Tough's 1971 study found nearly all adults had undertaken a learning project in the past year, 68% self-planned and under 1% for credit, with women's categories logging fewer hours¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1994 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 1999: baselines and conditions change
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on an ERIC document (a report, conference paper or thesis). It is kept because 4 design pages cite it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In Tough's 1971 study of sixty-six adults across seven occupational categories, all but one interviewee had conducted a learning project in the previous year, fewer than one per cent of projects were undertaken for credit, and 68% were self-planned. → Percy 1994 q2 i? Every occupational category in Tough's 1971 sample that included women spent fewer hours on learning projects than the other categories. → Percy 1994 (2)

Evidence¶

Percy 1994¶

Percy, K., Burton, D., & Withnall, A. (1994). Self-Directed Learning among Adults: The Challenge for Continuing Educators. Association for Lifelong Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED382882

q2 · i? · review · r2

Tough's 1970 study, reported in The Adult's Learning Projects, interviewed sixty-six adults drawn from seven occupational categories using intensive structured interviews with probing and prompt sheets; the review reports near-universal project participation and under 1% undertaken for credit, with "the majority (68%) of projects were self-planned".

"All but one of the interviewees had conducted a learning project in the previous year, and less than one per cent of all the learning projects was undertaken for credit."

Percy 1994 (2)¶

Percy, K., Burton, D., & Withnall, A. (1994). Self-Directed Learning among Adults: The Challenge for Continuing Educators. Association for Lifelong Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED382882

q2 · i? · review · r2

Across the seven occupational groups, total hours devoted to learning projects differed by group (professors highest, mothers lowest in hours); the review reports that every category including women logged fewer hours, a finding Tough did not pursue.

"A significant finding of the research was that every category which included women spent less hours engaged inlearningprojects."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Research on adults' self-directed learning has been extensive in North America but almost absent in Britain over the past twenty-five years — related
• Penland's 1979 national survey found about 80% of US adults considered themselves continuing learners and over three quarters had planned their own learning projects in the prior year — related
• Tough's 1967 study found all forty sampled graduates engaged in self-teaching, assisted on average by 10.6 helpers each — related
• Over 95% of Canadian adults are involved in some form of informal learning activities they identify as significant — related
• Employed Canadian adults report about 6 hours per week of employment-related informal learning — related