Study Habits of Distance Learners: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to understand the study habits of graduate and post-graduate level distance learners analyzing the courses, gender and marital status of the learners. The study was conducted in five cities of Uttar Pradesh viz. Noida, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Modinagar, and Meerut and data was collected from 300 graduate and 300 post-graduate distance learners from three Universities viz. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Uttar Pradesh Rajshri Tandon Open University (UPRTOU) and Swami Vivekanand Subharti University (SVSU) following the stratified sampling method. The findings revealed no significant difference with respect to course, gender, marital status, and interaction between course and marital status, gender and marital status, course and gender. A significant difference was observed in the three way interaction among course, gender and marital status. No significant difference was observed in the overall study habits of graduate and post graduates. Out of eight sub-areas of study habits, significant difference was observed in (i) learning motivation and
health of graduates and post graduates, (ii) physical condition, taking examination and health of male graduate and post graduate learners, (iii) reading ability, learning motivation, taking examination and health of female graduate and post graduate learners, (iv) learning motivation and health of married graduate and post graduate learners, and (v) reading ability, learning motivation and health of unmarried graduate and post graduate learners. The related implications for distance learners are discussed.