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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Jared Saltzman, Matthew Price, and M.B. Rogers
Epistemological studies generally focus on how students think about their construction of knowledge compared to how experts think about the same ideas. Instruments such as the MPEX and CLASS use a Likert scale to gauge whether students agree or disagree with how experts think about the same ideas. During analysis, five point scale responses are typically reduced to favorable, neutral, and unfavorable with neutral being treated as a nonresponse. What if students are actively selecting neutral and not treating it as a "does not apply?" To address this question we chose to analyze the postinstruction neutral responses of students in our Physics I course using data from multiple years, multiple sections, and multiple instructors. We found that classroom average postinstruction neutral responses were consistently within a band of 15%–25% and that this was also consistent with other published results. It is not yet clear what this pattern means. Is this a measure of students receiving mixed messages from instructors or a measure of a transitional stage that students go through when learning how to be a good college physics student? These initial findings are interesting enough that we are presenting them here with a more detailed question-by-question analysis to be published in the near future. For example, high levels of neutral responses to applied questions (e.g., "All I need to do is. ...") may indicate that students are receiving mixed messages from instructors. On the other hand, high levels of neutral responses to conceptual questions (e.g., "Knowledge in physics...") may indicate that students are in a transitional stage between novice and expert.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages 013101
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Classical Mechanics
- General
Education - Basic Research
- Assessment
= Instruments
- Problem Solving
= Expert-Novice Comparisons
- Research Design & Methodology
= Data
= Evaluation
- Student Characteristics
= Affect
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Scientific Reasoning
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
PER-Central Type Intended Users Ratings
- PER Literature
- Researchers
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License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101
NSF Numbers:
DUE
0536246
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created September 28, 2016 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
June 3, 2022 by Caroline Hall
Last Update
when Cataloged:
April 7, 2016
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AIP Format
J. Saltzman, M. Price, and M. Rogers, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12 (1), 013101 (2016), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101).
AJP/PRST-PER
J. Saltzman, M. Price, and M. Rogers, Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12 (1), 013101 (2016), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101>.
APA Format
Saltzman, J., Price, M., & Rogers, M. (2016, April 7). Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 12(1), 013101. Retrieved April 23, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101
Chicago Format
Saltzman, J, M. Price, and M. Rogers. "Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, no. 1, (April 7, 2016): 013101, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101 (accessed 23 April 2025).
MLA Format
Saltzman, Jared, Matthew Price, and M.B. Rogers. "Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12.1 (2016): 013101. 23 Apr. 2025 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Jared Saltzman and Matthew Price and M.B. Rogers", Title = {Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {12}, Number = {1}, Pages = {013101}, Month = {April}, Year = {2016} }
Refer Export Format

%A Jared Saltzman %A Matthew Price %A M.B. Rogers %T Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 12 %N 1 %D April 7, 2016 %P 013101 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Saltzman, Jared %A Price, Matthew %A Rogers, M.B. %D April 7, 2016 %T Initial study of neutral post-instruction responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 12 %N 1 %P 013101 %8 April 7, 2016 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101


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