4.4. Sensitivity analysis
For a number of reasons, it is also possible that the main results reported in Tables 3–5 may not reflect implications of MarlinaLS usage for student learning, but may, instead,merely report the role of the MarlinaLS in preparing students to answer specific types of examination questions relative to other question types. Thus, even though the content of
MarlinaLS comprised questions of various types, set at a range of difficulty levels and which explore a range of subject material, we examine whether this system is more effective for preparing students to answer examination questions of a certain format and content.
Specifically, we examine whether MarlinaLS is more effective in enabling students to hone their technical, calculative skills, relative to their ability to address certain narrative-type questions where a more conceptual understanding is required, such as in preparing contextual explanations or in performing critical and interpretive, case-based analysis.