Predicting Performance in a Computer Programming Course

PREDICTION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMER TRAINING AND JOB PERFORMANCE USING THE AABP TEST1

“…Somewhat surprisingly, the AABP test was found to be as highly related to job as to training performance. This finding is in contrast to the research reported for the I B M Progranirners Aptitude Test which has produced correlations ranging from the .30's to the .50's and .60's with training performance (McNamara and Hughes, 1961 ;Katz, 1962;Hollenbeck and McNamara, 1965;Bauer, Mehrens and Vinsonhaler, 1968) but significantly lower relationships with actual job performance as a programmer (McNamara and Hughes, 1961). Since the correlations obtained in this study between the AABP and ratings of job performance and potential are comparable in size to those reported by McNainara and Hughes (1961) , it may be tentatively concluded that AABP scores are as related to performance as a programmer as are scores from the Programmers Aptitude Test.…”

“…I n nearly all instances, these studies reported relationships between test scores and training performance. Significant correlations between the Programmers Aptitude Test and programmer training have been reported by McNamara and Hughes (1961), Oliver and Willis (1963), Katz (1962), Hollenbeck and McNamara (1965) and Bauer, Mehrens, and Vinsonhaler (1968). Of these studies, only IlcNainara and Hughes (1961) conducted research relating test scores to actual job performance; they reported correlations of .44 and .36 between Programmers Aptitude Test Scores and supervisors' ratings of job performance.…”

“…More general purpose tests which have been successfully used to predict programmer training performance include the Army's General Technical Aptitude Area (Katz, 1962), the Wonderlic Personnel Test (Biamonte, 1965), the mathematics test from the Navy Officer Classification Battery (Meyer, 1965), the College Qualification Test (Bauer, Mehrens and Vinsonhaler, 1968) and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (Bauer, Mehrens, and Vinsonhaler, 1968). As with the IBM Programmers Aptitude Test, reports of relationships between test and job performance for these other tests are considerably scarcer.…”

Learning to program and learning to think: what's the connection?

“…The question of what students need to know in order to learn a programming language has motivated many studies, which find that general measures of nonverbal intellectual ability such as in the IBM Programmer Aptitude Test (PAT) or Aptitude Assessment Battery Programming (AABP) can correlate witb programming test scores in the range of r = 0.3 [1,8,9,12,19]. However, as Webb [27] points out, "it is unclear which specific abilities included in these tests relate most strongly to performance.…”

As Tecnologias de Análise de Aprendizagem e os Desafios de Prever Desempenhos de Estudantes de Programação

“…[ Badgley et al 1962] Relaciona atributos psicológicos, sociais e acadêmicos para prever sucesso ou fracasso de estudantes de medicina; Determina fatores úteis para modelos de predição; Analisa histórico de dados dos estudantes; Aplica técnica de análise de regressão linear; Identifica fatores de sucesso ou fracasso escolar; Desempenhos são preditos com 81% de acurácia. [Bauer et al 1968] Aplica de testes para identificar aptidão em programação em processo seletivo; A finalidade é evitar desperdício de tempo e de custos em treinamentos; Aplica modelos de regressão linear múltipla com técnica stepwise para selecionar melhor combinação de variáveis para prever desempenhos; Compara a eficácia preditiva de vários testes; Os escores dos testes foram correlacionados com a nota final.…”