University of Hertordshire Business School - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: PILOT University of Hertordshire Business School Student Experience Pilot Study Student’s Name Name of School University of Hertordshire Business School Student Experience Pilot Study The University of Hertordshire Business School is interested in the experiences of its students. As such, the following study will help the School develop to services to meet student social needs. This research will identify an appropriate research method to study how the social environment contributes to academic success and which factors may be bolstered to maximize the impact of social support on student achievement. Consequently, the primary apparatus will be a measure in the form of a questionnaire. A pilot study and analysis of the preliminary data will be conducted. Finally, the results will be explained and recommendations made about continued study. Method Researchers wish to formulate a questionnairre to reveal certain information. What sort of social support do students depend upon? Is there a relationship between GPA and the relative importance of a student’s social support system? How much do friends, faculty, family, and service workers play a role in these systems? Is there a relationship between the age of a student and the importance of their social support system? Is there a relationship between ethnicity and the importance of the social support system? Are there differences between in-state, out-of-state, and international students with respect to social support systems? Does social support seeking behavior seem to distract students from academic performance? These are among the questions to which researchers seek answers. To answer these questions, the measure will be reduced to a collection demographic demographic questions and a series of closed multiple choice questions relating to the sources and importance of social support systems as well as GPA and student status. There will be a total of 10 questions. A minimum of 10 completed questionnaires will be collected in the pilot survey. The students will be randomly selected to complete the survey on-campus and in person. Each respondent will be handed a clipboard with one questionnaire and a pencil and asked to take a moment to complete the survey for the study. Measure What follows is a sample of the questionairre: The following questions are aimed at better understanding the social needs of The University of Hertordshire Business School students. Please, answer each one to the best of your ability. 1. Please, mark the range that best describes your age. Under 20 years old 20 to 24 years old 25 to 29 years old 30 to 34 years old 35 to 39 years old Over 39 years old 2. Please, mark the range that best describes your GPA. Under 1.0 1.0 to 1.9 2.0 to 2.9 3.0 to 3.9 Over 3.9 3. Please, select that which best describes your relationship status. Single, never married Divorced, widowed, or separated In a relationship, not married Married 4. Which of the following best describes your ethinicity? Caucasian African Descent Asian Hispanic 5. How important are social relationships to you? Not important at all Not very important Somewhat important Very important 6. From which of the following groups do you receive the most social support? Friends, including significant others and co-workers Family, including spouse Faculty, including advisors and instructors Service workers, including psychologists and social workers 7. Which of the following best describes your student status? In-state Out-of-State International 8. Which of the following best describes your current level of study. Undergraduate, 1st 2 years Undergraduate, 2nd 2 years Graduate, Master’s candidate Graduate, PhD candidate 9. Which of the following best describes your course load? ¼ time ½ time ¾ time Full time 10. Please, select your gender. Female Male Data For the purposes of analysis the preliminary data has been converted to integers where one represents the first choice, two represents the second, and so on. The following table represents the samples collected in the pilot study.   Respondents A B C D E F G H I J Questions 1 5 2 1 4 1 4 6 4 3 6 2 3 1 5 1 5 2 2 1 2 4 3 4 2 3 1 4 2 4 3 2 4 4 4 3 1 3 4 4 1 1 1 2 5 2 4 2 4 1 3 1 3 2 1 6 2 3 2 3 1 1 1 4 1 4 7 2 1 3 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 8 3 3 2 4 1 3 1 3 3 3 9 2 2 1 1 3 3 4 1 2 3 10 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 There were 5 women and 5 men in the sample. It happens that the statistically average respondent for the pilot data is a 30 to 34 year old, in a relationship (but not married), of African Descent with a GPA of 3.0 to 3.9. He or she is an Out-of-State, ½ time Master’s candidate who does not think social support is very important but receives most social support from family. A correlational analysis is conducted between GPA and all other criteria and the relative importance of social support and all other criteria. Thus, GPA is compared to gender, age, relationship status, ethnicity, student status criteria, the importance of social support, and the source of social support. Furthermore, the importance of social support is compared to gender, age, relationship status, ethnicity, student status criteria, and the source of social support. Analysis found no significant correlation between GPA and gender, age, relationship status, ethnicity, student status, level of study, course load, and source of support. Analysis found no significant correlation between the importance of social support and GPA, age, gender, ethnicity, student status, level of study, course load, or source of support. The following table presents a significant negative coorelation between the importance of social support and relationship status.   Importance Relationship Status Importance 1 Relationship Status -0.844628633 1 Results Although no significant correlations were found between any but one comparison, it is interesting to note the negative correlation found. It seems the more deeply involved one was in a relationship, the less they found social support to be important. Recommendations Based on the results of this pilot study, certain suggestions may be made. Among them is the implementation of partial random sampling to ensure an accurate cross-section of the population. Another is the inclusion of questions that address the quality of respondent relationships as well as those that ask about suggestions for what the School could do to help students bolster relationships. Read More