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How representative are student convenience samples? A study of literacy and numeracy skills in 32 countries.

ABSTRACT: Psychological research, including research into adult reading, is frequently based on convenience samples of undergraduate students. This practice raises concerns about the external validity of many accepted findings. The present study seeks to determine how strong this student sampling bias is in literacy and numeracy research. We use the nationally representative cross-national data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to quantify skill differences between (i) students and the general population aged 16-65, and (ii) students and age-matched non-students aged 16-25. The median effect size for the comparison (i) of literacy scores across 32 countries was d = .56, and for comparison (ii) d = .55, which exceeds the average effect size in psychological experiments (d = .40). Numeracy comparisons (i) and (ii) showed similarly strong differences. The observed differences indicate that undergraduate students are not representative of the general population nor age-matched non-students.

SUBMITTER: Wild H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9269910 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How representative are student convenience samples? A study of literacy and numeracy skills in 32 countries.

Wild Heather H Kyröläinen Aki-Juhani AJ Kuperman Victor V

PloS one 20220708 7

Psychological research, including research into adult reading, is frequently based on convenience samples of undergraduate students. This practice raises concerns about the external validity of many accepted findings. The present study seeks to determine how strong this student sampling bias is in literacy and numeracy research. We use the nationally representative cross-national data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to quantify skill differences between ...[more]

PMID: 35802736

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Project description:BackgroundNon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are widely used and have a potential for over-the-counter misuse. Limited health literacy is associated with poor health outcomes. Identification of new strategies to assess literacy and numeracy could be useful in targeting effective education initiatives.ObjectiveTo characterize numeracy and literacy skills related to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug labels in primary care patients.MethodsPatients were recruited and consented over an 8-month period after their regular primary care visit. Demographic information was collected and two instruments were administered to assess literacy and numeracy skills: (1) a medication label literacy instrument focused on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (MedLit-NSAID) and (2) a general healthy literacy-screening tool, the Newest Vital Sign. Two questions on the MedLit-NSAID instrument evaluated understanding of the Food and Drug Administration medication guide for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter label.ResultsA total of 145 patients were enrolled. Mean MedLit-NSAID and Newest Vital Sign scores were 6.8 (scale range 0-8) and 4.2 (scale range 0-6), respectively. Higher education level was associated with higher scores for both tools (p ⩽ 0.05). Total MedLit-NSAID scores on average were higher in females compared with males (6.5 vs 6, p = 0.05). Patients with decreased kidney function (n = 18) had significantly lower MedLit-NSAID scores (p ⩽ 0.05). Test-retest scores were not significantly different for MedLit-NSAID (p = 0.32). The correlation between the tools was 0.54 and internal consistency MedLit-NSAID was 0.61.ConclusionA medication information focused instrument provided specific information to assess health literacy related to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug labels. This information could be utilized to develop patient education initiatives for medication label comprehension.

Project description:IntroductionDepressive disorders constitute a significant public health challenge. Health literacy might be an important factor to consider in prevention strategies for depressive disorders, which is why this study aimed at exploring the association between depressive symptom levels and severity and health literacy, along with additional sociodemographic factors.Materials and methodsData were collected from two large samples of adults (N = 3,011) and adolescents (N = 1,021) representative of the German-speaking population in Germany. Levels of health literacy (HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire), depressive symptom severity, rates of depression levels (PHQ-9 questionnaire) and sociodemographic information (age, gender, social status, level of education) were obtained. The associations between sociodemographic factors, health literacy and depression were analyzed using t-tests, analyses of variance and χ2-tests.ResultsOverall, rates of depression were high in both samples (16.5% in adults and 18.4% in adolescents) when measured with the sum score ≥ 10 cut-off criterion and substantially lower when assessed with the diagnostic algorithm criterion (7.2% in adults and 9.8% in adolescents). Rates of depression and severity of depressive symptoms were higher in female than male individuals in both samples. Depressive symptom severity and depression rates increased with increasing age in adolescents and decreased with increasing age in adults. Higher levels of education and lower social status were associated with higher depressive symptom severity and rates in adults, with a more heterogeneous picture in adolescents. In both samples, depressive symptom severity and rates were higher in individuals with poorer health literacy.DiscussionThe results point to a potential role for health literacy in preventing depressive disorders. More research is needed with longitudinal and experimental study designs into the question whether public health interventions targeting health literacy improvements could play a critical role in reducing the burden of depression across different age cohorts.

Dataset Information

How representative are student convenience samples? A study of literacy and numeracy skills in 32 countries.

Publications

How representative are student convenience samples? A study of literacy and numeracy skills in 32 countries.

Similar Datasets

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