Elijawon
Scott
ENG:3029*03
Dr.
Chandler
November 27, 2013
Discovering Student's Study Habits: Does
excessively studying improve results?
Introduction
There are many studying techniques
implemented into the school settings. The main obstacles that students
continually face are preparation for exams, essays, and research papers. Students
always encounter major exams to advance to the next level. Some examples
include the GEPA to advance to high school, the PSAT, the SAT or the ACT for
college, the GRE to get into Graduate School, and don’t forget getting into the
Doctorate program. Advancing to the next level of education requires exams and
even essays. Even to get into your profession such as becoming a teacher or
school psychologist requires you to take the Praxis exam. Since people have
different strategies to prepare for exams and essays, my objective is to find
out what people do to prepare.
Some questions asked would be: How would
people prepare for an upcoming test? What techniques do they use for writing
essays and research papers? How often do they study? Those are the many
questions that will be asked. I plan on using surveys, brief interviews, and
online sources. However, the main question I would ask to sum everything up is,
“What is the best strategy to prepare and get good results for a paper and
exam?” The article “To Really Learn, Quit
Studying and Take a Test” by Pam Belluck consists of a few studies to back
up my research. In addition, “Do
Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?” by Aaron
Carlstrom will add more data due to being more broad. Lastly I would seek
opinions and advice from other students that may help benefit other struggling
students.
Literature Review
Based on a
Meta-Analysis in the article “Do
Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?”Studies were
shown to discuss many different aspects among college students.
(Still Working on it)
Methods
The research I am conducting will
discuss the not only the study habits of students, but to also find out the
many contributing factors that lead to results. The question we would ask is
“Why do students get the results that they get?” Many factors will vary and my
goal in this research is to find out the most prominent and common factors that
affect a student’s results on exams and papers. There are quite a few tools I
will use to gather the data needed for the research. Those tools consist of
surveying ten college students, interviewing three people, and using a classic
psychology research method called participant observation. That would involve
me actually being in a classroom setting before, during, and after a test. Since
that strategy involves me actually being in that environment, I find that tool
very effective since its firsthand information. In addition, I will survey five
males and five females to compare the answers and numbers. Common comments and
similar issues will be recorded and numerical data will be recorded in a chart.
Lastly, the article “Do Psychosocial and
Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?” by Aaron Carlstrom, Steven B.
Robbins, Kristy Lauver, Ronelle Langley, Huy Le, and Daniel Davis will be
used to support the data collected.
Data and Analysis
Variables:
M
– Male FR – Freshman JR – Junior GR – Graduate
F
– Female SO – Sophomore SR – Senior
EDU
– Education COMM – Communication ENG – English
SS
– Social Science SCI – Science MAT - Math
Question
list:
1.
Gender
2.
Class year
3.
Major
4.
Major gives more papers or exams
5.
Do they study often?
6.
Preferences of papers or exams
7.
Average hours of sleep
8.
Is music/background sounds soothing or distracting?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
M
|
M
|
M
|
M
|
M
|
F
|
F
|
F
|
F
|
F
|
SO
|
SR
|
JR
|
FR
|
SR
|
SR
|
SO
|
SR
|
SR
|
SR
|
EDU
|
ENG
|
SS
|
MAT
|
COMM
|
SCI
|
ENG
|
COMM
|
SS
|
EDU
|
Papers
|
Papers
|
Papers
|
Exams
|
Papers
|
Both
|
Papers
|
Papers
|
Exams
|
Papers
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Exams
|
Exams
|
Exams
|
Exams
|
Papers
|
Exams
|
Papers
|
Exams
|
Exams
|
Exams
|
7 hrs
|
7 hrs
|
8-9 hrs
|
6-7 hrs
|
6 hrs
|
7-8 hrs
|
4-5 hrs
|
6 hrs
|
6-7 hrs
|
8-9
hrs
|
Soothing
|
Distracting
|
Soothing
|
Soothing
|
Neutral
|
Distracting
|
Distracting
|
Distracting
|
Distracting
|
Neutral
|
Surveyed
ten college students. Five males and five females.
·
Average hours of sleep for males: 7
hours
·
Average hours of sleep for females: 6.6
hours
·
Total Average: 6.8 hours
Interview
Discussion
Connections
Conclusion
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