How the QBL approach of "self testing" affects Imposter Syndrome

Abstract: This study examines the ratio between ability to learn and confidence in students in the online learning environment within two learning styles, Question-Based Learning (QBL) and Traditional Learning (TL), to be able to gain more insights of the phenomenon ‘Imposter Syndrome’. There isn't any previous research that analyzes the ability-confidence ratio for QBL or Traditional Learning in online learning environments so current insight of this is currently lacking. Also important to note that this study mainly only concerns itself with one of the Question-Based Learning strategies, namely that of repeated or regular self testing. In this study, both confidence and ability were measured across 4 subscales each in students at KTH in order to perform a correlation analysis between the subscales of the two learning styles. The aim is to gain insight into the relationship between confidence and abilities, which could be useful for teachers in assisting their students’ utilization of QBL and how it affects ‘imposter syndrome’. Data was gathered through a survey which was published on several forums for KTH students. The survey received 97 responses. The data was analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis, which revealed a significant correlation between the subscales within confidence and ability for TL and QBL. The results show that a student’s ability to learn is strongly associated with their confidence in more Traditional Learning settings than with the QBL approach of self-testing.