Contingent support in 1-on-1 interactions: Is there a relationship between studentperception and contingent support?

Abstract

There is more focus on adaption to students’ educational needs in Dutch education. When support (in 1-on-1 interactions) is adapted to the students’ academic ability it can be called contingent. However, students’ perception can influence the effectiveness of the support. Empirical research about contingent support is scarce and is never compared to students’ perception before. Therefore, in this study the relationship between observations of and the students’ perceptions on the contingency of support will be investigated. 99 interactions from 33 teacher-student pairs were used to measure the contingency of the given support. These observations were compared to a questionnaire, which were both based on the contingent shift framework. Each student (N=33) filled in a questionnaire on their opinion about the support they did receive from the teacher to which they were paired with. The findings of the selected interactions were compared with the findings of the questionnaire, by conducting a Spearman Rho’s correlation. Because of the results of the factor-analysis, a condition with one factor and a condition with three factors were conducted. The results show that none of the conditions were significant, and no nameable correlations between the students’ perception and the observed interactions were found in this study. Therefore, no relationship between student perception and contingency in 1-on-1 interactions is found. Future research should focus on the validity of the used instruments and the construct of contingency in the questionnaire.