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Student Study Habits and GPA Analysis

This report analyzes a dataset from a student survey at Northeastern University, focusing on study habits and academic performance. The cleaned dataset revealed a mean GPA of 3.13 and indicated a positive correlation between study hours and GPA, suggesting that increased study time is associated with better academic outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of study habits and the predominant use of laptops among students for academic purposes.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
10 views5 pages

Student Study Habits and GPA Analysis

This report analyzes a dataset from a student survey at Northeastern University, focusing on study habits and academic performance. The cleaned dataset revealed a mean GPA of 3.13 and indicated a positive correlation between study hours and GPA, suggesting that increased study time is associated with better academic outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of study habits and the predominant use of laptops among students for academic purposes.

Uploaded by

Ishu Nawod
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

An Exploratory Data Analysis of Student Study Habits and Academic

Performance

Northeastern University

ALY6010_Probability Theory and Introduction to Stats

November 2025

S Wasala, Isuri

Cai, Qiansi (Allyson)

Doughan, Anthony

Introduction
This report presents an analysis of a dataset collected from a survey of students across four
classes. The dataset includes demographic information (e.g., age, gender), academic
performance metrics (e.g., GPA, test scores), and behavioural data (e.g., study hours, device
type). The primary objectives of this analysis were to clean and prepare the data for analysis,
explore the distributions of key variables, and investigate potential relationships between study
habits and academic performance. The following sections detail the process and findings.

Data Cleaning and Preparation


Preliminary data inspection using the glimpse() and summary() functions revealed that the
dataset contains 40 observations with several data quality issues requiring attention. These
issues include inconsistent categorical variable values, missing data, and suspected outliers.
A comprehensive data cleaning process was implemented using the tidyverse and janitor
packages in R. First, column names were standardized, and rows with missing values were
removed. Subsequently, key inconsistencies in categorical variables were corrected: for
example, “Femal” was recoded as “Female,” and “Laptopp” was corrected to “Laptop.” The
variable indicating whether students had a statistical background was also standardized, with
responses like “No-” and ‘Maybe’ uniformly coded as “No.”

Based on the summary statistics, the cleaned dataset contains 37 students with a relatively
balanced gender distribution (21 Female, 16 Male). The average GPA is 3.13, and students
study for about 6.2 hours per week on average. Post-test scores (Mean=81.27) show notable
improvement over pre-test scores (Mean=69.81).

Figure 1: Example Boxplot for Outlier


Detection
This series of plots revealed a significant
outlier in the Study_hours variable (a value
of 12 hours, marked in red). The IQR
method was subsequently used to identify
and filter out this extreme value, ensuring it
would not skew the analysis of study
habits. After these cleaning steps, the dataset was robust and consistent, providing a reliable
foundation for exploratory analysis.

Exploratory Data Analysis

Figure 2: Distribution of GPA


The histogram shows that the GPA of the student cohort is approximately normally distributed,
centred around a value of 3.2. The bulk of students achieve a GPA between 2.8 and 3.6,
indicating a generally strong level of academic performance with a concentration of students in
the B+ range.

Figure 3: Distribution of Device Type


The bar chart clearly illustrates that laptops are the dominant device type among students,
being used by a vast majority. Tablets and phones are used by a small minority. This suggests
that digital course materials and platforms should be primarily optimized for a laptop experience.

Figure 4: Study Hours vs. GPA


A key question of this analysis was to investigate the connection between the time students
invest in studying and their resulting academic success, as measured by GPA. The scatter plot
reveals a positive relationship between study hours and GPA. The upward trend of the red
regression line indicates that, on average, students who report more hours of studying tend to
achieve higher GPAs. This provides visual evidence supporting the intuitive link between study
effort and academic performance within this cohort.

Conclusion
This analysis successfully transformed raw and inconsistent datasets into standardized,
analyzable resources through a systematic data cleaning process. The exploratory analysis
phase revealed that this student cohort demonstrated strong overall academic performance,
with a mean grade point average (GPA) following a normal distribution. The technological
environment exhibited a high dependency on laptop usage. Most critically, the analysis
uncovered a significant positive correlation between students' study duration and their overall
GPA, highlighting the central role of study habits in academic achievement.

This report establishes a foundation for understanding the dataset. Subsequent research may
validate the significance of the learning time-GPA correlation through statistical testing, analyze
the impact of statistical background on final exam scores, or investigate performance
differences across the four classes.
References

R Core Team. (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Computer
software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [Link]

Wickham, H., & Grolemund, G. (2017). R for data science: Import, tidy, transform, visualize,
and model data. O’Reilly Media. [Link]

Firke, S. (2023). janitor: Simple tools for examining and cleaning dirty data [R package version
2.2.0]. [Link]

Common questions

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The study demonstrates the relationship between study hours and GPA through a scatter plot, which reveals a positive relationship. The upward trend of the regression line visually indicates that students who report more hours of studying tend to achieve higher GPAs. This positive correlation suggests that study habits play a central role in academic achievement. The methodology used involves exploratory data analysis, creating a reliable data set through systematic data cleaning and employing visualizations to identify trends .

The notable improvement in post-test scores (Mean=81.27) over pre-test scores (Mean=69.81) suggests that the study cohort likely adopted effective study habits between the assessments, contributing to better academic performance. This improvement may indicate that consistent study efforts can significantly enhance understanding and retention of course materials .

The analysis found that laptops are the dominant device type among students, with tablets and phones being used by a small minority. This suggests that digital course materials and platforms should be primarily optimized for a laptop experience to cater to the majority's technological preferences. Such optimization could enhance the effectiveness of digital learning environments .

The initial data inspection revealed data quality issues such as inconsistent categorical variable values, missing data, and suspected outliers. To address these, the data underwent comprehensive cleaning which involved standardizing column names, correcting categorical inconsistencies (e.g., correcting 'Femal' to 'Female'), removing rows with missing values, and using the IQR method to identify and filter out extreme values in the 'Study_hours' variable. These steps were necessary to ensure the dataset's reliability for analysis .

The GPA distribution within the student cohort is approximately normal, centered around a value of 3.2. Most students achieve a GPA between 2.8 and 3.6, indicating a generally strong academic performance with a concentration in the B+ range. This pattern implies that a majority of students maintain above-average academic standards, reflecting positively on the cohort’s overall academic achievement .

The study used the Interquartile Range (IQR) method to identify and filter out an extreme value in the 'Study_hours' variable, which was marked as an outlier with 12 hours. This approach was necessary to prevent the outlier from skewing the analysis and results, thus ensuring the accuracy and reliability of conclusions about the relationship between study hours and academic performance .

The study suggests that future research should validate the learning time-GPA correlation through statistical testing to confirm its significance. Additionally, it proposes analyzing the impact of having a statistical background on final exam scores and exploring performance differences across the four classes. These avenues could provide further insights into the factors influencing academic success and help tailor educational strategies .

The main objectives of the exploratory data analysis were to clean and prepare the data for analysis, explore the distributions of key variables, and investigate potential relationships between study habits and academic performance. To achieve these objectives, a comprehensive data cleaning process was implemented using the tidyverse and janitor packages in R, addressing issues such as inconsistent categorical variable values, missing data, and suspected outliers. This included standardizing column names, removing rows with missing values, and correcting inconsistencies, such as recoding 'Femal' to 'Female' and 'Laptopp' to 'Laptop' .

The study utilizes R software, specifically the tidyverse and janitor packages, to enhance data cleaning and analysis. These tools provided functionalities for standardizing column names, correcting categorical inconsistencies, and managing missing data and outliers, which ensured a robust and reliable dataset for analysis. This approach underscores the importance of software in efficiently preprocessing data for subsequent exploratory analysis .

Standardizing categorical variables is crucial in preparing a dataset as it ensures consistency and accuracy in the data. In the study, this process involved correcting typos and discrepancies, such as changing 'Femal' to 'Female', to prevent errors in analysis and facilitate meaningful comparisons across categories. Standardization helps maintain the integrity of the data and supports reliable statistical inference .

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