Soc Research Survey Part B - Essay Example

no. Survey Exercise Part B Introduction: Most of the college in the United s not only needto handle their heavy workload from school, also they need to spend their time holding a job. School expenses, social interaction opportunity, and free time are the main reasons for the full-time students having both school and job in their busy schedule. How do these students balance between working and studying at the same time? Do students need to sacrifice their academics and devote time for holding a job? What are the strategies that students can balance between study and job? Students may be facing these questions right now or in the future. Therefore, this research investigated how the UCLA students who are also working full-time are handling challenges in one of the best educational institution in the world. Prior work support that gender is one of the reason that affect the academic performance. The study concentrated on the undergraduate students in University of Jordan, “where female students had higher G.P.A. in all areas of studies than males and this lead to the hypothesis that there is a difference in the academic performance between males and females” (Khwaileh and Zaza 638). Moreover, employment is another factor that Warren information can applies to UCLA students. Warren states that, “academic success of high-school working students, suggest that while working-students tend to receive lower grades in their classes, employment has no long-term effect on such academic performance” (Warren, LePore, and Mare 953). Hypothesis: UCLA full-time female students, who also work, perform academically better than full-time working male students do. Research Methods This study was conducted through interview where the participants (the targeted sample students) were provided with structured questionnaires. Notably, the research concentrated on different aspects on education, social, and work aspects of the participants; therefore, the questionnaires were structured differently leaving some questions open ended to give the participants easy understanding of the aspect inquired and they could easily provide answers. It is worth noting that the study aimed at determining the factors that leads to the difference in academic performance between female and male students who in full time employment and at the same time full time studying; in this cases, for equal representation, the research divided the its samples into two equal parts. With a sample of 50 participants, 25 female and 25 male participants were recruited for the study. Nonetheless, the study did not deploy random sampling; thus, affecting it reliability. The vital variables those were included in the questionnaire included gender, workload, and working hours. The questionnaire was structured as in the table below. Table 1: questionnaire Results a) b) frequency distributions Different data usually have different significance in the interpretation of the results. The frequency distribution table is significance since it shows the numerical breakdown for each response category. The percentages to this effect are expected to below 80%. c) Correlation Matrix; This shows the strength of relationship with absolute values expected to be within 0-1 range. Notably, these values usually have directionality (+ or -) between variables under analysis. Strong positive relationship usually occur above 0.2 values. d) Interitem Reliability (Chronbach's Alpha) This usually helps in determining measurements with the same concept. It also indicates the reliability of results and the most reliable values are usually obtained on results above 0.6. e) Test of Convergent Validity e) Hypothesis Testing This is determined using the bivariate statistics that indicates the relationship between variables, independent and dependent variable. For values prob>F usually provide significant relations and the same is used to determine whether to retain or rewrite the hypothesis. 1. Academic_ performance female 2. Academic_performance i.job_hours 3. Academic_ performance workload Discussion The main aim of this study is determine the actual relationship between the academics performances of the UCLA full-time female students to their counterparts full-time working male students. In understanding this relationship, the study deployed different variables of study including workload and duration of employment of the participants. All these variables were responded to as per table 1 above. The analyzed result of the study (frequency distribution table above (table b)) indicates that all the areas of research questions affected the participants approximately the same. From the data analysis, the correlation matrix usually indicates the relationship between variable. Moreover, the correlation values below 0.2 usually indicate strong relationship between directly linked variables and this is true for all variables in the study. For instance, the correlation matrix (table c) indicates that especially for the dept 4. This shows that many students, of both sexes, usually show up to classes when the class readings are already completed. This is a reflection that the targeted students usually have limited access to class sessions. However, it should be note that this study had weakness of representations since the samples were not selected randomly. The same is reflected in table d (Inter Item reliability). From the table, only two items have perfect or measurable inter item reliability indicated with alpha value above 0.6 and this is valid for preparation and attendance. From the same analysis, it is supposed that not all other inter-variable relationships are valid and should be rejected. Therefore, at this point, it would be advisable that the research to be repeated with random sampling for even representation. Additionally, the same effect of biasness is reflected in the open question testing where the means and frequencies differ significantly. Finally, it is vital to test for the hypothesis using numerical concepts, the bivariate statistics. This is the measure of two variables, dependent and independent variable. In this case, the hypothesis is maintained when prob>F which in this case = 0.4732. This indicates that hypothesis is valid. Therefore, from the results of the results of the study, it is appropriate to conclude that the UCLA full-time female students, who work and study, perform better academically than full-time working male students. Works Cited Khwaileh, Faisal M., and Haidari, Zaza. "Gender Differences In Academic Performance Among Undergraduates At The University Of Jordan: Are They Real Or Stereotyping?." CollegeStudent Journal 45.3 (2011): 633-648. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. Warren, John Robert, Paul C. LePore, and Robert D. Mare. "Employment during high school: Consequences for students' grades in academic courses." American Educational Research Journal 37.4 (2000): 943-969. Read More