The "Duh" Study

While flipping from channel to channel last night, I came across a report on Fox News about education. The researchers found that students who crammed all night for a test, the so-called "all-nighter," earned lower grades than the students who studied a bit at a time throughout the semester.

Essentially, the study explains that good students outperform bad students.

You don't say?!

This study and the feature itself seem emblematic of the new data movement: data must be provided for everything, even for common sense conclusions. Unless a formal assessment or study is used, the results are often discounted, not accepted, or ignored altogether.

While I believe formal studies and assessments are important, I do hope that informal assessments and qualitative data--the messy stuff that may not fit into a pretty chart--are not dismissed too quickly; they are weighted with authority as well.

(60 minutes after the above post) Update: I found a link briefly explaining the study in the Seattle Times. The way this article is worded, the study seems more like it focused on sleep deprivation, but the Fox News report seemed more like a good student vs. bad student study. Regardless, it still reads as common sense proved with data.