Factors Affecting Study Habits in Higher Education During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This study focused on the identification of the factors that affect study habits in higher education during the Covid-19 pandemic based on students' opinions. In the study designed according to the exploratory sequential design among mixed research methods, interviews were conducted with 94 second and third-year students who volunteered to participate in the study who were studying at the education school of a state university in the academic year of 2020-2021. The data obtained from the content analysis of the interviews showed that the students' study habits originated from their learning style, digital tools, home environment, recording the class, faculty members, time management, family, nutrition, social environment and psychological factors. A 24-item survey which was prepared upon these results was applied among 813 prospective teachers after expert opinions and pretesting. According to the analyses conducted including frequencies, means, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was observed that the study habits of the students changed mostly based on recording the class, which was respectively followed by factors related to faculty members, time management skills, social environment, digital tools, learning styles, psychological factors, family, home environment and nutrition. It was seen that the distribution of the opinions of the students on the factors that affected their study habits varied based on their gender and program of study.