To what degree does the missing-data technique influence the estimated growth in learning strategies over time? A tutorial example of sensitivity analysis for longitudinal data

PLoS One. 2017 Sep 13;12(9):e0182615. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182615. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Longitudinal data is almost always burdened with missing data. However, in educational and psychological research, there is a large discrepancy between methodological suggestions and research practice. The former suggests applying sensitivity analysis in order to the robustness of the results in terms of varying assumptions regarding the mechanism generating the missing data. However, in research practice, participants with missing data are usually discarded by relying on listwise deletion. To help bridge the gap between methodological recommendations and applied research in the educational and psychological domain, this study provides a tutorial example of sensitivity analysis for latent growth analysis. The example data concern students' changes in learning strategies during higher education. One cohort of students in a Belgian university college was asked to complete the Inventory of Learning Styles-Short Version, in three measurement waves. A substantial number of students did not participate on each occasion. Change over time in student learning strategies was assessed using eight missing data techniques, which assume different mechanisms for missingness. The results indicated that, for some learning strategy subscales, growth estimates differed between the models. Guidelines in terms of reporting the results from sensitivity analysis are synthesised and applied to the results from the tutorial example.

MeSH terms

  • Belgium
  • Educational Measurement / methods*
  • Educational Measurement / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Learning / physiology*
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Research Design / standards
  • Research Design / statistics & numerical data
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Students / psychology*
  • Students / statistics & numerical data
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Time Factors
  • Universities

Grants and funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The research reported in this article was supported by a grant from the ‘‘Special Research Fund: New Research Initiatives’’ from the Research Board of the University of Antwerp (www.uantwerp.be) offered to PVP and VD. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.