A Comparative Analysis of Performance by Graduate and Undergraduate Students in an MEP Course

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) course is offered both at undergraduate and graduate levels in schools of construction science in the United States. The course is required for graduate students who do not have any exposure to these materials at an undergraduate level. The author offered this course to both the groups combined together in Fall 2014. The purpose this study was to find out whether there is difference in performance in the course between graduate and graduate students. There were 27 graduate and 51 undergraduate students enrolled for this class. An analysis of the data indicated that there is a statistically significant difference in performance (measured by 6 assignments, 10 in-class quizzes, and three major exams), between the two groups. A stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the data.