It’s very hard to do a study on, but it would be awesome to find out how much community involvement matters. For example, just messing around with a compiler and a book to learn a new programming language might differ a lot to a pair of people spending the same amount of hours together. There would be lots of variables to control for such as the relationship of the two people, but I would throw my money at anyone who came up with a study on the subject.
I used to be really bad at math but when I met some friends who were really passionate about it and offered me a place in their study group I greatly improved. I dare say we hold equal footing now that two of us are a year away from a master’s degree in engineering. If it would be me alone with a book I don’t think I would’ve made it this far.
