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There is a broad literature on the various issues related to effective exam construction applicable to both on-ground and online course delivery. These guidelines tend to support rather close contact between the instructor and the exam. However, to remain competitive, both textbook and course management providers have developed technologies to automate many aspects of exam construction. As test construction becomes automated, the possibility of inadvertently deviating from demonstrated or intuitive guidelines increases. Two experiments were conducted to examine the degree to which apophenia (perceiving patterns in random data) might negatively influence multiple-choice exam performance among college students. Experiment 1 indirectly demonstrated the extent to which certain answer patterns seemed to be tolerated among students (maximum of three repeated answers) in comparison with what might be expected from randomly generated exams from Blackboard. Experiment 2 directly examined the effects of answer patterns on exam performance. Participants' performance declined as the underlying answer patterns became more obvious, and this effect appeared to be particularly strong for the upper level psychology students. The importance and implications of these findings with regard to automated test construction were discussed, and a recommendation is provided.

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The academic development of collegiate football players has become a concern in higher education during recent years (Knight Commission, 2010; LaForge & Hodge, 2011; NCAA, 2009). The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the first semester experiences of academically "successful" and "unsuccessful" first year collegiate football players. In particular, this study attempted to identify the variables that academically "successful" and "unsuccessful" football players perceived to have impacted their academic performance during their first semester. An intensity sample of Division I freshman football players who performed well academically during the Fall 2010 semester (n=6) and a sample of Division I freshman football players who did not perform well academically during the Fall 2010 semester (n=6) were interviewed for this study. Emergent themes that arose from the data analysis for the "successful" student-athlete group included: academic motivation, facilitators of academic success, time management, academic preparation, limited involvement, and academic skills. For the academically "unsuccessful" student-athlete group the relevant themes included: academic motivation, barriers to academic success, time management, academic preparation, limited involvement, and lack of autonomy. The findings from this study provide insight into potential factors that may be useful in identifying student-athletes at risk for academic problems and for designing interventions to address academic performance. iii DEDICATION This project is dedicated to my grandparents… who taught me the value of EDUCATION. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dr. Etzel: Thank you for taking me under your wing through all of these years. I appreciate your willingness to share so much with me. You have provided me with so many opportunities to learn and grow and I am truly honored to call you my advisor. Dr. Watson: Thank you for your willingness to problem-solve and work with me to develop solutions. I respect your mentorship and hope to emulate it with future students. Dr. Zizzi: Thank you for your support on this project and for providing me with a good foundation in research methods. Your perspective improved the quality of this study. There will always be a little voice in my head reminding me to uphold high standards in both the research I do and the research I read. Dr. Shannon: My knowledge of qualitative research methodology has increased tenfold since starting this project. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and inspiring me to continue learning about qualitative research methods. Dr. Downey: Both formally and informally I have learned so much about the culture and needs of collegiate student-athletes from working with you. I am appreciative of the time and effort you put into recruitment. Your willingness to help made it possible for these interviews to happen. Chelsea Butters Wooding: Thank you for being a member of the research team and immersing yourself in the data. Your opinion was incredibly valuable and I appreciate your willingn...