teaching
Self-Learner
Stress
Schoolwork

[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]
[1,2,3,4,5]