Research Plan:
Discovering Student's Study Habits: Does excessively studying improve results?
Introduction
After struggling to find a topic to research about, I decided to focus on college students study habits. The purpose of my research is to discover how students study and write papers to see what strategy is best. I prefer to interview or survey students that major in Education, English, Social Sciences, and Communication since I know that they usually have both papers and exams from personal experience. I'm trying to see different majors perspectives and study habits and find similarities and differences. The results will vary depending on their area of concentration. My hypothesis would be that social sciences and education majors will experience more exams than papers compared to the other two. I feel that communication will be the outlier within the group and probably hardly experience both.
Sample Research Questions
1. Do you prefer to write papers or take exams?
2. Do you study often?
3. What do you do for preparation?
Information needed
- Student majors
- Do they take more exams or have papers?
- Study habits
- List of hobbies
- Does their major class (currently or recently) give out more papers or exams?
- What they preferably want to have between papers and exams.
- Do they think studying numerous hours are effective?
- Record techniques that may prove effective.
Preliminary Sources/ Collecting Data
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Online sources and statistics:
- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
- http://www.csc.edu/learningcenter/study/studymethods.csc
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Blog 9
Discovering Student's Study Habits: Does excessively studying improve results?
Introduction questions:
- What year are you?
- What is your major? (Has to be English, communication, education, or social science)
- Current occupation
- What are your hobbies?
- Does your major give more papers or exams?
Do you study often?
If yes.....
- How many hours do you study a day?
- How many hours do you study per week?
- Do you find it useful?
If no.....
- Do you often procrastinate?
- How many hours do you study prior to an exam?
- Do you still get good results?
Do you prefer writing papers or taking exams?
If Papers....
- How many days does it take for you to complete an average paper (4 to 5 pages)?
- Do you work on the paper the day it's given or the day it's due?
- Are you easily distracted when writing papers?
- Do you leave music or the television on when you write?
- Do you write papers alone or with another person?
- Do you do peer reviews for your papers before submitting?
- Do you see yourself as a clutch writer (Ability to write at the last minute)?
- Do you pull all-nighters?
If Exams....
- How many hours do you study prior to an exam?
- Do you cram often?
- Are you easily distracted when studying?
- Do you study while listening to music? Do you find it helpful?
- Do you prefer to study alone or with groups?
- How many hours do you sleep prior to the day of the exam?
Discussing Strategies
- Do you often ask your professor for feedback?
- Do you find studying a few days prior to the exam effective?
- Where is your ideal place to study?
- Is music or other background sounds soothing or distracting to you?
- Is it better to study during the day or at night?
- Is it overall better to work alone or in groups?
What advice would you give to people for preparation regarding papers and exams?
Introduction questions:
- What year are you?
- What is your major? (Has to be English, communication, education, or social science)
- Current occupation
- What are your hobbies?
- Does your major give more papers or exams?
Do you study often?
If yes.....
- How many hours do you study a day?
- How many hours do you study per week?
- Do you find it useful?
If no.....
- Do you often procrastinate?
- How many hours do you study prior to an exam?
- Do you still get good results?
Do you prefer writing papers or taking exams?
If Papers....
- How many days does it take for you to complete an average paper (4 to 5 pages)?
- Do you work on the paper the day it's given or the day it's due?
- Are you easily distracted when writing papers?
- Do you leave music or the television on when you write?
- Do you write papers alone or with another person?
- Do you do peer reviews for your papers before submitting?
- Do you see yourself as a clutch writer (Ability to write at the last minute)?
- Do you pull all-nighters?
If Exams....
- How many hours do you study prior to an exam?
- Do you cram often?
- Are you easily distracted when studying?
- Do you study while listening to music? Do you find it helpful?
- Do you prefer to study alone or with groups?
- How many hours do you sleep prior to the day of the exam?
Discussing Strategies
- Do you often ask your professor for feedback?
- Do you find studying a few days prior to the exam effective?
- Where is your ideal place to study?
- Is music or other background sounds soothing or distracting to you?
- Is it better to study during the day or at night?
- Is it overall better to work alone or in groups?
What advice would you give to people for preparation regarding papers and exams?
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Blog 8
Research Question: How does the interviewee's (B) reluctance and brief answers impact the research results?
Based on the responses from the interviewee, it seems that he was either nervous or lacked motivation. Certain responses seemed like it could've contained more information but was played off with a joke or short answer.
Evidence:
Example A:
Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?
B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things
Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software
B yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
The interviewee knew what he was talking about but then the responses were a lot shorter. Based on the responses, initially the responses were decent. The interviewer would ask a question and the interviewee would just respond with one word or a small response. He wouldn't really elaborate on it. The interviewee knew what he was talking about but didn't seem interested in really talking about it. It seems like he was quite modest and often laughed after a brief response. Based on the laughter at the end, it seems that the person had a more nervous laugh. From experience, normally a chuckle would indicate some sort of uneasiness.
Example B:
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
The interview was a little different from the generic types of interviews. Normally the interviewer just asks a question and the person being interviewed just formally responds. For this one it seems that the interviewee has little interest in answering the questions. In these lines, the interviewer asks a significant amount of questions but the interviewee hardly elaborates. The interviewer seems to ask a good amount of questions and the interviewee just briefly answers sounding reluctant.
Based on the responses from the interviewee, it seems that he was either nervous or lacked motivation. Certain responses seemed like it could've contained more information but was played off with a joke or short answer.
Evidence:
Example A:
Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?
B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things
Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software
B yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
The interviewee knew what he was talking about but then the responses were a lot shorter. Based on the responses, initially the responses were decent. The interviewer would ask a question and the interviewee would just respond with one word or a small response. He wouldn't really elaborate on it. The interviewee knew what he was talking about but didn't seem interested in really talking about it. It seems like he was quite modest and often laughed after a brief response. Based on the laughter at the end, it seems that the person had a more nervous laugh. From experience, normally a chuckle would indicate some sort of uneasiness.
Example B:
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
The interview was a little different from the generic types of interviews. Normally the interviewer just asks a question and the person being interviewed just formally responds. For this one it seems that the interviewee has little interest in answering the questions. In these lines, the interviewer asks a significant amount of questions but the interviewee hardly elaborates. The interviewer seems to ask a good amount of questions and the interviewee just briefly answers sounding reluctant.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Blog 7
Research Introduction
Hello, how are you? I am doing a quick research survey and I would like to know if I can have 5 to 10 minutes of your time. My name is Eli and I am doing research on different writing styles between Psychology and Standard academic writing. By any chance are you a Psychology or English major? (Assuming the participant says yes) Since you have general knowledge within the field, I would like to ask you a few techniques and experience regarding Psychology research papers compared to regular writing. I have a consent form to go over with you explaining your participation and it's completely confidential.
- I will be writing down the responses the participant gives to answer my questions.
- I will survey 2 to 3 of each Psychology and English major.
- No audio recording will be used (unless participant is willing).
Hello, how are you? I am doing a quick research survey and I would like to know if I can have 5 to 10 minutes of your time. My name is Eli and I am doing research on different writing styles between Psychology and Standard academic writing. By any chance are you a Psychology or English major? (Assuming the participant says yes) Since you have general knowledge within the field, I would like to ask you a few techniques and experience regarding Psychology research papers compared to regular writing. I have a consent form to go over with you explaining your participation and it's completely confidential.
- I will be writing down the responses the participant gives to answer my questions.
- I will survey 2 to 3 of each Psychology and English major.
- No audio recording will be used (unless participant is willing).
Blog 6
Question 8: How do imperative comments work in getting students to revise?
Categories of Analysis: (features to determine effectiveness)
1. tone of questions
2. questions asking for elaboration
3. questions describing readerly feedback
4. questions regarding structure
5. questions on reorganization
6. questions on generalizations of comments made in the paper
7. questions on importance of situations in the paper
8. questions on the readers understanding of the paper
9. questions on necessary information to include in paper
Effectiveness:
In order to determine the effectiveness of how the comments given to
students aid in their revisions there are a few ways to determine this.
The first would be to compare the essays that received comments to the
final draft to see if the comments were applied. If there was a
significant change in the essay, or it seems that the comments/question
were addressed/answered, then how did that help the fluency of the
paper.
Depending on what the comments are, they could most likely motivate a student to make revisions. If it gives them ideas, then it could be quite imperative for them. If it's related to grammar, then of course the student is going to want to make revisions to make sure it's presentable. In addition, some comments can be given to give advice. If the student's writing was vague or misunderstood, advice can be given to help the student make changes for the final draft. Overall, the comments can help and improve the student's paper and performance.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Research Game Plan
Research Plan
Focus: Discovering Student's Study Habits
Research Questions:
Who has studied this? What did they say?
What do I need to find out the answer to this question?
What do I need to do to gather information that will answer my question?
Focus: Discovering Student's Study Habits
Research Questions:
- Do you often find yourself procrastinating?
- Do you prefer to write papers or take exams?
- How often do you study or prepare for an exam?
- When do you decide to write your paper?
- Does studying excessively improve results?
Who has studied this? What did they say?
- I can use class examples and what our classes discussed
- I plan to search online for credible sources to backup my information
What do I need to find out the answer to this question?
- Name examples of different styles of work
- Explain if studying more improves test scores
What do I need to do to gather information that will answer my question?
- Compare answers with students of different majors
- Interview students or take surveys
- Conduct research from online sources
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