The Impact Analysis of Psychological Issues and Pandemic-Related Variables on Ecuadorian University Students during COVID-19
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is a quality study focused on a survey being given to 100 Ecuadorian students. The situation in Ecuador during COVID was particularly bad and while the authors do note this, I think that the COVID situation in Ecuador could be emphasized earlier in the paper to show why this case is particularly significant.
The focus of the paper is on negative emotions being prevalent and behaviors changing due to the COVID pandemic and, unsurprisingly, students experienced more negative emotions and changed some of their behaviors (such as hand washing) due to COVID.
I like that the authors added some comparison points particularly toward the end of the paper. Those comparisons allowed for some important context.
I have read a few similar papers and feel that the significance of the findings needs to be emphasized when these surveys are presented. The research findings and regression analyses are impressive from a data-analysis perspective but what is the significance of the data? How does knowing this information help us in, for instance, future crises or with students' mental health? Further, what does this say about Ecuador specifically?
I thought this study was well-constructed and better than other similar papers that I've read, but I think these studies need to deal with "what now?," "so what?," and other contextual questions. Data analysis alone is insufficient.
Author Response
Please see the attached letter and manuscript
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors,
Thank you for your manuscript. This manuscript appears to require several enhancements, and I would like to propose them.
I believe it is unsuitable to include citations in the abstract.
Google Scholar should be Google Scholar, not google scholar.
Could the authors please explain why Google Scholar was used rather than well-known databases like Scopus and Web of Science?
Page 3, COVID-19 instead of COVI-19
The distribution does not appear holistic on page 3, third paragraph. I propose that the authors include citations from Latin America and Southeast Asia. On the basis of my search in Scopus, these articles appear pertinent to the context of the authors:
Zhang, S., Batra, K., Xu, W., Liu, T., Dong, R., Yin, A., . . . Chen, J. (2022). Mental disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America – a systematic review and meta-analysis. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 31, E23. doi:10.1017/S2045796021000767
Which can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1017/s2045796021000767
Rosli, M.S., Saleh, N.S. Technology enhanced learning acceptance among university students during Covid-19: Integrating the full spectrum of Self-Determination Theory and self-efficacy into the Technology Acceptance Model. Curr Psychol (2022).
Which can be accessed here: https://rdcu.be/cV7Gu
Regarding the gender, I believe that one of the articles I suggested can provide additional support for the author's claim.
Does your data comply with the SEM's underlying assumption? Please elaborate. If it is compliant, please provide evidence. If not, what steps have been taken to resolve the problem?
Please report your SEM's r2 value. What effect they had on your research. This can also be used to formulate additional research limitations.
Thank you, and hopefully my comments will help the authors improve their paper. All best wishes.
Author Response
Please see the attached letter and manuscript
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
