A Survey of Student Attitudes:Database Competition
NCC 2003Lissa F. Pollacia
Pam Miller
Northwestern State University
Claude Simpson
University of Texas Pan American
Nola McDaniel
McNeese State University
Database Design and Implementation Contest
New for 2003!
Two components:
Database Design
•Entity Relationship Diagram
•Relational Schema
Implementation
•Access 2002 database “shell”
•Problem statement:Table operationsQueriesFormsReportsWeb pageSwitchboardMacros and VBA modules
Time was critical!
Exit Survey
• Administered as teams turned in their solution
• Demographics:– 65% male, 35% female– 94% in 2-person teams– Average of 21 computing hours
Database classes completed
Class/Level Number indicated
Introduction to Database Concepts (Freshman and Sophomore)
19
Access (all levels) 25
SQL, SQL Server, or MySQL (all levels) 11
Oracle (all levels) 18
Database Design and Administration (Junior and Senior)
31
Data Warehousing or Data Mining (Senior)
3
Results for overall contest
Overall contest: % Agree or neutral
% Disagree
Problem statement was well organized.
80.2 19.8
The instructions were clear. 77.1 22.9
I was familiar with most Access operations.
65.6 34.4
I had enough time to complete most tasks.
46.9 53.1
The computer equipment was adequate.
76.0 24.0
The room environment was good.
58.3 41.7
Results for Modeling(Part I)
Conceptual Modeling Component: % Agree or neutral
% Disagre
e
Instructions were clear for this part. 83.3 16.7
Length of problem was too long. 65.6 34.4
There was enough time to complete this part.
77.1 22.9
Results for Implementation(Part II)
Access Implementation Component:
% Agree or neutral
% Disagree
Instructions were clear for this part.
76.0 24.0
Length of problem was too long. 87.5 12.5
There was enough time to complete this part.
53.1 46.9
Comparison of adequate time to complete Part I vs. Part II
Agree or neutral
Disagree
Part I adequate time
78% 22%
Part II adequate time
50.5% 49.5%
chi-square = 13.785, df=1, p = 0.0002Significant Difference
Compare “beginners” vs. “advanced” students
Part I: Difficulty of Modeling by Groups
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
1 2 3 4 5
Level of difficulty
pe
rce
nta
ge
Group 1
Group 2
No Significant Difference
Part II: Difficulty of Implementation by Groups
01020304050
1 2 3 4 5
Level of difficulty
pe
rce
nta
ge
group1
group2
No Significant Difference
Room environment
• Compared responses of those who said the environment was OK (58%)
• Versus those who reported problems
Surprisingly…
No Significant Differencefor any questions!
Conclusion:
• Problem statement was well-organized
• Instructions were clear• Problem length & level of
difficulty about right
Big Success!
Problems with room environment:
• Large number of teams
• Many teams did not pre-register– Last minute room
accommodations
• Problems were unavoidable
2004 Database Competition
• NCC Omaha, April 1 – 4• Database competition:
Friday, April 2nd
• Problem statement: similar format
• Better job with logistics• Better survey questions
See you
there!