Who Are the Freshmen at Highest Risk of Dropping Out of University? Psychological and Educational Implications
, Sara Bornatici 1, Clarissa Ferrari 2, Giulio Sbravati 1, Giuseppe Rainieri 1, Herald Cela 3 and Alberto Ghilardi 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe work is clearly presented, and adds to the already existing literature on attrition in higher education. There were three minor issues I recommend addressing:
- Lines 78-80: It seems that consent was required, but I would recommend specifically mentioning ethical review board approval (including case number)
- Lines 119-120: The sentence feels like an incomplete idea – what happens when amotivated students feel those things?
- Lines 310-321: Consider including more references as there are currently many unsubstantiated claims made
Author Response
Comment 1: The work is clearly presented, and adds to the already existing literature on attrition in higher education. There were three minor issues I recommend addressing.
Response 1: Dear reviewer, thank you for appreciating our article.
Comment 2: Lines 78-80: It seems that consent was required, but I would recommend specifically mentioning ethical review board approval (including case number).
Response 2: We have inserted this information into the text.
Comment 3: Lines 119-120: The sentence feels like an incomplete idea – what happens when amotivated students feel those things?
Response 3: We completed the sentence.
Comment 4: Lines 310-321: Consider including more references as there are currently many unsubstantiated claims made,
Response 4: We included more references, and modified the text.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsGeneral speaking, the manuscript was well organized. Some specific suggestions were provided.
1. On the line 168, the author mentioned Figure 1S but I did not see the Figure 1S in the edited manuscript.
2. In Table 1, the index “Mean/N” and “SD/%” is weird and not easy to understand. I would suggest the author skip the Age. Put the age information in the paragraph.
3. Teaching method, teacher-student relationship, and personal psychological well-being are all important factors to explain the student drop out. What’s the cause effect relationships among these variables? There could be more discussion or implication for future studies.
4. There is too many information in tables. The table is too long. For table 2, the authors can just show the significant parts.
Author Response
Comment 1: General speaking, the manuscript was well organized. Some specific suggestions were provided.
Response 1: Dear reviewer, thank you for appreciating our article.
Comment 2: On the line 168, the author mentioned Figure 1S but I did not see the Figure 1S in the edited manuscript,
Response 2: The Figure 1S is included in the supplementary materials.
Comment 3: In Table 1, the index “Mean/N” and “SD/%” is weird and not easy to understand. I would suggest the author skip the Age. Put the age information in the paragraph.
Response 3: We put the average age and the average of the students’ high school grade in the text. We modified the Table 1.
Comment 4: Teaching method, teacher-student relationship, and personal psychological well-being are all important factors to explain the student drop out. What’s the cause effect relationships among these variables? There could be more discussion or implication for future studies.
Response 4: We added some implications for future studies in our Conclusions.
Comment 5: There is too many information in tables. The table is too long. For table 2, the authors can just show the significant parts.
Response 5: We modified Table 2 to report only the significant results.
