A Study of the Habits of Full Time and Working Students - Research Proposal Example

A STUDY OF THE HABITS OF FULL TIME STUDENTS AND WORKING STUDENTS STUDENT’S NAME: INSTITUTION: INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: DATE: A study of the habits of full time student and working students Contemporary issues in business Due to the increase in the level of the economy, there are many strategies that people seek in order to secure a decent living. These strategies include the development of business and seeking employment; all are in the aim of earning at the end of the month and therefore having a decent living. One of the major impacts of increased economy is the need for young people to secure a job. The young in today’s generation have gone to the extent of doing several activities at a go. You find that most of the young who are employed are still in school and are, therefore, required to perform specific operations on the job and, on the other hand; they are suppose to show impressive performance in school. This is one of the contemporary issues in business because despite being in school, these young people would love to have the experience of being employed and earn their own money. They will, therefore, seek for jobs and begin earning to cater for other needs as the school fees and rent. This might seem quite overworking one’s brain, but you find that younger and employed people are students in many colleges undertaking either masters or degree programs. Research Problem The work environment has become dynamic, complex and competitive; therefore there is a need to reevaluate the way of doing business, standards and employee satisfaction. The current business trend underpins success on employee satisfaction. On the other hand, businesses demand to employ competent, young and skillful employees to work in their businesses. This is one of the driving forces of many employees who are studying and at the same time working. They are doing so because they want to meet the future demand of the needed workforce; they are upgrading their levels of education in order to create a competitive advantage in their work environment. There should be a concern on the habits of these students who work and study at the same time, a question may arise such as; i. Do they perform the same as full time students? ii. Do they attend all the lessons? iii. Do they concentrate in class? iv. Are they punctual in assignment completion? v. Do they engage in activities outside the classroom? All the above question contributes to my problem statement which is; a study of the habits of full time students and working students. The research proposal is a useful study, especially in the college department because it will help them to understand the habits of the student depending on the activities outside classroom and in this case working. Understanding these habits will help the student instructors to organize for programs that will help the working students to balance between working and attending classes. The study is also useful to the human resource managers in any organization. Since human resource is a department that caters for all the employees in the organization. This study will help them in understanding their employees better, and since the aim of working students is to improve their levels of education, the human resource should recognize the efforts of such employees and organize for the promotion. Research objectives General objective of the study a) The general objective of the study is to evaluate the habits of full time students and working students Specific objectives of the study To identify factors used by the instructors to award the working students (i) To establish the relationship between attending classes and job performance (ii) To examine the impacts of working on a student’s performance (iii) To find out the key driving factors of working while studying (iv) To examine the performance of full time students and the working students Justification of the study There is increasing the number of colleges that offer different courses and many people are rushing towards attaining higher levels of education. There is also a pressure in organizations where they demand highly qualified employees whereby they consider the levels of education. There is also a rise in the economy and hence rising costs of living which force people to work and at the same time studying. All these factors are aimed at job promotion, completing higher levels of education and improving the living standards. Research design Geographical Area Abu Dhabi is the largest city in the United Arabs Emirates; it is the largest of the seven other Emirates and has occupied the larger part geographically, and it takes almost 80% of the UAE area. It covers approximately 26,000 square miles and it is located on a T-shaped island along the Persian Gulf. The population of this city is about 1,600,000 persons, and it has a capital of approximately 630,000.the people in the city speak Arabic and English, and their religions consist of Muslim. The growth of Abu Dhabi was contributed by the discovery of massive oil, which resulted in the development of industries and other business related activities. Many people search for greener pastures in this place because they offer many job opportunities as a result of many businesses. Therefore, the most population of immigrants provides cheap labor to the Arabs, and it has led to people working while studying in this place. I will conduct my study in one of the industrial companies in Abu Dhabi. The purpose of choosing this place is because I will be able to get enough sample size for my study. I chose an industry because it offers most of part time jobs and, therefore, students who work get time to go for classes after completing their jobs. Industries also have a large number of people who work there to earn a living. I, therefore, chose this place because of the above advantages. Sample size Sample size refers to the chosen number of people upon which the study will be conducted. I have chosen a sample size of hundred people in the industry whereby I will carry out my study. These people will fill in the details of the questionnaire and will help me to find out the objectives of the study. The reason for choosing the sample size is because the results will be used to interpret the habits of overall working students. The results that will be obtained will be used as a representative of the total population. Another advantage of using a sample size is that of time saving because I will only use the sample to come into a conclusion; therefore, I will save more time than I could have used in studying the whole industrial area in Abu Dhabi. It could be tedious and time consuming, and also it could demand a lot of money. The sample size will consist of all the employees who study and work at the same time; it will consider those who do part time jobs, as well. The sample size will be obtained by visiting the industry and inquiring about those employees. The purpose of doing this is to find the exact number of the sample size and organize for the research study. Knowing the right sample size is advantageous because it helps in budgeting, for example, it helps in estimating the amount of money you are going to spend in carrying out the research. Sample size also helps in understanding the people you are going to deal with so as to be ready to answer the questions they will ask (Rebecca, 1998). Sampling method Sampling method is a research design that involves choosing the best method to use in the sample size that one has chosen. The sampling method is determined by the sample size so that if I have chosen to conduct my research on hundred people, I will, therefore, have to divide these people into a number that could be easy to conduct my study. Since they are hundred, I would divide them into five groups to form four main groups. The purpose of the division is to make my study work easier, and I will be able to cover all the sample size. I will, therefore, visit the industries and present my data collection material whereby the sample size will provide data. The best and convenient sampling method is on-line sampling method whereby I will rely on opinion polls from respondents; I will also look for opinions online at the habits of working students. From the sampling method we can say that I will rely on logic and judgment whereby I will use face to face conversation while collecting data, I will also use phone calls to contact my intended respondents. Data collection method Data collection method is the process of developing and choosing the appropriate medium for collecting data. There are two sources of data which are the primary source and a secondary source. For the primary source, I will choose a method that is convenient for my study and the one that will ensure I have obtained enough data for my result findings and analysis. A convenient data collection method is the one that uses minimal resources it will cost friendly, it is also a method that will be understood by all the sample population so that they will present data to their best, and finally it should be time saving because of the large number of sample size and also because I will be dealing with working people who do not have time to waste (Pawar, 2004.pg 60). The best data collection method that I will consider is the use of a questionnaire since it is the most convenient data collection instrument especially for people who do not have time for an interview. The reason for selecting the use of a questionnaire is because it is time saving, it costs friendly, and it is easy to understand the questions I will administer the questionnaire to the sample size and they will help me by filling in the details as per the question requirements. During the questionnaire administration, I will also ensure that the respondents understand the questions by elaborating to them where they feel they do not understand. Ethical considerations when collecting primary data Ensuring confidentiality of the respondents by explaining to them that the information gathered will be confidential and will only be used for the purpose of the study. Being neutral when administering questionnaires by attending to all the needs of the respondent, such as elaborates to them the meaning of some questions and guiding them on how to answer the questions. Ensuring punctuality since these respondents is busy and, therefore, visiting them at an inappropriate time will deter their desire to answer the questions. Respondents should be given a formal researcher introductory letter, introducing the researcher to them. Respondent’s participation will be voluntary without any manipulation Respondents view will be respected at all times For the secondary sources of data, I will obtain them from the human resource information room, statistics of employees and also from the college where I will review the performance of the two groups of students. Other relevant literature from a scholarly book will also contribute to the secondary data. Data Analysis The process of data analysis employs the methods that will be used to analyze the collected data so that interpretations could be drawn from the analyzed data. Data analysis is the basis for results, findings whereby I will use descriptive statistics to analyze the collected data and from the results; I will interpret and come out with the conclusion and recommendations for my study. After analyzing the data I will, therefore, use graphs, tables and charts to interpret the results, and this will give a clear view of the study (Michael, 2003). Using tables and graphs are the easiest way of understanding the interpretation and; therefore, it will be a convenient method of presenting the result findings. Therefore, my data will be analyzed quantitatively using descriptive methods. Report Format After collecting the data, it is, therefore, important to have the expected output of which it will be used when writing the report. The report format will therefore contain aspects such as; Research topic Problem statement General and specific objectives Area of study Target population Method of data collection Methods of data analysis Results findings and interpretations Conclusions and recommendations Timeline The timeline is a table I will organize so that I will arrange my days of data collection, analysis and interpretations. It will be used as a guideline for the whole research project. The table below shows my timeline and the activities to be carried out in each specific date. RESEARCH WORK PLAN ACTIVITY PERIOD (WEEKS) DATE Development of proposal 6 May- June 2014 Data collection 2 July 2014 Data cleaning, data coding, analysis and interpretation. 8 August-September 2014 Typing, Editing, Report writing and submission 1 October 2014 References Distribution, E. P. (2006, june 1st). Abu Dhabi: Live. Work. Explore. Travel, p. 623. Michael Berthold, D. J. (2003). Intelligent Data Analysis: An Introduction. springer. Murray, N. H. (2008). Writing Up Your University Assignments And Research Projects: A practical handbook. McGraw-Hill International. Pawar, M. S. (2004). Data Collecting Methods and Experiences: A Guide for Social Researchers. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Copyright. Rebecca Elliott, J. E. (1998). Painless Research Projects. Barron's Educational Series. Copyright.. Read More