GROUP: NAMELESS
Title : A study on why students sleep during lectures.
Date : 11 January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Koh Sihui, Leo Shumay, Jasmin Wong, Koh Shujuan, Heng Wei Jie, Melyssa Goh, Azzah
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why students sleep during lectures?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted online. The research takes a total of 9 weeks to complete. The research stretches from 1st November 2007 to 4th January 2008.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
We post a survey online and prompted our friends and people in a forum to participate in the survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=npYmzLP1ygMc2fHnoC6%2b40SWPS%2bA5Z8N%2fZPBSrhwAQY%3d
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
Noting relations between variables
Finding intervening variables
Clustering
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
(A) The top three conditions and causes that make students fall asleep during lecture are as follows:
Lecturers are boring and dull
42/66 students
63.6%
Lecture is too boring and dry
48/66 students
72.7%
Usually sleep late
40/66
60.6%
(i) Lecture is too boring and dry
From the survey, it is shown that the main reason why most students fall asleep in lectures is because the content is too boring and dry. Students feel that they are unable to concentrate in the lecture because they have no interest in the lecture at all. Sometimes when the lecture is too boring, students feel that it won’t benefit them therefore they deliberately fall asleep in order to “put their time to good use, since most of them have a lack of sleep.”
(ii) Teacher is too boring and dull
Students find that lecturers that are boring and dull cause them to lose focus on the lecture because the teacher is unable to capture their attention. Therefore this leads to many students’ mind drifting away from what the lecturer is talking about. Students also tend to sleep in lectures because they feel that it is the only extra time for them to sleep and that they would not be caught by lecturers since there are so many students in a lecture hall.
(iii) Usually sleep late
Sleeping late is another cause of why students fall asleep in lectures. The lack of sleep makes students feel lethargic during boring lectures. The lack of sleep is mainly caused by late night mugging and late night gaming. The lecture being dry and the lecturer being boring further tempts students to fall asleep during lecture on top of the fact that students are already feeling tired.
(B) How students react to their friends falling asleep in lectures are as follows:
Nudging them only when teacher approaches
36/66
54.5%
Ignore them
30/66
45.5%
(i) Nudging them only when the teacher approaches
Most students only nudge their friends only when the teacher is approaching because they do not want to disturb their friends from resting because they know that their friends are tired. They feel that if they wake their friends up, the friend may feel irritated with them. They nudge their friends only when the lecturer is approaching to “save” them from being scolded by the lecturer.
(ii) Just let them be
Many people just ignore their friends and let them carry on sleeping because they can’t be bothered to wake them up or because they know that the teacher would not bother about their friend. Another reason is because they know that their friend cannot be bothered to learn about what the lecturer is teaching about, so they ignore them.
(C) How teachers react to students falling asleep in lecture are as follows:
Ask someone to wake them up
44/66
66.7%
Ignore them
37/66
56.1%
(i) Ask someone else to wake them up
Most lecturers ask friends to wake them up because it is the easiest and most convenient way to wake the person up since this way the teacher doesn’t have to do it personally. It would take too much trouble to do so.
(ii) Ignore them
Especially for university lecturers, they tend to ignore the students because they feel that the students are already matured enough to know when they should sleep and when they should not, so they can’t be bothered with students who fall asleep. Some lecturers just cannot be bothered with students who fall asleep during lectures because they feel that they are not showing respect to the lecturer and they do not have the drive to learn.
(D) How to prevent one from falling asleep in lectures are as follows:
Sleep earlier
47/66
71.2%
Stop procrastinating
35/66
53.0%
(i) Sleep earlier
From the survey, it has been found that sleeping early will enable students to stay more alert during lectures, hence bringing down the chances of them dozing off during lectures. This is because sleeping early allow students to feel more refresh and awake the next day.
(ii) Stop procrastinating
Procrastinating in this context, refers to stoning at home in the middle of the night doing nothing at all or doing unimportant stuffs like watching television, listening to radio, surfing the internet (not for studying purposes, but for leisure purposes), etc. Students feel that if they spent less time doing these redundant and unnecessary stuffs, they would have more time for their sleep which will in turn make them more alert during lectures.
(E) Do students consider sleep as important?
36.3% of those being surveyed feels that sleep is important, because ultimately humans do have to sleep. Whereas 30.3% of those being surveyed feel that sleep is VERY important to them.
However, although many students feel that sleep is of utmost importance, majority of them have less than 8 hours of sleep per day, which is essentially the recommended hours of sleep a person should get every day.
Most students feel that less than 8 hours of sleep per day is insufficient to last them through the whole of the next day, and that they would definitely fall asleep again the next day. Be it during lectures, tutorials or any free time that they have during travelling, etc. But most of them feel that they don’t have a choice because their body really cannot take the lack of sleep.
DISCUSSION
From our research we can tell that students have the tendency to sleep when they are attending a lesson that they are not interested in or listening to lecturers they do not like. This mentality can be and should be changed. They should understand that paying attention to lessons is beneficial to themselves. They should try to like the module and accept the lecturer’s way of teaching as all lecturers have different teaching style. Also, they should find a way to avoid sleeping during lectures in future rather than adopt a ‘why bother?’ attitude.
CONCLUSION
To prevent students sleeping during lectures, there is a need to study the mentality of students and the reason why they have this tendency to sleep during lectures. From this study, we found out that most students sleep less than 8 hours per day and thus, leading to higher possibility to doze off during lectures. Also, lack of interest in the module and/or boring lecturers further give themselves an excuse to allow themselves from dozing off. To add on to this, some lecturers also do not find a need to wake the students up. Fortunately, that is the minority. Majority of the lecturers still do bother to ask classmates to wake them up. From here, we can tell that the mindset of the students should be changed. They should be more keen towards learning. Interest towards the module can only be improved with positive mindset. Also, more sleep is required to keep the students alert at all times.
17.1.08
An exploratory study of how students deal with rejection.
GROUP: HAPPIOLOGY
Title : An exploratory study of how students deal with rejection.
Date : 11th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Amelia Chung (0713847)
Alicia So (0645429)
Dawn Then (0745345)
Koo Li Yun (0738341)
Ling Rong Fa (0624367)
Hu Qui Ling (0735012)
Ter Teng Teng (0714794)
Noraien Jaini (0536099)
Valerie Tan (0764728)
Aim of the study
Our main aim of the study conducted was to the find out how youths deal with rejection in terms of interpersonal relationships. Ultimately, to further support the aim of the study, research questions posed by the group had to be answered.
The main research questions are as follows:
How do students respond to rejection? at first? Why?
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
After, we had conducted the interviews for our main and sub research questions, we obtained a wide collection of information. We have written data, videos and audios and these combine to give our interviews more credibility. Using the data collected, we did our analysis and reformatted the data, while maintaining its credibility. We analysed the data and used statistics to enhance our understanding of it. Besides that, we also categorised our data into two parts: the viewpoint of the rejecter and that of the rejected.
Findings
Data Analysis
Friends
Who/what did students seek refuge from after rejection?
Where did students obtain the courage to reject the other party?
Friends
Self-Reassurance
Themselves
Media
Others (e.g. food, retail therapy, sports)
Do the rejected parties still keep in contact with the rejecters?
Is rejection the best solution with regards to those who were the parties rejecting the other?
Yes
No-18%
No-50%
Discussion
Rejection is “the act or process of rejecting”, according to http://www.dictionary.com/ but to most of us, it is a sensitive issue that we fail to discuss regardless of whether we have been through it as the rejecter or the rejected. Why is that so? Most of us have been through various forms of rejection; the minor incidents (e.g. when you reject your friend when he/she asks you out) or major ones (e.g. you were rejected by your group of friends or rejection in the context of boy-girl relationships) or perhaps both for the unfortunate few. We have two options: to face up to rejection or to avoid it. The former requires a great amount of courage and perchance support from friends and/or family but will most probably enable one to get past the sorry state and move on, knowing that life is so much more than just rejection. The latter is sadly, what most people would do, regardless of what they say. The embarrassment of approaching the utmost sensitive topic of rejection and telling your loved ones of the entire episode may be too much to bear for some who choose to take the easy way out by forcing themselves to forget about it or to avoid thinking about it. Honestly ask yourself, is it possible to truly forget about the whole process of rejection simply by evading the issue? Absolutely not! This will give rise to a reverse effect and cause the parties involved to mull over the painful process with feelings of bitterness trapped in their hearts; not forgetting the resentment of the other party or even of oneself. We have conducted research to help people find better and more effective ways of moving on and getting over this agonizing process but ultimately, it is their choice to take it or to leave it.
Conclusion
Rejection is inevitable, regardless of how you may try to avoid or deny it. It is not about what we can do to prevent rejection, but how we can better cope with the aftermath of it that makes us a smarter and stronger person, maybe even wiser for some. Man has evolutionalised from the primitive caveman to today’s well-informed and educated individual who has access to the complicated technologies of today. Sadly, with all this knowledge, we have not been able to get in touch with our inner self and help improve our emotional state of health. Perhaps with all this globalization and rapid use of technology, we have even increased the pressure on our mental state of mind such that we have lost touch with ourselves and may not know who we truly are and the methods to rid ourselves of problems such as rejection. We hope to be able to tackle the problem of rejection whilst at a young age (schooling at educational institutes such as Singapore Polytechnic) and hopefully enable Singaporeans to have a stronger and more stable state of health.
Title : An exploratory study of how students deal with rejection.
Date : 11th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Amelia Chung (0713847)
Alicia So (0645429)
Dawn Then (0745345)
Koo Li Yun (0738341)
Ling Rong Fa (0624367)
Hu Qui Ling (0735012)
Ter Teng Teng (0714794)
Noraien Jaini (0536099)
Valerie Tan (0764728)
Aim of the study
Our main aim of the study conducted was to the find out how youths deal with rejection in terms of interpersonal relationships. Ultimately, to further support the aim of the study, research questions posed by the group had to be answered.
The main research questions are as follows:
How do students respond to rejection? at first? Why?
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
After, we had conducted the interviews for our main and sub research questions, we obtained a wide collection of information. We have written data, videos and audios and these combine to give our interviews more credibility. Using the data collected, we did our analysis and reformatted the data, while maintaining its credibility. We analysed the data and used statistics to enhance our understanding of it. Besides that, we also categorised our data into two parts: the viewpoint of the rejecter and that of the rejected.
Findings
Data Analysis
Friends
Who/what did students seek refuge from after rejection?
Where did students obtain the courage to reject the other party?
Friends
Self-Reassurance
Themselves
Media
Others (e.g. food, retail therapy, sports)
Do the rejected parties still keep in contact with the rejecters?
Is rejection the best solution with regards to those who were the parties rejecting the other?
Yes
No-18%
No-50%
Discussion
Rejection is “the act or process of rejecting”, according to http://www.dictionary.com/ but to most of us, it is a sensitive issue that we fail to discuss regardless of whether we have been through it as the rejecter or the rejected. Why is that so? Most of us have been through various forms of rejection; the minor incidents (e.g. when you reject your friend when he/she asks you out) or major ones (e.g. you were rejected by your group of friends or rejection in the context of boy-girl relationships) or perhaps both for the unfortunate few. We have two options: to face up to rejection or to avoid it. The former requires a great amount of courage and perchance support from friends and/or family but will most probably enable one to get past the sorry state and move on, knowing that life is so much more than just rejection. The latter is sadly, what most people would do, regardless of what they say. The embarrassment of approaching the utmost sensitive topic of rejection and telling your loved ones of the entire episode may be too much to bear for some who choose to take the easy way out by forcing themselves to forget about it or to avoid thinking about it. Honestly ask yourself, is it possible to truly forget about the whole process of rejection simply by evading the issue? Absolutely not! This will give rise to a reverse effect and cause the parties involved to mull over the painful process with feelings of bitterness trapped in their hearts; not forgetting the resentment of the other party or even of oneself. We have conducted research to help people find better and more effective ways of moving on and getting over this agonizing process but ultimately, it is their choice to take it or to leave it.
Conclusion
Rejection is inevitable, regardless of how you may try to avoid or deny it. It is not about what we can do to prevent rejection, but how we can better cope with the aftermath of it that makes us a smarter and stronger person, maybe even wiser for some. Man has evolutionalised from the primitive caveman to today’s well-informed and educated individual who has access to the complicated technologies of today. Sadly, with all this knowledge, we have not been able to get in touch with our inner self and help improve our emotional state of health. Perhaps with all this globalization and rapid use of technology, we have even increased the pressure on our mental state of mind such that we have lost touch with ourselves and may not know who we truly are and the methods to rid ourselves of problems such as rejection. We hope to be able to tackle the problem of rejection whilst at a young age (schooling at educational institutes such as Singapore Polytechnic) and hopefully enable Singaporeans to have a stronger and more stable state of health.
An exploratory study of students treating Singapore Polytechnic T16 “white space” as a Gaming Hub instead of Study Hub.
GROUP: HACHI NO ROUNIN
Title : An exploratory study of students treating Singapore Polytechnic T16
“white space” as a Gaming Hub instead of Study Hub.
Date : 11th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Khoo Sin Yee (P0510929), You KaiFa (P0620545), Lai Wei Xian (P0656708), Ng Boon Choon (P0643878), Teo Yu Tian (P0749352), Woo Pi Chin Elvina (P0732853), Chin Ying Glenda (P0725015), Adilah Binte Mohamed Fadali (P0716332)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do students treat Singapore Polytechnic T16 “white space” as a gaming hub instead of a study hub?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The various research subjects are interviewed and observed in different venues, such as T16 “white space” for the interviewing and observing of gaming and non-gaming students, School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering conference room for the interview of Head of Lecturer, as well as W1A for the interview of Estates officer. The research takes a total of nine weeks to complete. The research stretches from 16th November 2007 to 11th January 2008.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Non-participant observation of the group of students in T16 “white space”, taking a total of two observation sessions of fifteen minutes each. An example of an observation in this study is shown in Appendix A.
b) Selected informal open-ended interviews of the various research subjects, which comprise of three groups of gaming students, three groups of non-gaming students, School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of Lecturer, and Estates Department officer. We took an average of fifteen minutes for each interview. An example of an interview in this study is shown in Appendix B.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding.
b) Noting themes and patterns.
c) Noting relations between variables
d) Seeing plausibility
e) Finding intervening variables
f) Clustering.
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
A) The 2 major groups of interviewees are the students and the School.
i) Students
a. Gamers.
The factors constituting students choosing to game at T16 “white space” are as follows:
· School of Electrical Electronic and Engineering (EEE) students
· School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (MM) students
Through the interviews, distance, environment and cost are factors that gaming students take into consideration when choosing their place to game. Since majority of the gamers are from School of EEE and School of MM, they prefer to game at T16 instead of Moberly which is intended for gaming, as the distant is comparatively shorter. For the environment, air-conditioned place is more favourable due to the higher comfort level. Thus, from the limited choices of air-conditioned places in school available for access (Main Library, Moberly, T16 “white space”), T16 has appear to them as the most convenient place amongst all air-conditioned areas. This may be attributable to the nature of the library, where strict rules are imposed such as no making of loud noise is allowed. Thus, it makes much more sense for them to game at a place that is free from restrictions. In addition, the availability of the power plugs make T16 an even more attractive place to game, as it is observed that majority of the gamers rely on the laptop adaptor rather than the battery during their gaming period. The cost factor constitutes the main reason for gaming students for not patronising the LAN shop in Moberly. Gamers are required to make monetary payments on an hourly basis, and being students with limited pocket money, majority are unwilling to pay to game there when they can choose to play from their laptops without any charges.
· School of Media and Infocomm Technology (SMIT) students
For SMIT gamers who game at T16, they share the same mentality that T16 is convenient for meeting up with friends studying in the various schools before proceeding to the Dover MRT station. I infer that they do not game in their school areas much as it seemed to be more for studies’ purposes.
(The above findings answers the specific research question ‘Why of all places you choose to game at this place?’)
b. Non-Gamers
· School of Electrical Electronic and Engineering (EEE) students
· School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (MM) students
· School of Media and Infocomm Technology (SMIT) students
Having known the reasons behind students treating T16 as a Gaming Hub instead of a Study Hub, we are also interested to find out the motivation behind non-gaming students continuing to study at the place in spite of the noise.
Despite the varying responses given by the non-students, the interviews revealed the common consensus that majority feel that the problem is not significant. Some choose to be ignorant to the surroundings, with the perception that they are unable to do much to control the noise level. A part of them feel that all places bound to have distractions, so focusing on individual work will divert their attention from the surroundings. Hence, they think that there is no pressing need to urge the gamers to leave the studying hub or reflect the issue to the school’s management for further actions. This may be attributable to the groupthink of students who have the common attitude of not bothering about others or standing up for their own rights. Another reason for students choosing to study at T16 is due to the comparatively more conducive area as compared to other areas in school. This may be as a result of the presence of air-conditioning, tables and wireless network needed for academic use. Thus, the need for proper facilities has overpowers their concerns regarding the noise level created by gaming students. Nevertheless, a minority feel that the gamers should be self-conscious by not creating noise that may possibly distracts students who are studying. As for SMIT non-gaming students, their usual study areas are School of Business library or SMIT basement areas. They are aware of the noise situation at T16, and thus feel that it is not a conducive place for studying.
ii) The School
The school has a part to play for managing the situation at T16. Interviews have also been conducted on the following two groups to find out the respective opinions on this issue.
a. Management
We have specified the management to be the Singapore Polytechnic Estates Department, as T16 is under the control of them. The objective of interviewing them is to understand their stance with regards to the situation at T16, and whether they have any plans to improve it. During the ten minute phone interview, the Estates Department Officer has repeatedly emphasized that they will take actions if students are disturbing the place. Nevertheless, he also feels that students should be treated as adults and be given the freedom to manage their own conduct. Thus, it is inferred that the school management is adopting a laid-back attitude towards managing students’ behaviours.
Please refer to Appendix C for the transcript of this interview.
b. Lecturers
Below depicts a fifteen minute interview with the School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of lecturer. An interpretation of his replies is given on the right column.
Verbal
Interpretation
Interviewer
Is T16 under the management of School of MM?
Respondent
· “Management School of MM don’t manage the white space, although it’s located at Block 16.”
· “White space is a resource room. All resources in polytechnics are control by Estates.”
· “Blocks are managed by Estates but allocated to MM for timetabling.”
· “MM’s Management has got no control over it.”
He is clearly drawing a line on the responsibilities between Estate and School of MM. Probably because he is aware that our interviewing purpose is concern with the situation at “white space” and therefore is in a rush to clarify it right from the beginning of the interview.
Interviewer
So far has any student feedback to the School of MM?
Respondent
· “One of the students sent an email saying students are disturbing, making a lot of noise. MM Management quickly informed Estates, “Eh Estates, you must put up some reminders la, we cannot go there and –very difficult for us la—we cannot go there like policeman and ‘eh what are you doing there? You doing proper thing not? Don’t make noise,’ I mean, students see us they’ll keep quiet, you know,”
· “Cannot put security guard down there, so we call Estates to put up signs there. That’s the best they can do.”
He is illustrating that School of MM has play its part in dealing with the situation at “white space”. Probably wanting to let us know they have already contributed efforts but there is limited result. On the other hand, School of MM is perhaps afraid of playing the “bad guy” role and thereby straining the relationship with its students. Thus, issues concerning students’ discipline they will either “close one eye” or leave it to Estate to resolve it. Yet, they also understand that Estates could not help much in curbing the situation of students playing LAN games and making a lot of noise.
Interviewer
Has the school tried to do anything regarding the issue?
Respondent
· “We cannot do very much about personal actions. Not say cannot do very much…like if students feedback to us through emails, we can only put up posters.”
· “Other than that, if students chose to drink coffee, milo there, we cannot do very much unless students play football and others complain then we’ll call security guards down to check.”
School of MM has limited control over students’ personal actions like being inconsiderate and makes noise, play audio using loud speakers and not using headphones, using the area to play LAN games instead of studying.
Unless it is concern with serious matters or violating of school rules, they will not put its hands into disciplining the students.
Respondent
· “So far, we presume that students are making full use of white space. Have to make assumption what, correct…”
· “So far, in terms of rowdiness all that, it’s still alright. We have to assume certain norms and certain practices in Poly.”
He reiterated this point about assuming certain norms and practices of students. This further verifies that the school adopted a “close one eye” approach in students’ discipline. They assume students will follow the rules and therefore unwilling to bother much about it.
Respondent
· “Management really don’t have solution because they’re in the academic department.”
The truth is that the school’s management is in a difficult position in dealing with students’ behaviours, as their focus and responsibility is on academic.
Interviewer
What are some possible solutions you think is feasible to improve the situation?
Respondent
· “What we can do is maybe to suggest classing tutors, reminding students that when using white space there, it’s meant for study purposes; but how much would go into the students’ mind?”
· “Students have to be discipline and be more conscious about the environment.
· “The only way to cultivate these people is to be more conscious about their neighbour, we’re all in a community.”
· “Not easy to cultivate just by going to classes and preach.
· “Could be inherent in Character Development to teach students to be conscious about the community.”
He is providing some possible solutions to curb the situation, but on a later note realize himself that it is not exactly effective, as students tend to be defiant.
He felt that students should have the right attitude in behaving.
By being conscious about the environment- probably he is referring to by being considerate not to disturb others while in the stud zone.
One solution that on the academic department side they can help to play a part in.
·
· “You all observe yourselves la, hahahaha…I mean, don’t quote me la,”
Probably he is afraid of implicating himself into unnecessary problems and therefore repeated twice throughout the interview that we do not reveal his identity for whatever that was said.
·
· “I would say the situation at T16 is still manageable.”
· “Many times, suggests from students are more effective. Students’ feedbacks are very important.”
By now, he is summarizing his points.
Before he ended, he prompts us to voice out our concerns to the school through the feedback channels. Probably he understands that as lecturers they would not want implicate themselves into such complicating issues. Thus, students should stand out to improve the school situation.
B) Two categories of reactant behaviours employed by the students and the school evolve from this study. They are named as the categories of delusive behaviours and resistant behaviours respectively. The first part of research study answers the specific research question ‘How do the students feel upon the gamers breaching the rules and disturbing others who are genuine in studying?
i) Delusive Behaviour
Delusive behaviour is mainly categorized as self-deluding behaviours.
Self Deluding Behaviours
Refusal to be considerate
This section refers to gaming students, who predominantly are aware of the rules to oblige with when using the facilities in the study hub. The most basic one is to be conscious of the noise level, as the study hub is meant for studying purposes and silence is the foremost condition required for concentration. Some students are ignorant, and refuse to cooperate by lowering the sound produced from the laptop, or by using headphone while gaming. This has led to the rampant outspread of more students creating noise due to the diffusion of responsibility. They feel that given the considerable number of students gaming there, they have less faults and responsibility to be blamed for contributing to the noise level.
Gaming is for releasing stress
Majority of the gamers feel that gaming is a way to release stress from their school work and projects. Hence, they usually game after school or during breaks. In their opinion, “Studying must go with play, you can’t study without play.” It actually shows how that gaming to them is an enjoyment and a breather from their studies which is also why they show no qualms in gaming in T16.
Refusal to game at Moberly
Gamers have the choice to game at Moberly LAN shop, which is specifically intended to provide a form of relaxation for students after their stressful school hours. Yet, due to their laziness to walk the distance, they choose to game at their best convenience – T16.
ii) Resistant behaviours
Resistant behaviours are categorised into two groups – independent resistance and influencing resistance.
Independent Resistance
Refusal to take strict actions against gaming students
This section is referring to the school’s management, specifically Estates Department Officer who is in charge of T16. Given his personal responsibility, he should be ensuring that the school’s facilities are use for the right purpose. With students abusing the privileges of an air-conditioned study hub, he ought to impose stricter rules to curb the situation for the benefits of students who want to study there.
Influencing Resistance
Distractions creation
Some gaming students set out to create distractions in the study hub. They may make noise, talk to other gaming playmates, and play the sound out from their laptop at full volume to experience the thrill of the game. These activities usually disrupt the process of learning as required by non-gaming students, as concentration and silence are of utmost importance for studying.
Promoting overt non study activities
Such gaming students will try to influence their peers to adopt their stance for gaming. They try to influence other students to game at T16, or encourage them to participate in group playing even the self-exclaimed break times to release stress after studying. These moments are usually opportunistic where such gaming students make calculated moves of certain situations to achieve their aim.
DISCUSSION
Students, lecturers, estates officer
From a social psychological viewpoint, students choose to abuse the privileges of a conducive environment for studying in the “white space” because it has become a norm for students’ to game there. Given the increasing number of students who game there, there is diffusion of responsibility as it has become a groupthink among the gaming students that they are simply replicating what the rest are doing. The interviews revealed that students are aware of original intended purpose of the ‘white space’, which is a student study hub. However, due to the tremendous pressure and stress on students attributable to the presence of societal standards in the Singapore education system, students turn to the virtual worlds to release their stress. They game for purpose of releasing their stress after the intensive studying. Nevertheless, only a minority feel this way. Most of them choose to game at ‘white space’ due to the convenience of facilities needed for gaming (such as wireless, power points, air-conditioners). They feel that the ease of such facilities make it a prime location for gaming, as the room is comfortable and no monetary payment is required unlike gaming at Moberly Hub.
As for non-gaming students, some of them hold a prejudice view towards the gamers, with the perception that they are attributable to the noise level in the studying hub. This may not be true as a few considerate gamers actually use headphones while playing instead of projecting the sound out from the laptop. This has led to unsatisfied students creating negative unpleasant emotions in them, as they feel that the gamers are creating disturbance and occupying studying seats. In addition, they feel that the school’s management should not remain unconcerned as the situation may go beyond control should the gaming persists.
As for the lecturers, they have taken a bystander approach with regards to the issues at T16. This is especially evident as the interview with the School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of Lecturer revealed that the school has chosen to leave it to the Estates Department to handle situations of students misusing the facilities at T16. Lecturers also presumed that persuasion will not attribute any effect to gaming students to stop their behaviours, and that explains the reason for lecturers to assume a group norm whereby students are presumed to be using the ‘white space’ for the right purpose.
We learnt that the Estates Department has tried to engage in strategies to counter the situation, such as by putting up signs to remind students that the ‘white space’ is a study hub. However, it seems to be ineffectual as students continue to game there.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we get to know about how the lecturers and managements look at the current polytechnic students; by treating them as young adults, and hence expecting them to behave in a manner that they should be. However, we also get to know that the polytechnic students may not think the same way as the lecturers and management. Hence, it is necessary in knowing the needs of the students, which allow the lecturers and managements to handle the matter more efficiently, and resolve or improve the current situation. Nevertheless, the students must also do their part by respecting the given rules and be more considerate and mindful. In summary, in order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly.
Title : An exploratory study of students treating Singapore Polytechnic T16
“white space” as a Gaming Hub instead of Study Hub.
Date : 11th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Khoo Sin Yee (P0510929), You KaiFa (P0620545), Lai Wei Xian (P0656708), Ng Boon Choon (P0643878), Teo Yu Tian (P0749352), Woo Pi Chin Elvina (P0732853), Chin Ying Glenda (P0725015), Adilah Binte Mohamed Fadali (P0716332)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do students treat Singapore Polytechnic T16 “white space” as a gaming hub instead of a study hub?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The various research subjects are interviewed and observed in different venues, such as T16 “white space” for the interviewing and observing of gaming and non-gaming students, School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering conference room for the interview of Head of Lecturer, as well as W1A for the interview of Estates officer. The research takes a total of nine weeks to complete. The research stretches from 16th November 2007 to 11th January 2008.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Non-participant observation of the group of students in T16 “white space”, taking a total of two observation sessions of fifteen minutes each. An example of an observation in this study is shown in Appendix A.
b) Selected informal open-ended interviews of the various research subjects, which comprise of three groups of gaming students, three groups of non-gaming students, School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of Lecturer, and Estates Department officer. We took an average of fifteen minutes for each interview. An example of an interview in this study is shown in Appendix B.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding.
b) Noting themes and patterns.
c) Noting relations between variables
d) Seeing plausibility
e) Finding intervening variables
f) Clustering.
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
A) The 2 major groups of interviewees are the students and the School.
i) Students
a. Gamers.
The factors constituting students choosing to game at T16 “white space” are as follows:
· School of Electrical Electronic and Engineering (EEE) students
· School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (MM) students
Through the interviews, distance, environment and cost are factors that gaming students take into consideration when choosing their place to game. Since majority of the gamers are from School of EEE and School of MM, they prefer to game at T16 instead of Moberly which is intended for gaming, as the distant is comparatively shorter. For the environment, air-conditioned place is more favourable due to the higher comfort level. Thus, from the limited choices of air-conditioned places in school available for access (Main Library, Moberly, T16 “white space”), T16 has appear to them as the most convenient place amongst all air-conditioned areas. This may be attributable to the nature of the library, where strict rules are imposed such as no making of loud noise is allowed. Thus, it makes much more sense for them to game at a place that is free from restrictions. In addition, the availability of the power plugs make T16 an even more attractive place to game, as it is observed that majority of the gamers rely on the laptop adaptor rather than the battery during their gaming period. The cost factor constitutes the main reason for gaming students for not patronising the LAN shop in Moberly. Gamers are required to make monetary payments on an hourly basis, and being students with limited pocket money, majority are unwilling to pay to game there when they can choose to play from their laptops without any charges.
· School of Media and Infocomm Technology (SMIT) students
For SMIT gamers who game at T16, they share the same mentality that T16 is convenient for meeting up with friends studying in the various schools before proceeding to the Dover MRT station. I infer that they do not game in their school areas much as it seemed to be more for studies’ purposes.
(The above findings answers the specific research question ‘Why of all places you choose to game at this place?’)
b. Non-Gamers
· School of Electrical Electronic and Engineering (EEE) students
· School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (MM) students
· School of Media and Infocomm Technology (SMIT) students
Having known the reasons behind students treating T16 as a Gaming Hub instead of a Study Hub, we are also interested to find out the motivation behind non-gaming students continuing to study at the place in spite of the noise.
Despite the varying responses given by the non-students, the interviews revealed the common consensus that majority feel that the problem is not significant. Some choose to be ignorant to the surroundings, with the perception that they are unable to do much to control the noise level. A part of them feel that all places bound to have distractions, so focusing on individual work will divert their attention from the surroundings. Hence, they think that there is no pressing need to urge the gamers to leave the studying hub or reflect the issue to the school’s management for further actions. This may be attributable to the groupthink of students who have the common attitude of not bothering about others or standing up for their own rights. Another reason for students choosing to study at T16 is due to the comparatively more conducive area as compared to other areas in school. This may be as a result of the presence of air-conditioning, tables and wireless network needed for academic use. Thus, the need for proper facilities has overpowers their concerns regarding the noise level created by gaming students. Nevertheless, a minority feel that the gamers should be self-conscious by not creating noise that may possibly distracts students who are studying. As for SMIT non-gaming students, their usual study areas are School of Business library or SMIT basement areas. They are aware of the noise situation at T16, and thus feel that it is not a conducive place for studying.
ii) The School
The school has a part to play for managing the situation at T16. Interviews have also been conducted on the following two groups to find out the respective opinions on this issue.
a. Management
We have specified the management to be the Singapore Polytechnic Estates Department, as T16 is under the control of them. The objective of interviewing them is to understand their stance with regards to the situation at T16, and whether they have any plans to improve it. During the ten minute phone interview, the Estates Department Officer has repeatedly emphasized that they will take actions if students are disturbing the place. Nevertheless, he also feels that students should be treated as adults and be given the freedom to manage their own conduct. Thus, it is inferred that the school management is adopting a laid-back attitude towards managing students’ behaviours.
Please refer to Appendix C for the transcript of this interview.
b. Lecturers
Below depicts a fifteen minute interview with the School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of lecturer. An interpretation of his replies is given on the right column.
Verbal
Interpretation
Interviewer
Is T16 under the management of School of MM?
Respondent
· “Management School of MM don’t manage the white space, although it’s located at Block 16.”
· “White space is a resource room. All resources in polytechnics are control by Estates.”
· “Blocks are managed by Estates but allocated to MM for timetabling.”
· “MM’s Management has got no control over it.”
He is clearly drawing a line on the responsibilities between Estate and School of MM. Probably because he is aware that our interviewing purpose is concern with the situation at “white space” and therefore is in a rush to clarify it right from the beginning of the interview.
Interviewer
So far has any student feedback to the School of MM?
Respondent
· “One of the students sent an email saying students are disturbing, making a lot of noise. MM Management quickly informed Estates, “Eh Estates, you must put up some reminders la, we cannot go there and –very difficult for us la—we cannot go there like policeman and ‘eh what are you doing there? You doing proper thing not? Don’t make noise,’ I mean, students see us they’ll keep quiet, you know,”
· “Cannot put security guard down there, so we call Estates to put up signs there. That’s the best they can do.”
He is illustrating that School of MM has play its part in dealing with the situation at “white space”. Probably wanting to let us know they have already contributed efforts but there is limited result. On the other hand, School of MM is perhaps afraid of playing the “bad guy” role and thereby straining the relationship with its students. Thus, issues concerning students’ discipline they will either “close one eye” or leave it to Estate to resolve it. Yet, they also understand that Estates could not help much in curbing the situation of students playing LAN games and making a lot of noise.
Interviewer
Has the school tried to do anything regarding the issue?
Respondent
· “We cannot do very much about personal actions. Not say cannot do very much…like if students feedback to us through emails, we can only put up posters.”
· “Other than that, if students chose to drink coffee, milo there, we cannot do very much unless students play football and others complain then we’ll call security guards down to check.”
School of MM has limited control over students’ personal actions like being inconsiderate and makes noise, play audio using loud speakers and not using headphones, using the area to play LAN games instead of studying.
Unless it is concern with serious matters or violating of school rules, they will not put its hands into disciplining the students.
Respondent
· “So far, we presume that students are making full use of white space. Have to make assumption what, correct…”
· “So far, in terms of rowdiness all that, it’s still alright. We have to assume certain norms and certain practices in Poly.”
He reiterated this point about assuming certain norms and practices of students. This further verifies that the school adopted a “close one eye” approach in students’ discipline. They assume students will follow the rules and therefore unwilling to bother much about it.
Respondent
· “Management really don’t have solution because they’re in the academic department.”
The truth is that the school’s management is in a difficult position in dealing with students’ behaviours, as their focus and responsibility is on academic.
Interviewer
What are some possible solutions you think is feasible to improve the situation?
Respondent
· “What we can do is maybe to suggest classing tutors, reminding students that when using white space there, it’s meant for study purposes; but how much would go into the students’ mind?”
· “Students have to be discipline and be more conscious about the environment.
· “The only way to cultivate these people is to be more conscious about their neighbour, we’re all in a community.”
· “Not easy to cultivate just by going to classes and preach.
· “Could be inherent in Character Development to teach students to be conscious about the community.”
He is providing some possible solutions to curb the situation, but on a later note realize himself that it is not exactly effective, as students tend to be defiant.
He felt that students should have the right attitude in behaving.
By being conscious about the environment- probably he is referring to by being considerate not to disturb others while in the stud zone.
One solution that on the academic department side they can help to play a part in.
·
· “You all observe yourselves la, hahahaha…I mean, don’t quote me la,”
Probably he is afraid of implicating himself into unnecessary problems and therefore repeated twice throughout the interview that we do not reveal his identity for whatever that was said.
·
· “I would say the situation at T16 is still manageable.”
· “Many times, suggests from students are more effective. Students’ feedbacks are very important.”
By now, he is summarizing his points.
Before he ended, he prompts us to voice out our concerns to the school through the feedback channels. Probably he understands that as lecturers they would not want implicate themselves into such complicating issues. Thus, students should stand out to improve the school situation.
B) Two categories of reactant behaviours employed by the students and the school evolve from this study. They are named as the categories of delusive behaviours and resistant behaviours respectively. The first part of research study answers the specific research question ‘How do the students feel upon the gamers breaching the rules and disturbing others who are genuine in studying?
i) Delusive Behaviour
Delusive behaviour is mainly categorized as self-deluding behaviours.
Self Deluding Behaviours
Refusal to be considerate
This section refers to gaming students, who predominantly are aware of the rules to oblige with when using the facilities in the study hub. The most basic one is to be conscious of the noise level, as the study hub is meant for studying purposes and silence is the foremost condition required for concentration. Some students are ignorant, and refuse to cooperate by lowering the sound produced from the laptop, or by using headphone while gaming. This has led to the rampant outspread of more students creating noise due to the diffusion of responsibility. They feel that given the considerable number of students gaming there, they have less faults and responsibility to be blamed for contributing to the noise level.
Gaming is for releasing stress
Majority of the gamers feel that gaming is a way to release stress from their school work and projects. Hence, they usually game after school or during breaks. In their opinion, “Studying must go with play, you can’t study without play.” It actually shows how that gaming to them is an enjoyment and a breather from their studies which is also why they show no qualms in gaming in T16.
Refusal to game at Moberly
Gamers have the choice to game at Moberly LAN shop, which is specifically intended to provide a form of relaxation for students after their stressful school hours. Yet, due to their laziness to walk the distance, they choose to game at their best convenience – T16.
ii) Resistant behaviours
Resistant behaviours are categorised into two groups – independent resistance and influencing resistance.
Independent Resistance
Refusal to take strict actions against gaming students
This section is referring to the school’s management, specifically Estates Department Officer who is in charge of T16. Given his personal responsibility, he should be ensuring that the school’s facilities are use for the right purpose. With students abusing the privileges of an air-conditioned study hub, he ought to impose stricter rules to curb the situation for the benefits of students who want to study there.
Influencing Resistance
Distractions creation
Some gaming students set out to create distractions in the study hub. They may make noise, talk to other gaming playmates, and play the sound out from their laptop at full volume to experience the thrill of the game. These activities usually disrupt the process of learning as required by non-gaming students, as concentration and silence are of utmost importance for studying.
Promoting overt non study activities
Such gaming students will try to influence their peers to adopt their stance for gaming. They try to influence other students to game at T16, or encourage them to participate in group playing even the self-exclaimed break times to release stress after studying. These moments are usually opportunistic where such gaming students make calculated moves of certain situations to achieve their aim.
DISCUSSION
Students, lecturers, estates officer
From a social psychological viewpoint, students choose to abuse the privileges of a conducive environment for studying in the “white space” because it has become a norm for students’ to game there. Given the increasing number of students who game there, there is diffusion of responsibility as it has become a groupthink among the gaming students that they are simply replicating what the rest are doing. The interviews revealed that students are aware of original intended purpose of the ‘white space’, which is a student study hub. However, due to the tremendous pressure and stress on students attributable to the presence of societal standards in the Singapore education system, students turn to the virtual worlds to release their stress. They game for purpose of releasing their stress after the intensive studying. Nevertheless, only a minority feel this way. Most of them choose to game at ‘white space’ due to the convenience of facilities needed for gaming (such as wireless, power points, air-conditioners). They feel that the ease of such facilities make it a prime location for gaming, as the room is comfortable and no monetary payment is required unlike gaming at Moberly Hub.
As for non-gaming students, some of them hold a prejudice view towards the gamers, with the perception that they are attributable to the noise level in the studying hub. This may not be true as a few considerate gamers actually use headphones while playing instead of projecting the sound out from the laptop. This has led to unsatisfied students creating negative unpleasant emotions in them, as they feel that the gamers are creating disturbance and occupying studying seats. In addition, they feel that the school’s management should not remain unconcerned as the situation may go beyond control should the gaming persists.
As for the lecturers, they have taken a bystander approach with regards to the issues at T16. This is especially evident as the interview with the School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Head of Lecturer revealed that the school has chosen to leave it to the Estates Department to handle situations of students misusing the facilities at T16. Lecturers also presumed that persuasion will not attribute any effect to gaming students to stop their behaviours, and that explains the reason for lecturers to assume a group norm whereby students are presumed to be using the ‘white space’ for the right purpose.
We learnt that the Estates Department has tried to engage in strategies to counter the situation, such as by putting up signs to remind students that the ‘white space’ is a study hub. However, it seems to be ineffectual as students continue to game there.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we get to know about how the lecturers and managements look at the current polytechnic students; by treating them as young adults, and hence expecting them to behave in a manner that they should be. However, we also get to know that the polytechnic students may not think the same way as the lecturers and management. Hence, it is necessary in knowing the needs of the students, which allow the lecturers and managements to handle the matter more efficiently, and resolve or improve the current situation. Nevertheless, the students must also do their part by respecting the given rules and be more considerate and mindful. In summary, in order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly.
An exploratory study of the behaviours of students who turn up late for lessons in Singapore Polytechnic.
GROUP: FORTIS UNION
Title : An exploratory study of the behaviours of students who turn up late for lessons in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 9th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Muhammad Rizwan Bin Radzali (0610890),
Goh MingRui Marie (0628118),
Ng Weijun Luke (0649618),
Gurubalan S/O Nadarajan (0746429),
Koh Yu Ling Eileen (0745709),
Ang Jingshi (0731641),
Ye Yun Hong (0661333),
Gabriel (0716639)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do many students in Singapore Polytechnic turn up late for lessons?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of three weeks to complete. The research stretches from 14th November 2007 to 5th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Non participant observation of the twenty students in a class (first lesson of the day at 8am), taking a total of 4 observation sessions of 45 minutes each.
b) Selected informal open-ended interviews of the twenty students taking an average of 15 minutes per interviews.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding. Examples of open coding of an observation and interview are shown in Appendix C.
b) Noting relations between variables.
c) Clustering.
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) The conditions and the causes that evoke students turning up late for lessons are as follows:
i) Types of lecturers
In this study, it is shown that unconcerned and uncaring lecturers always evoke late coming on the participants in this study. They feel that their lecturers do not bother about their punctuality in attending a lesson. When this happens, the students will tend to create a bad habit of constantly turning up late for lessons. Most of the students also would also expect the lecture given would be boring, thus they prefer to attend the lesson at a later time so that they will not doze off halfway through the lecture.
ii) Types of friends
Friends also play an important role which causes students to take the habit of turning up late for lessons lightly or even treating it as ‘part of life’ theory. This is especially so when they encounter friends who are usually late for lesson and behaving, as it is all right to be late, without having good or even proper reason to do so. These peers make them feel normal for being late and thus further normalizing their attitude for being late.
iii) Types of behaviour
Three categories of behaviours are employed by late coming students evolve from this study. They are named as the categories of procrastinating behaviours, delusive behaviours and resistant behaviours respectively in this study.
1) Procrastinating Behaviours
Procrastinating behaviours are subdivided into self-procrastinating behaviours and group procrastinating behaviours.
Self-procrastinating behaviours
Continue to be late for lessons
After apologising, a number of the late coming students will still carry on to be late over the semester. These may include waking up late, strolling to school, taking own sweet time before heading down to school, taking a longer bus ride even though its possible to access the shorter ones and went to buy breakfast or drinks before entering the class.
Group procrastinating behaviours
Deliberating coming late for lesson
On a number of occasions, especially within a group, they will tend to wait for one another at the train station or bus stop even though it is late. They will tend to go and get a bite or a drink before entering class. This is more frequent whenever, it is between lunch breaks or even short breaks in between lessons.
2) Delusive Behaviours
Self Deluding Behaviours
Refusal to admit errors
There are instances that the late coming students would be pointed out that some of the travelling time could be improved or even change. However, the late coming students will usually refuse to acknowledge it by refuting or ignoring them.
3) Resistant Behaviours
Resistant behaviours are categorised into two groups – independent resistance and influencing resistance.
Independent Resistance
Refusal to come early
When given a choice and chance to come early, road and time planned for the students, such students will not take it into consideration at all. They are also ready to take any admonishments or punishments meted out by the teacher.
Influencing Resistance
Resistance in Group
Some late coming students set out to just come late for class. They take effort to walk slowly, wait for all their classmates, go to buy food or drinks and go to toilet. These activities usually lengthen the process of being late.
CONCLUSION
In order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly. This applies for the case of students turning up late for lessons in Singapore Polytechnic. From this study, we are able to analyse the main reasons why students turn up late for lesson and find solutions to eliminate this bad habit. Understanding such problems, lecturers can better understand the behaviours of their own students and give them proper advice. Students will also be more independent, responsible and discipline, and also understand that turning up for lessons punctually is a top priority to achieve good results. Researchers can use it as a platform to study other aspects of students’ behaviours too. Nevertheless, if the students, lecturers and researchers cannot see the significance of late coming and refuse to act on it, this study will remain a research article that serves the sole purpose of pleasure reading.
Title : An exploratory study of the behaviours of students who turn up late for lessons in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 9th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Muhammad Rizwan Bin Radzali (0610890),
Goh MingRui Marie (0628118),
Ng Weijun Luke (0649618),
Gurubalan S/O Nadarajan (0746429),
Koh Yu Ling Eileen (0745709),
Ang Jingshi (0731641),
Ye Yun Hong (0661333),
Gabriel (0716639)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do many students in Singapore Polytechnic turn up late for lessons?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of three weeks to complete. The research stretches from 14th November 2007 to 5th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Non participant observation of the twenty students in a class (first lesson of the day at 8am), taking a total of 4 observation sessions of 45 minutes each.
b) Selected informal open-ended interviews of the twenty students taking an average of 15 minutes per interviews.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding. Examples of open coding of an observation and interview are shown in Appendix C.
b) Noting relations between variables.
c) Clustering.
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) The conditions and the causes that evoke students turning up late for lessons are as follows:
i) Types of lecturers
In this study, it is shown that unconcerned and uncaring lecturers always evoke late coming on the participants in this study. They feel that their lecturers do not bother about their punctuality in attending a lesson. When this happens, the students will tend to create a bad habit of constantly turning up late for lessons. Most of the students also would also expect the lecture given would be boring, thus they prefer to attend the lesson at a later time so that they will not doze off halfway through the lecture.
ii) Types of friends
Friends also play an important role which causes students to take the habit of turning up late for lessons lightly or even treating it as ‘part of life’ theory. This is especially so when they encounter friends who are usually late for lesson and behaving, as it is all right to be late, without having good or even proper reason to do so. These peers make them feel normal for being late and thus further normalizing their attitude for being late.
iii) Types of behaviour
Three categories of behaviours are employed by late coming students evolve from this study. They are named as the categories of procrastinating behaviours, delusive behaviours and resistant behaviours respectively in this study.
1) Procrastinating Behaviours
Procrastinating behaviours are subdivided into self-procrastinating behaviours and group procrastinating behaviours.
Self-procrastinating behaviours
Continue to be late for lessons
After apologising, a number of the late coming students will still carry on to be late over the semester. These may include waking up late, strolling to school, taking own sweet time before heading down to school, taking a longer bus ride even though its possible to access the shorter ones and went to buy breakfast or drinks before entering the class.
Group procrastinating behaviours
Deliberating coming late for lesson
On a number of occasions, especially within a group, they will tend to wait for one another at the train station or bus stop even though it is late. They will tend to go and get a bite or a drink before entering class. This is more frequent whenever, it is between lunch breaks or even short breaks in between lessons.
2) Delusive Behaviours
Self Deluding Behaviours
Refusal to admit errors
There are instances that the late coming students would be pointed out that some of the travelling time could be improved or even change. However, the late coming students will usually refuse to acknowledge it by refuting or ignoring them.
3) Resistant Behaviours
Resistant behaviours are categorised into two groups – independent resistance and influencing resistance.
Independent Resistance
Refusal to come early
When given a choice and chance to come early, road and time planned for the students, such students will not take it into consideration at all. They are also ready to take any admonishments or punishments meted out by the teacher.
Influencing Resistance
Resistance in Group
Some late coming students set out to just come late for class. They take effort to walk slowly, wait for all their classmates, go to buy food or drinks and go to toilet. These activities usually lengthen the process of being late.
CONCLUSION
In order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly. This applies for the case of students turning up late for lessons in Singapore Polytechnic. From this study, we are able to analyse the main reasons why students turn up late for lesson and find solutions to eliminate this bad habit. Understanding such problems, lecturers can better understand the behaviours of their own students and give them proper advice. Students will also be more independent, responsible and discipline, and also understand that turning up for lessons punctually is a top priority to achieve good results. Researchers can use it as a platform to study other aspects of students’ behaviours too. Nevertheless, if the students, lecturers and researchers cannot see the significance of late coming and refuse to act on it, this study will remain a research article that serves the sole purpose of pleasure reading.
An exploratory studies of students’ action during the lunch break.
GROUP: SADISTIC COWS
Title :An exploratory studies of students’ action during the lunch break.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Muhammad Irwan B Ibrahim(0764450, DME/2B/06)
Boon Le Tang (0746825, DEEE/FT/1A23)
Sharifah Farah Bte Syed Esa Alsree (0654764, DBEN/2B/01)
Tan Shelmin (0734222, DIT/1b/04)
Lim Diana(0646008, DTRM04)
Liu Libin (0723576, DCP/1B/06)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do SP students always find difficulties in finding a place for their lunch?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of four weeks to complete. The research stretches from 14th November 2007 to 5th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below: ( the survey questions)
30 students have been interview by the researchers. Each of the researcher interviewED 5 students in certain foodcourts. The duration of each interview WAS approximately 10 minutes.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
· Counting
· Clustering
FINDINGS (use diagrams or tables to supplement your report when needed)
The findings for this research are as follows:
Total person interviewed: 30
The distance is the main factor for student when determining which FCs to go for lunch. This is because there is insufficient time allocated for lunch. If they go to other foodcourts, much time will be spent on walking to the respective food courts. Nonetheless, when time permits, students do not mind walking to other food courts. They rather use the time to eat than to walk. They also prefer to go to foodcourts which are closer to their subsequent classes.
1) What are the features of foodcourts that attract you the most? (the foodcourt that you frequent go )
Number of participants
The Food
12
The distance
15
The features
3
From our interviews, we found that majority patrons of the food courts are students, but there are still some lecturers who have their meals in the foodcourts. Students occupy all the foodcourts mostly due to reasons such as distance and food. Furthermore, other reasons such as the availability of halal food in foodcourts play a role in students’ choice as well. Lecturers will dine in the foodcourts either nearest to their staffrooms or where their next class will be held. As lecturers have offices and can bring in their food, why would they not give up their seats to the students? The findings show that most of the students who cannot manage to find seats for their lunch will either starve themselves or end up buying take away food and eat at other places.
Total person interviewed: 30
2) Why do you refuse to go certain foodcourts?
Number of participants
The Distance
15
Limited choices for other races (Malays)
8
No seats
7
The students refuse to visit certain foodcourt mainly due to the distance apart, most of them will choose to go to the foodcourt nearest to their school. For example, students from the School of business will usually hang out at foodcourt 6. Another reason is due to the variety. When questioned, some of them prefer certain type of food that can only be found at certain foodcourt, for instance, thai food at foodcourt 4; koufu.
Total person interviewed: 30
3 When usually the peak hour?
Number of participants
11-1pm
8
12-1
22
From our interviewees, we found that most of them agree that the peak hour is from 12-1pm. Due to the fact that most lessons end at 12pm, only a minority of students will have an early lunch.
Total person interviewed: 30 (Some people prefer more than 1)
4 Which foodcourts is the most crowded? Why do you think students like to go there?
Number of participants
FC1
6
FC2
3
FC3
14
FC4
11
FC5
9
FC6
27
FC3 is the most crowded as it is located at the central of the school. It also has a wide variety of food to choose from. Furthermore, FC3 is also the biggest foodcourt in the school. Some students will go back to foodcourts which is nearer to them. They do not want to waste time walking.
Total person interviewed: 30
5 How usually you overcome this problem?
Number of participants
Wait
13
Takeaway
5
Don’t eat, stay hungry
12
From what we have observed from the data we got, most students are willing to wait for the tables and chairs. They are willing to come to class late as long their stomach is full. Only a few will take away because they find it easier. Some students disagree as it will be troublesome for them to eat from the packed food. Some of them are willing to go hungry as they do not want to wait for the places.
Total person interviewed: 30
6 Where will you go when there no place inside the foodcourt?
Number of participants
Study area
14
Staircase
3
Bench Area
8
Lecture Theatre
5
With this data we had, we observed student would likely to go to study area to enjoy their lunch. The reason is because there are enough tables and chairs for them to use. It is also more comfortable to use the area because it is open air in comparison to the stuffy foodcourts. This study area is also much closer to their classes after lunch so they do not have to waste time on walking. They also able to switch on their notebooks as they can easily find power plugs around. It is equivalent to killing two birds with one stone – Enjoying their lunch while surfing the internet.
Total person interviewed: 30
7 Would you consider bring food from home for lunch? Why?
Number of participants
Yes
3
No
27
Most students are against the idea of bringing home food as the food will turn cold by lunch time. While others find it troublesome as they do not want to carry too many things to school. Bringing home food will mean more things in the bag. Students also prefer to eat school food as it is better since there will be cleaners to clean up their used lunch plates. They also prefer warm food to cold food.
DISCUSSION
From our viewpoints, we analysed on how they will overcome the aforementioned problem in the polytechnic and the various reasons that culminated in the problem. Nowadays, students have many ways to overcome them. They fully utilise the facilities in the school including the stairs. In fact, they do not mind where they have their lunch as long as there is somewhere they can settle down for lunch. We have also enquired some friends from other polytechnics. It shows that not only SP students are facing this problem; other polytechnic students are also facing this problem during lunch time. Only a minority of them is willing to bring food from home or eat outside the school compound. The reasons are mainly clashes of time-table with similar break time and overcrowding of food courts when students swarm towards the food courts nearer to their classes. Hence, food courts near faculties that have a greater number of students are more likely to be crowded during lunch time.
Title :An exploratory studies of students’ action during the lunch break.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Muhammad Irwan B Ibrahim(0764450, DME/2B/06)
Boon Le Tang (0746825, DEEE/FT/1A23)
Sharifah Farah Bte Syed Esa Alsree (0654764, DBEN/2B/01)
Tan Shelmin (0734222, DIT/1b/04)
Lim Diana(0646008, DTRM04)
Liu Libin (0723576, DCP/1B/06)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do SP students always find difficulties in finding a place for their lunch?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of four weeks to complete. The research stretches from 14th November 2007 to 5th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below: ( the survey questions)
30 students have been interview by the researchers. Each of the researcher interviewED 5 students in certain foodcourts. The duration of each interview WAS approximately 10 minutes.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
· Counting
· Clustering
FINDINGS (use diagrams or tables to supplement your report when needed)
The findings for this research are as follows:
Total person interviewed: 30
The distance is the main factor for student when determining which FCs to go for lunch. This is because there is insufficient time allocated for lunch. If they go to other foodcourts, much time will be spent on walking to the respective food courts. Nonetheless, when time permits, students do not mind walking to other food courts. They rather use the time to eat than to walk. They also prefer to go to foodcourts which are closer to their subsequent classes.
1) What are the features of foodcourts that attract you the most? (the foodcourt that you frequent go )
Number of participants
The Food
12
The distance
15
The features
3
From our interviews, we found that majority patrons of the food courts are students, but there are still some lecturers who have their meals in the foodcourts. Students occupy all the foodcourts mostly due to reasons such as distance and food. Furthermore, other reasons such as the availability of halal food in foodcourts play a role in students’ choice as well. Lecturers will dine in the foodcourts either nearest to their staffrooms or where their next class will be held. As lecturers have offices and can bring in their food, why would they not give up their seats to the students? The findings show that most of the students who cannot manage to find seats for their lunch will either starve themselves or end up buying take away food and eat at other places.
Total person interviewed: 30
2) Why do you refuse to go certain foodcourts?
Number of participants
The Distance
15
Limited choices for other races (Malays)
8
No seats
7
The students refuse to visit certain foodcourt mainly due to the distance apart, most of them will choose to go to the foodcourt nearest to their school. For example, students from the School of business will usually hang out at foodcourt 6. Another reason is due to the variety. When questioned, some of them prefer certain type of food that can only be found at certain foodcourt, for instance, thai food at foodcourt 4; koufu.
Total person interviewed: 30
3 When usually the peak hour?
Number of participants
11-1pm
8
12-1
22
From our interviewees, we found that most of them agree that the peak hour is from 12-1pm. Due to the fact that most lessons end at 12pm, only a minority of students will have an early lunch.
Total person interviewed: 30 (Some people prefer more than 1)
4 Which foodcourts is the most crowded? Why do you think students like to go there?
Number of participants
FC1
6
FC2
3
FC3
14
FC4
11
FC5
9
FC6
27
FC3 is the most crowded as it is located at the central of the school. It also has a wide variety of food to choose from. Furthermore, FC3 is also the biggest foodcourt in the school. Some students will go back to foodcourts which is nearer to them. They do not want to waste time walking.
Total person interviewed: 30
5 How usually you overcome this problem?
Number of participants
Wait
13
Takeaway
5
Don’t eat, stay hungry
12
From what we have observed from the data we got, most students are willing to wait for the tables and chairs. They are willing to come to class late as long their stomach is full. Only a few will take away because they find it easier. Some students disagree as it will be troublesome for them to eat from the packed food. Some of them are willing to go hungry as they do not want to wait for the places.
Total person interviewed: 30
6 Where will you go when there no place inside the foodcourt?
Number of participants
Study area
14
Staircase
3
Bench Area
8
Lecture Theatre
5
With this data we had, we observed student would likely to go to study area to enjoy their lunch. The reason is because there are enough tables and chairs for them to use. It is also more comfortable to use the area because it is open air in comparison to the stuffy foodcourts. This study area is also much closer to their classes after lunch so they do not have to waste time on walking. They also able to switch on their notebooks as they can easily find power plugs around. It is equivalent to killing two birds with one stone – Enjoying their lunch while surfing the internet.
Total person interviewed: 30
7 Would you consider bring food from home for lunch? Why?
Number of participants
Yes
3
No
27
Most students are against the idea of bringing home food as the food will turn cold by lunch time. While others find it troublesome as they do not want to carry too many things to school. Bringing home food will mean more things in the bag. Students also prefer to eat school food as it is better since there will be cleaners to clean up their used lunch plates. They also prefer warm food to cold food.
DISCUSSION
From our viewpoints, we analysed on how they will overcome the aforementioned problem in the polytechnic and the various reasons that culminated in the problem. Nowadays, students have many ways to overcome them. They fully utilise the facilities in the school including the stairs. In fact, they do not mind where they have their lunch as long as there is somewhere they can settle down for lunch. We have also enquired some friends from other polytechnics. It shows that not only SP students are facing this problem; other polytechnic students are also facing this problem during lunch time. Only a minority of them is willing to bring food from home or eat outside the school compound. The reasons are mainly clashes of time-table with similar break time and overcrowding of food courts when students swarm towards the food courts nearer to their classes. Hence, food courts near faculties that have a greater number of students are more likely to be crowded during lunch time.
An exploratory study on the presence of cliques within Singapore Polytechnic
GROUP: SPLIT SECONDS
Title : An exploratory study on the presence of cliques within Singapore
Polytechnic.
Date: 7th November 2007 AY 2007/2008, Semester 2
Conducted by:
Chong Wenling (p0557036, DMTM/3A/24)
Wee Kellyn (p0727934, DDM/1B/03)
Jazreel Tan (p0646066, DTRM/2B/04)
Phua Yong Bing (p0743129, DOPT/1B/04)
Dila Bte Yazid (p0716275, DBT/1B/02)
Aisaruddin Bin Shamsuddin (p0747529, DEEE/1A/24)
Terrence Tan Wei Yang (p0658953, DIT/2A/22)
Xie Xiqing Gena (p0627469, DDM/2B/06)
AIM OF STUDY
This study aims to find out:
· Why are there cliques in Singapore Polytechnic?
· What are the factors that cause the formation of cliques?
· What are the pros and cons of having a clique?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of seven weeks to complete and it stretches from 7th November 2007 to 21st December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) The ultimate definition of a “Clique” is mainly seen to be a group of friends hanging out together with a common interest. However, the definition differs with male and female counterparts. For the female, “Cliques” are a group of friends whom they can talk to openly and have a “common” interest which is mainly shopping which bonds will develop naturally. As for the male, their definition of a “Clique” is also a group of friends hanging out together and their term of “hanging out together” usually refers to soccer and whatnots.
b) Cliques often occur “naturally” based on the research done earlier. However there is other forms in which contributes to the occurrence of a clique. They are class outings (which leads to bonding and thus to the formation of clique), CCA (bonding) and the most interesting one, clubbing (mingling).
c) The necessity of having a “Clique” is said to be a YES. There are in total of 5 Yes’s and only 3 No’s. The main reason for a Yes is said to be that “everyone needs companionship”, “everybody need friends”, “better to have friends than being a loner”, “don’t fancy being a loner and bored to death”, “no clique, no fun”. However not All of them have the same mindset, some independent people begged to differ. Their reasons for a NO are, “We can have friends everywhere, therefore there’s not a need to actually be in a clique”, “it doesn’t harm to be alone”, “do not have to listen to other’s opinion”. There are those who chose between a No and a Yes as they all felt that it actually differs from people to people.
d) The factors that results to the formation of “Clique” are due to common interests and getting along well with one another. However there are some who agrees that popularity plays a major role in having cliques. Example, one of the member is a really known and popular person, others would want to join the clique in order to gain the same popularity standard as that of the “popular” therefore results to more others wanting to join the clique to be popular. Although this is not really a major issue here in Singapore as that in the western countries we see on the silver screen, the typical high school scenario.
e) The pros and cons of having a clique differs from person to person and the great difference can be seen between that of a male’s answer and that of a female’s. The majority pros of having a clique are, having companionships, having a supportive backbone, sharing problems. It is like having a secure feeling that there will always be someone whom will always be there in times of trouble and hardship and never being lonely. While the cons are, having the tendency of hanging out with the same group and getting too dependent to it; sticking to one clique, limited amount of friends, conflicts, disputes. Since having a clique means having to spend lots of time together, there will always be conflicts arising due to misunderstanding and whatnots, it is good to be having frequent time apart so as to minimise the disputes.
f) Based on the research done there will definitely be a smaller clique within a huge clique, say 10. The reasons given were, “Cliques that are big would have internal clique, and most probably lead to tension”, “Big cliques are hard to maintain, and only a matter of time they will split up”, “difficulty in communication”, “slight different clashing personalities”, “and Big groups cannot get along”. There was only one person who claims that having big groups won’t lead to a smaller group as they get along well as they tend to talk things through.
g) Being in a clique gives one a higher social status, based on our research most disagree with it however there are handfuls whom agrees. The reasons on disagreeing is that it is stupid to befriend someone just to make use oh him/her for the social status it thus shows that one is not sincerely a friend. The main reason for agreeing, “gives a sense of popularity” and this two scenarios, “we were the Popular girls and all of us became popular all because of one girl”, “like friend like macho2 one ah, then you also become macho automatically”
h) Based on the research, the ideal number of clique is 3 and having an ideal clique is having the ability to, “do things together and stay out together”, “can have fun together”, “Can communicate well”, “Common interest”, and “getting along well with one another”.
i) When asked one’s feeling if not be in a clique, many gave the same answer, “upset”. The reasons, “Left out because I need a strong sense of security and companionship, after all I came to poly to make friends”, “shows that people don’t like me”, “ Loner”. However there are others who felt nothing as they claimed that they don’t really care unless they have mutual friends having a clique is unnecessary.
j) Based on the research, 8 out of 10 people interviewed happened to be victims of being an outcast. The main reason to this are, “bad experiences on some occasion leads to bad impression”, “due to own character dislike by friends in the clique”, “they said I am weird”. A research was done based on the Virginia Tech Massacre and it was said that the murderer was a victim of being an outcast and that the massacre is the only way to get back at the people dishing him and he developed a great hatred toward everybody and thus it involves the killing of innocent people. The feelings felt by the used-to-be-outcasts, “crappy”, “angry”, “hatred”, “it is unfair that you just cut someone out for puny reasons, it is good to talk things out then to take drastic actions as to cut someone out like that”.
k) People with cliques still makes time for friends out of their cliques and thinks it is fine to be having and hanging out with mutual friend. The reasons are, “expand circle of friends”, “I do, but there would still be some things either party cannot share”, “certain interest might not be the same as the people in own clique”, “circle of friends do not revolve around the clique”, “socializing must still go on”. However there are some who do not socialize with those out of the clique, with reasons, “there will be a point when there is just no more topics to talk about and thus there will be an awkward silence making the situation even more embarrassing”
l) Rivalry between one clique and another is common. The reasons are, “different people have different perspectives”, “jealously over popularity”, “disputes”, “Influence; due to one person in our clique has dispute with another person in another clique”
m) Welcoming peers into a clique may be a little hard for the new comer and they might somehow feel a little left out within the first few days in the clique. The clique members are open with welcoming new “members” with reasons such as “The more the merrier”, however some are not. The reasons are, “I would prefer to not accommodate to them” and “it’s hard to start over”.
From the above findings, the conditions and causes that cause students to form their own cliques are as follows:
· Actions done by individual
It is shown that what the individual do will determine the acceptance by the clique. The individual will try to do his/her best to please the already formed clique. It is to make sure he/she gain the acceptance of the clique.
· The peers
Peers also play an important part. The acceptance of the individual into the clique will be determined by the members of the clique who are the peers.
· Situations
If the clique is newly formed and is seeking members, the individual will automatically be accepted when he/she hangs out with the group from time to time
DISCUSSION
From the research and data collection, we can see different personalities of a person, such as the confidence and the fear of being alone. During the interview, the “ATTITUDE” is shown, that are the affective component (emotional reactions to the attitude object), the cognitive component (thoughts or beliefs about the attitude object) and the behavioural component (actions towards the attitude object).
Human beings are relationship oriented. And we cannot survive alone without having relationships. Some may say they need company; some need confidence, some need attention, and some need security thus resulting people to go find company. And cliques are there to help ease those “problems.”
The results differ from male and female. Females tend to be more dominant and would rather have a smaller clique which is easier to maintain. But males tend to be friendlier and more welcoming towards a bigger clique.
Due to the fact that they have more time to interact with each other, there is a higher chance that miscommunications and misunderstandings will surface. This is because different people have different perspectives under different situations. This might also be one of the reasons why females rather keep a smaller and easier to maintain clique. The males however might not even put this dispute as their setback to seek a bigger clique as males are often described as ‘social animals’.
CONCLUSION
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” So would you rather stay alone or stick as a group?
Cliques have always been in our lives, as long as you would to have a big group of people (e.g. a company or a school as long as there is a social interaction), cliques are bound to be formed. Cliques are an exclusive group of people who normally share either their social status, the type of interests or even similar personalities etc. Cliques can be the beginning of a long lasting friendship or just another part of the social circle that you would just consider as acquaintances.
Cliques are also known as reference groups. A reference group can be comparative or normative. A normative clique or reference group is the source of values and beliefs for each individual. The comparative clique or reference group is a standard of comparison by which the individual evaluates himself as well as others.
The effects of being in a clique can be positive or negative. Inclusion in a clique gives an individual a type of peer acceptance, however, a clique can hinder peer acceptance and damage an individual’s self-image and self-confidence.
Title : An exploratory study on the presence of cliques within Singapore
Polytechnic.
Date: 7th November 2007 AY 2007/2008, Semester 2
Conducted by:
Chong Wenling (p0557036, DMTM/3A/24)
Wee Kellyn (p0727934, DDM/1B/03)
Jazreel Tan (p0646066, DTRM/2B/04)
Phua Yong Bing (p0743129, DOPT/1B/04)
Dila Bte Yazid (p0716275, DBT/1B/02)
Aisaruddin Bin Shamsuddin (p0747529, DEEE/1A/24)
Terrence Tan Wei Yang (p0658953, DIT/2A/22)
Xie Xiqing Gena (p0627469, DDM/2B/06)
AIM OF STUDY
This study aims to find out:
· Why are there cliques in Singapore Polytechnic?
· What are the factors that cause the formation of cliques?
· What are the pros and cons of having a clique?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of seven weeks to complete and it stretches from 7th November 2007 to 21st December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) The ultimate definition of a “Clique” is mainly seen to be a group of friends hanging out together with a common interest. However, the definition differs with male and female counterparts. For the female, “Cliques” are a group of friends whom they can talk to openly and have a “common” interest which is mainly shopping which bonds will develop naturally. As for the male, their definition of a “Clique” is also a group of friends hanging out together and their term of “hanging out together” usually refers to soccer and whatnots.
b) Cliques often occur “naturally” based on the research done earlier. However there is other forms in which contributes to the occurrence of a clique. They are class outings (which leads to bonding and thus to the formation of clique), CCA (bonding) and the most interesting one, clubbing (mingling).
c) The necessity of having a “Clique” is said to be a YES. There are in total of 5 Yes’s and only 3 No’s. The main reason for a Yes is said to be that “everyone needs companionship”, “everybody need friends”, “better to have friends than being a loner”, “don’t fancy being a loner and bored to death”, “no clique, no fun”. However not All of them have the same mindset, some independent people begged to differ. Their reasons for a NO are, “We can have friends everywhere, therefore there’s not a need to actually be in a clique”, “it doesn’t harm to be alone”, “do not have to listen to other’s opinion”. There are those who chose between a No and a Yes as they all felt that it actually differs from people to people.
d) The factors that results to the formation of “Clique” are due to common interests and getting along well with one another. However there are some who agrees that popularity plays a major role in having cliques. Example, one of the member is a really known and popular person, others would want to join the clique in order to gain the same popularity standard as that of the “popular” therefore results to more others wanting to join the clique to be popular. Although this is not really a major issue here in Singapore as that in the western countries we see on the silver screen, the typical high school scenario.
e) The pros and cons of having a clique differs from person to person and the great difference can be seen between that of a male’s answer and that of a female’s. The majority pros of having a clique are, having companionships, having a supportive backbone, sharing problems. It is like having a secure feeling that there will always be someone whom will always be there in times of trouble and hardship and never being lonely. While the cons are, having the tendency of hanging out with the same group and getting too dependent to it; sticking to one clique, limited amount of friends, conflicts, disputes. Since having a clique means having to spend lots of time together, there will always be conflicts arising due to misunderstanding and whatnots, it is good to be having frequent time apart so as to minimise the disputes.
f) Based on the research done there will definitely be a smaller clique within a huge clique, say 10. The reasons given were, “Cliques that are big would have internal clique, and most probably lead to tension”, “Big cliques are hard to maintain, and only a matter of time they will split up”, “difficulty in communication”, “slight different clashing personalities”, “and Big groups cannot get along”. There was only one person who claims that having big groups won’t lead to a smaller group as they get along well as they tend to talk things through.
g) Being in a clique gives one a higher social status, based on our research most disagree with it however there are handfuls whom agrees. The reasons on disagreeing is that it is stupid to befriend someone just to make use oh him/her for the social status it thus shows that one is not sincerely a friend. The main reason for agreeing, “gives a sense of popularity” and this two scenarios, “we were the Popular girls and all of us became popular all because of one girl”, “like friend like macho2 one ah, then you also become macho automatically”
h) Based on the research, the ideal number of clique is 3 and having an ideal clique is having the ability to, “do things together and stay out together”, “can have fun together”, “Can communicate well”, “Common interest”, and “getting along well with one another”.
i) When asked one’s feeling if not be in a clique, many gave the same answer, “upset”. The reasons, “Left out because I need a strong sense of security and companionship, after all I came to poly to make friends”, “shows that people don’t like me”, “ Loner”. However there are others who felt nothing as they claimed that they don’t really care unless they have mutual friends having a clique is unnecessary.
j) Based on the research, 8 out of 10 people interviewed happened to be victims of being an outcast. The main reason to this are, “bad experiences on some occasion leads to bad impression”, “due to own character dislike by friends in the clique”, “they said I am weird”. A research was done based on the Virginia Tech Massacre and it was said that the murderer was a victim of being an outcast and that the massacre is the only way to get back at the people dishing him and he developed a great hatred toward everybody and thus it involves the killing of innocent people. The feelings felt by the used-to-be-outcasts, “crappy”, “angry”, “hatred”, “it is unfair that you just cut someone out for puny reasons, it is good to talk things out then to take drastic actions as to cut someone out like that”.
k) People with cliques still makes time for friends out of their cliques and thinks it is fine to be having and hanging out with mutual friend. The reasons are, “expand circle of friends”, “I do, but there would still be some things either party cannot share”, “certain interest might not be the same as the people in own clique”, “circle of friends do not revolve around the clique”, “socializing must still go on”. However there are some who do not socialize with those out of the clique, with reasons, “there will be a point when there is just no more topics to talk about and thus there will be an awkward silence making the situation even more embarrassing”
l) Rivalry between one clique and another is common. The reasons are, “different people have different perspectives”, “jealously over popularity”, “disputes”, “Influence; due to one person in our clique has dispute with another person in another clique”
m) Welcoming peers into a clique may be a little hard for the new comer and they might somehow feel a little left out within the first few days in the clique. The clique members are open with welcoming new “members” with reasons such as “The more the merrier”, however some are not. The reasons are, “I would prefer to not accommodate to them” and “it’s hard to start over”.
From the above findings, the conditions and causes that cause students to form their own cliques are as follows:
· Actions done by individual
It is shown that what the individual do will determine the acceptance by the clique. The individual will try to do his/her best to please the already formed clique. It is to make sure he/she gain the acceptance of the clique.
· The peers
Peers also play an important part. The acceptance of the individual into the clique will be determined by the members of the clique who are the peers.
· Situations
If the clique is newly formed and is seeking members, the individual will automatically be accepted when he/she hangs out with the group from time to time
DISCUSSION
From the research and data collection, we can see different personalities of a person, such as the confidence and the fear of being alone. During the interview, the “ATTITUDE” is shown, that are the affective component (emotional reactions to the attitude object), the cognitive component (thoughts or beliefs about the attitude object) and the behavioural component (actions towards the attitude object).
Human beings are relationship oriented. And we cannot survive alone without having relationships. Some may say they need company; some need confidence, some need attention, and some need security thus resulting people to go find company. And cliques are there to help ease those “problems.”
The results differ from male and female. Females tend to be more dominant and would rather have a smaller clique which is easier to maintain. But males tend to be friendlier and more welcoming towards a bigger clique.
Due to the fact that they have more time to interact with each other, there is a higher chance that miscommunications and misunderstandings will surface. This is because different people have different perspectives under different situations. This might also be one of the reasons why females rather keep a smaller and easier to maintain clique. The males however might not even put this dispute as their setback to seek a bigger clique as males are often described as ‘social animals’.
CONCLUSION
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” So would you rather stay alone or stick as a group?
Cliques have always been in our lives, as long as you would to have a big group of people (e.g. a company or a school as long as there is a social interaction), cliques are bound to be formed. Cliques are an exclusive group of people who normally share either their social status, the type of interests or even similar personalities etc. Cliques can be the beginning of a long lasting friendship or just another part of the social circle that you would just consider as acquaintances.
Cliques are also known as reference groups. A reference group can be comparative or normative. A normative clique or reference group is the source of values and beliefs for each individual. The comparative clique or reference group is a standard of comparison by which the individual evaluates himself as well as others.
The effects of being in a clique can be positive or negative. Inclusion in a clique gives an individual a type of peer acceptance, however, a clique can hinder peer acceptance and damage an individual’s self-image and self-confidence.
A study of phenomenon of students waiting for their friends at the MRT station before attending classes in Singapore Polytechnic.
GROUP : MONKEY BUSINESS I
Title : A study of phenomenon of students waiting for their friends at the MRT station before attending classes in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 9th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Tsang Xian Jun Timothy (P0710563, DARE/FT/1A/21)
Teo shun bin louis (p0611367, DASE/FT/2B/21)
Seah Yang Ling (p0717218, DBA/1B/09)
Boon Le Wei (p0628192, DEEE/2A/23)
Darren Foong (p0731766, DISM/1B/02)
Alicia Low Su Ru (p0745767, DTRM/1B/05)
Asyikin (p0651844)
Xing Fang (p0758147)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do students gather in dispersed groups at the MRT control station to wait for their friends before attending classes?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a polytechnic in the western part of Singapore. The research takes a total of six weeks to complete. The research stretches from 13th July 2007 to 1st September 2007.
FINDINGS (use diagrams or tables to supplement your report when needed)
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) How long are they willing to wait? (5 minutes before lessons start? or until friends come?)
From the survey we did, we realized that most people will wait till their friends arrived. We calculated that the average waiting time is 30 to 50 minutes. All of the replies we got showed that they would wait for their friends for at least 15 minutes. From the replies, we concluded that some people fear to be alone as they will try to wait for their friends so that they can walk to school together without having the said fear.
b) Who are they waiting for? (classmates, boyfriend/girlfriend...)
From the survey we did, we realised that most of the students at MRT stations are waiting for their friends. There are also cases where they wait for their cliques, club friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, secondary school friends, gems friends and friends. From the survey, we assumed that students wait for the classmates so that they can go for lessons together.
c) How big is the group usually?
From the quantitative data we have attained, the most common number of people that forms a group is made up of four. Upon further analysis, it is discovered that even figures such as duet, quartet and six people form a waiting group easily more than odd figures. In general, the number of people formed in waiting groups is in even numbers.
d) What are they doing while they are waiting?
From the survey, we realised that most of the people do simple things like listening to music and chit-chat. We assume that they do things that do not require much thought and are just done to simply pass time.
e) Why they can’t be more independent – going lessons on their own?
Through the interview of several people who are usually seen waiting for people at the MRT stations, we found out that there are several attributions to their willingness to wait for their friends. Firstly, they feel that since their friends waited for them when they were late, they should reciprocate by waiting for late friends. Some of them find the company of their friends much coveted. Several of them feel that they can afford to be late since the lessons usually do not start at the stipulated time. Hence, we can deduce that peer influence is the underlying reason as to why these people cannot be only independent. They desire a strong sense of belonging to their cliques and feel that it is a daunting task to go to lessons on their own.
f) Why risk being late? (if they are going to wait till their friends come, regardless of whether they would be late)
Based on the survey conducted, results have shown that students do not show much concern for their academic work, often putting “Friendship” as a more pressing and important issue. Students think that the polytechnic do not enforce strict policies on attendance and as such took advantage of that knowledge.
g) What are they thinking while waiting?
We have noted that most students would think of what time their friends would arrive, possibly due to annoyance of having to wait. Others would think of lunch later that day whereas a small minority would just daydream or think of nothing. Another minority would think of what to do when they get home.
h) What are their emotions and behaviour while waiting?
Based on the results of our survey, we found that most of them are not exactly fond of having to wait for their friends. Some were even frustrated, but they still wait anyway. This shows how much humans, especially teenagers, yearn for company. They may also be reluctant to wait, but do not have the courage to voice out their unhappiness for fear of being viewed by others as being selfish and impatient.
DISCUSSION
Through the findings, we can see that students tend to feel the need to develop friendship with their cliques (need for affiliation). They think that they should reciprocate the kindness of their friends by waiting for each other before going to lessons together (group norms). They feel that there is a need to wait for each other as none of them initiate the idea to proceed on to lessons without waiting for their friends who are late. (conformity). The last reason why students are willing to wait for their friends who will be late is peer pressure. They feel the need to form into groups as they feel more at ease in their usual hangout groups (cohesiveness).
CONCLUSION
Thus, from this study, we are able to find out the underlying reasons why students are willing to wait for one another at the MRT stations. Students are generally dependant upon their friends and they feel the need to ingratiate with them. The ubiquitous peer influence has inevitably created the fallacy that they should wait for each other to improve their friendship. Generally, most of them feel that being late for lessons is a trivial matter. They place friendship at a higher priority than being punctual for lessons. This is probably due to their huge desire to forge a strong sense of belonging to a group in which they feel comfortable in. They do not wish to be alone and yearn for company. Thus, we can infer that peer pressure and a deep desire to integrate into a group are the reasons which will explain the phenomenon apparent in the Dover MRT station.
Title : A study of phenomenon of students waiting for their friends at the MRT station before attending classes in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 9th January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by :
Tsang Xian Jun Timothy (P0710563, DARE/FT/1A/21)
Teo shun bin louis (p0611367, DASE/FT/2B/21)
Seah Yang Ling (p0717218, DBA/1B/09)
Boon Le Wei (p0628192, DEEE/2A/23)
Darren Foong (p0731766, DISM/1B/02)
Alicia Low Su Ru (p0745767, DTRM/1B/05)
Asyikin (p0651844)
Xing Fang (p0758147)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do students gather in dispersed groups at the MRT control station to wait for their friends before attending classes?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a polytechnic in the western part of Singapore. The research takes a total of six weeks to complete. The research stretches from 13th July 2007 to 1st September 2007.
FINDINGS (use diagrams or tables to supplement your report when needed)
The findings for this research are as follows:
a) How long are they willing to wait? (5 minutes before lessons start? or until friends come?)
From the survey we did, we realized that most people will wait till their friends arrived. We calculated that the average waiting time is 30 to 50 minutes. All of the replies we got showed that they would wait for their friends for at least 15 minutes. From the replies, we concluded that some people fear to be alone as they will try to wait for their friends so that they can walk to school together without having the said fear.
b) Who are they waiting for? (classmates, boyfriend/girlfriend...)
From the survey we did, we realised that most of the students at MRT stations are waiting for their friends. There are also cases where they wait for their cliques, club friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, secondary school friends, gems friends and friends. From the survey, we assumed that students wait for the classmates so that they can go for lessons together.
c) How big is the group usually?
From the quantitative data we have attained, the most common number of people that forms a group is made up of four. Upon further analysis, it is discovered that even figures such as duet, quartet and six people form a waiting group easily more than odd figures. In general, the number of people formed in waiting groups is in even numbers.
d) What are they doing while they are waiting?
From the survey, we realised that most of the people do simple things like listening to music and chit-chat. We assume that they do things that do not require much thought and are just done to simply pass time.
e) Why they can’t be more independent – going lessons on their own?
Through the interview of several people who are usually seen waiting for people at the MRT stations, we found out that there are several attributions to their willingness to wait for their friends. Firstly, they feel that since their friends waited for them when they were late, they should reciprocate by waiting for late friends. Some of them find the company of their friends much coveted. Several of them feel that they can afford to be late since the lessons usually do not start at the stipulated time. Hence, we can deduce that peer influence is the underlying reason as to why these people cannot be only independent. They desire a strong sense of belonging to their cliques and feel that it is a daunting task to go to lessons on their own.
f) Why risk being late? (if they are going to wait till their friends come, regardless of whether they would be late)
Based on the survey conducted, results have shown that students do not show much concern for their academic work, often putting “Friendship” as a more pressing and important issue. Students think that the polytechnic do not enforce strict policies on attendance and as such took advantage of that knowledge.
g) What are they thinking while waiting?
We have noted that most students would think of what time their friends would arrive, possibly due to annoyance of having to wait. Others would think of lunch later that day whereas a small minority would just daydream or think of nothing. Another minority would think of what to do when they get home.
h) What are their emotions and behaviour while waiting?
Based on the results of our survey, we found that most of them are not exactly fond of having to wait for their friends. Some were even frustrated, but they still wait anyway. This shows how much humans, especially teenagers, yearn for company. They may also be reluctant to wait, but do not have the courage to voice out their unhappiness for fear of being viewed by others as being selfish and impatient.
DISCUSSION
Through the findings, we can see that students tend to feel the need to develop friendship with their cliques (need for affiliation). They think that they should reciprocate the kindness of their friends by waiting for each other before going to lessons together (group norms). They feel that there is a need to wait for each other as none of them initiate the idea to proceed on to lessons without waiting for their friends who are late. (conformity). The last reason why students are willing to wait for their friends who will be late is peer pressure. They feel the need to form into groups as they feel more at ease in their usual hangout groups (cohesiveness).
CONCLUSION
Thus, from this study, we are able to find out the underlying reasons why students are willing to wait for one another at the MRT stations. Students are generally dependant upon their friends and they feel the need to ingratiate with them. The ubiquitous peer influence has inevitably created the fallacy that they should wait for each other to improve their friendship. Generally, most of them feel that being late for lessons is a trivial matter. They place friendship at a higher priority than being punctual for lessons. This is probably due to their huge desire to forge a strong sense of belonging to a group in which they feel comfortable in. They do not wish to be alone and yearn for company. Thus, we can infer that peer pressure and a deep desire to integrate into a group are the reasons which will explain the phenomenon apparent in the Dover MRT station.
A study on the growth pattern of different types of CCA categories in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and behaviour of students towards the CCA system
GROUP: THE CURIOUS
Title : A study on the growth pattern of different types of CCA categories in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and behaviour of students towards the CCA system
Date : 9 January 2008, AY 2007/2008, Semester 2
Conducted by : Joseph Min Yi P0723349, DCP/1B/01
Wong Tze Hong James P0617417, DBA/2B/11
Jessica Tan Min Hui P0652113, DCHE/2B/02
Teo Serene P0712169, DASE/1A/24
Sartesh Pradeep P0746429, DEEE/1B/09
Nur Qurratuaini Bte Mohd Zuhri P0733081, DIT/1B/04
Teo Yilin Kelly P0763587, DCP/1B/01
Ng Si Leng P0645643, DTRM/2B/04
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why are some categories of CCAs in SP more popular than others?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study of Sports CCA popularity in SP had its approach made from a qualitative social-psychological perspective. The target sampling was selected from SP students only. All the information used for this paper was obtained from both primary and secondary data, i.e. the former served to identify a student’s level of awareness, motivation as well as their attitudes towards participating in sports CCAs relative to other CCA alternatives. Secondary sources would basically comprise of related internet resources such as web articles, personal recounts, speeches, of which extracts would be exhibited in Appendix D.
We employed the survey research method compared to qualitative means like focus group discussions and observational techniques. In particular, it was applied via an online survey using a virtual survey website known as SurveyMonkey. This particular website contained the suitable functions and capabilities to design typical surveys for diversified types of research disciplines.
An alternative of the preceding method was done through personal interviewing, in which students were randomly selected at a certain location to participate in the survey. The research took approximately a total of four weeks to complete, which involved checking and observing the progress of the survey responses as they were being updated online on a regular basis. The research stretched from 13 November 2007 to 10 December 2007, after which the results were tabulated and analysed in the next few following sections of this paper.
The forms of data collection for the research were as follows:
a) The respondents selected were mainly second-year students because of a handful of reasons. Firstly, this group of students were perceived to be more representative of the Polytechnic’s population, since most of them already have adopted specific CCAs during their first year, and probably possess a year of experience for answering the questions in a more balanced and comprehensive manner. The second reason arose from the fact that the email addresses of all second-year students could only be obtained via authorized means while those belonging to other students of different academic year were unable to be obtained.
b) It was considered that higher-year students (seniors) should also be included in the target sampling of this survey research, but the majority would naturally be busy preparing for their graduation examinations, which could be less receptive in checking their mailboxes. As much as they were also highly sought after for participation, the situational circumstances were not permissive of such increase in response rates.
c) There were a total of 418 students, of which 387 were sent through email links of second-year students. Of these figures, 31 had submitted their responses via a mixture of 24 online submissions and 7 hard copies.
d) There were no informal close-ended interviews for the purpose of this research project, as open-ended questions were used throughout the online questionnaire, as mentioned earlier.
Statistical procedures for analysing the survey questions was only possible for one specific question, which enquired about the willingness of students to join any desired category of CCA (see Appendix A). Frequency counting was most suitable, but similar mathematical methods were unfeasible for qualitative analyses of the remaining research findings.
There was a variety of methods which could be used for analysing socio-psychological research studies, and even though all accessible methods need not be employed, we had managed to utilise almost all to give a wide-ranging viewpoint of the issue on sports CCAs’ popularity in SP. The main descriptions and explanations for some of the significant analysis methods were indicated and elaborated to suit the context of this report. Note that the order of the methods was not chronological, i.e. they did not correspond with the flow of question numbers and the analysis under ‘Findings’. The rest of the methods would be indicated under their relevant headings.
The forms/strategies of analysis used were as follows:
a) Open Coding-where appropriate
This was not made in an observational characteristic. The reason was that the bulk of the responses received were amassed in an intangible form, i.e. there was no direct watching of respondents filling up their thoughts through the use of computers. Thus, the interpretation of open coding might be meaningfully changed into minimal transcriptions of selected participants’ answers. Such an approach would be more productive where longer length of responses per survey submission was accomplished.
b) Noting themes and patterns-Q10
When a question invites similar responses under logical conditions, there would bound to be common areas to the scope of answers, normally in repetitive occurrences. The identification of these responses allowed a more superficial understanding of respondents’ thoughts and perceptions of the topic, before other methods came into play for a deeper look.
c) Seeing plausibility-Q1
Answers to a specific question might be different, but if each has their own stand, and that both sides could be interrelated when necessary, they would still make sense.
d) Clustering-Q1
e) Counting-Q2 and Q7
f) Making contrasts/comparisons-Q3
g) Partitioning variables-Q9
h) Subsuming particulars into general-Q5
i) Factoring-Q8
j) Noting relations between variables-Q4
k) Partitioning variables-Q6
Classification of responses for certain questions in the survey are provided in the form of charts and tables in Appendix C.
FINDINGS
Popularity of Sports CCAs in SP
Analysis methods: Matrix cluster and seeing plausibility
SP has implemented the Sports Elective Programme (SEP) few years ago, which also had a degree of impact in enhancing the popularity of sports as compared to the Student Personal Development Programme (SPDP), which consists of other varieties of recreational activities. Though specific statistics were absent, the experience related by one of the respondents was that SEP offers a wide range of sports selections, e.g. jogging and rock climbing conducted on a weekly basis over a period of eight weeks. This allowed a higher chance of developing the applicants’ interests in sports exercises compared to SPDP’s training sessions lasting only approximately two weeks.
There was an external survey with statistics compiled by Singaporean researchers regarding physical activity patterns of Singaporeans. This information was collected to give a better understanding of the general sports situation in Singapore, particularly how often people tend to exercise over a certain period of time. It allowed us to discover the trends of local sporting lifestyles.
Factors affecting Sports CCAs membership
Analysis method: Counting
The reasons for influencing the decisions of students whether to engage in sports CCAs were primarily classified under two groups, i.e. peer pressure and interest. Their ultimate choice relies either on their individual reasoning, or under interpersonal affections. This analysis method is possible when the supporting reasons were not extensive enough, but rather, judged by general responses to lead to numerical counting.
2.1 Peer pressure
There is one specific theory to justify such a truth, which is social identity theory. Friends resort to such pressure tactics by encouraging their counterparts to seek to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with specific groups and perceiving them as being relatively superior. Having ‘accessible rights’ to exploit a membership is a form of outward expression, which allows some scale of liberalisation to exercise mutual influence towards those who have the criteria to belong to a certain group (Tan, 2006). It seemed reasonable that the attribution theory was applicable, which describes the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviour. The more the number of people associated with the group, the stronger the conviction and persuasive efforts to invoke others’ interests in joining them.
2.2 Personal qualities
Individual interests are often imbued since young, and as their characteristics change, the perception of new interests also settle in, either adding on to, or even replacing their existing ones. As a result of unique personalities, the realistic conflict theory tells us about the idea that limited resources will lead to conflict between groups and result in prejudice and discrimination. For instance, a student might assume and perceive himself as superior to another in a certain CCA in areas of wealth and skills, but due to his lack of actual background knowledge of the latter, he could easily display narrow-mindedness.
Favouritism against certain CCAs
Analysis method: Making contrasts/comparisons
For the question of investigating the presence of favouritism for certain CCAs, there could be a few types of orientations experienced by different respondents, e.g. there were both social and resistance orientation present in the broad category of the responses. In addition, the type of contrasts could even exist within the responses of ‘yeses’, since a very small percentage of the survey participants disagreed with the presence of cronyism in a CCA. Hence, the focal point will be finding out the extent of differences among those who replied ‘yes’, but with the support of their reasoning in diverse manners.
3.1 Social orientation
Students tend to display a relatively strong social need to be with their friends not only for companionship, but perhaps for better and convenient approach to an age group similar to themselves. It was quoted that students tend to form their own cliques, i.e. they select friends based on a set of criteria which will be favourable to themselves (snowman_emily, 2007). Added with a possible reality that teenagers will want to have strong relationships established during their youthful age, such motives will prepare them for working life where mingling with clients require intense and effective interaction skills. This is where the social comparison theory can be applied, which reinforces the idea that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others. From external sources, the ‘social network’ concept goes further to explain the difference between friends made in CCAs and classmates, whom the latter is considered ‘hi-bye’ friends with no long-lasting relationships (YounGunz, 2007). Nevertheless, this is a subjective point of view which will warrant a more thorough investigation in relation to the quality or durability of friendships shaped under different contexts.
3.2 Financial stability of CCAs
Another perspective gathered from those who agreed that some form of discrimination prevailed within a specific CCA could be in a practical sense, such that the respondent felt more reassured when the CCA’s operations have sufficient funds for various events like organising important, large-scale programmes where costs would be high. Those who contribute more money for the CCA’s administrative and other functional purposes may be perceived to be more well-respected than others, besides boasting a self-image of wealth. Such thinking can be considered as part of the distinctiveness theory, which suggests that individuals perceive themselves in terms of those attributes that make them different. It is analogous to a company which has a relatively strong annual financial performance, thus attracting more investors and prospects to invest in it. This would be translated into more generous funding from the polytechnic as it continued to earn more valuable awards per unique event (otw_89, 2007).
3.3 Support for greater CCA popularity
Another respondent had similar sentiments which seemed to be the case when a particular CCA becomes popular, it will probably sustain a reasonably high chance of being entitled to more overall support, including subsidies from the school. Yet another also reflected along this idea that ‘preferential treatment’ will be showered by certain groups of people like lecturers compared to other less-welcoming CCAs (parthibanr, 2007). This goes to prove a realistic truth that popularity in terms of monetary backgrounds and selective endorsements by teaching staff may affect a CCA’s destiny.
3.4 Degree of members’ involvement
On an objective side of those who answered ‘yes’, one participant was mentioned as saying that the ‘liveliness’ of a particular CCA can be evaluated based on the quantity and scope of activities being conducted for a selected period of time. However, this viewpoint was likely from an ‘activist’ in being continuously active for a specific CCA which he has keen interest. Such people are considered CCA loyalists, where they may chip in superior efforts in ensuring that not only do they want to see an improvement in the CCA’s running, but also satisfy their personal needs and wants (Loo, 2007). From the size of membership in a CCA, the social impact theory demonstrates that the idea which conforms to social influence depends on the strength of the group’s importance, its immediacy and the number of people in the group. The more members a CCA has, the stronger the impact of the group (club). As evidence from CCA.sg shows, an example of a CCA being widely discussed is animation club in SP. The forum allows both members and non-members to assess and express vested comments regarding the knowledge of anime, depending on the focus of which aspects of anime they often centralise in. Activities need not be exhaustive, so a CCA can employ a variety of programmes to motivate and develop its members’ well-being, e.g. combining and rotating certain types of work periodically, as seen in the probable mix of forums and competitions for anime club members (Lim, 2007).
3.5 Internal affairs
A CCA may play ‘office politics’, be it aggressive or mild. This occurs prevalently on members who hold exclusive positions or have special areas of contribution to the CCA which are hard to come by, thereby getting an above-average level of attention from its counterparts, e.g. juniors. The latter, oblivious to the CCA ‘behind the scene’, will be more easily influenced by word-of-mouth remarks, in this case, their seniors (Kim, 2007). Such a reality might be in accordance to the social dominance theory, i.e. societal groups (in this case, a CCA’s members) can be organised in a power hierarchy in which the dominant groups (club committee) enjoy a disproportionate share of the society’s (club’s) assets and the subordinates (ordinary members) receive most of the liabilities (club cleaning and petty funds provision). This problem is thought to be solved and only resolved when a member becomes part of the committee to truly understand the ‘full picture’, since seeing is believing. It has been studied that a person’s true colour will reveal when he communicates and behaves in a certain way towards familiar people. ‘CCA politics’ tend to occur just like how a president will run for his next term of presidency during upcoming elections via gaining firm support by issuing attractive, last-minute incentives. In CCAs, the severity of the situation may not be the same as real-life politics, but where relationships are concerned, almost anything can happen, even to the extent of stripping a person’s title in a sudden turn of events due to below-standards performance in managing the club well, as well as implicated by bad publicity in the campus or CCA itself (Toh, 2007). Such an ugly truth might stem from the social exchange theory, which describes the idea that people will seek out and maintain relationships in which the rewards exceed the costs, in terms of self-fame and ‘upper-class association’ with the seniors in the CCA.
3.6 Resistance orientation
Conformity can be a variation of resistance orientation, in which a member tries to steer clear of ‘formal group dynamics’ to avoid trouble. The bottomline is that such acts of ‘untrained governance’ will easily backfire and unintentionally inflict souring ties at a tender age (Sim, 2007). Every type of CCA needs to have some form of ethics e.g. in sports CCA, the chairperson has to make sure that all his members are always up and running not only getting engaged actively in training sessions, but also show due respect when necessary, such as facing a foul in soccer and compromising on the seriousness of the fault. The distraction-conflict theory might hold, i.e. the presence of others (popular figures) is a source of distraction that leads to conflicts in attention between an audience (prospective members) and a task that affects performance (selecting the right CCA). Some students detest favouritism; if it is practised and preached in a certain CCA, they shun from it, including avoiding the members associated with it.
3.7 Disagreement of presence of favouritism
This group of students may happen to be involved in the operations of the particular CCA they join, and everything looks peaceful and smooth-sailing. There could be other reasons, i.e. their attendance records may be poor, probably caused by personality factors like laziness to attend the weekly practices or meetings, joining for the basic sake of earning CCA points the easy way. Furthermore, it is logical to consider their mounting academic workload, depending on their specialisation. From looks, they may tend to be easy-going and flexible in complying with instructions from the upper level. For instance, using the soccer sport CCA, the leader may order X to carry a basket of soccer balls out to the field, and there are no qualms. X may be displaying his personality of an ‘anything’ mindset, or that he seems to be a ‘law-abiding’ citizen, such that the willingness to perform requests is naturally within him.
3.8 Uncertainty of presence of favouritism
Some of the explanations were seen to be a feeling of indifference or neutrality towards the ‘domestic affairs of the household’. Such thoughts can be implied to show conservatism, i.e. they chose to remain silent for fear of being implicated with future-related issues. Nonetheless, the reality that they did not have sufficient information and background knowledge about CCAs and the system should never be dismissed in an unconscious attitude. If this survey were quantitative, excluding the responses of ‘don’t know’ will result in data loss and less useful understanding of the real circumstances embattling certain CCAs (Joe, 2007). One participant had substantiated his reaction of not being proactive in the CCAs he engaged in, some do not have any CCAs. Take the example of sports CCAs, consistence and patience, together with perseverance, can enable individual members to exercise their energy under mutual affections of such behaviour, which may lead to better performance during matches and competitions via binding teamwork.
3.9 Membership under favouritism
If favouritism goes to the hands of the majority in a particular CCA, which brings up its popularity, then this is indeed an inflated perception of the CCA in front of potential members during CCA Drives. Cross-checking with question one, in the case of sports CCAs, when a new member gradually realises the truth that training sessions tend to be replaced with internal or non-physical activities, the objectives of him signing up for it initially were not only screwed, but also leave him to generalise sports CCAs are ‘unclean’ CCAs, which certainly prove disastrous in future recruitments of ‘new blood’ for different sports. Favouritism though seems superficially pleasant, will invite long-term criticisms by prospects and may spark off a total drop of memberships throughout other categories of CCAs.
DISCUSSION
From what we see, peer pressure is the main reason affecting students’ choice of CCA. Students may join a CCA not because of interest, but just because their friends are there. This phenomenon arises due to the social identity theory, which is the idea that people seek to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with specific groups and perceiving these groups as being better than other groups. For example, inactive participation in the CCA will make them feel left out if they do not do the same things as their group of friends. Hence in a way, the presence of friends “forces” them to join a particular CCA.
Other social issues we see are that students feel the need to know more friends. They realise the importance of social network as it makes them look popular and in turn give them some confidence. They can also at the same time build up their socialising skills which is important for them when they work in the society e.g. mingling with clients. Therefore, joining a CCA which already has many members is portrayed as a “ready-made” social network, only waiting for you to join in. On the other hand, joining a CCA with only very little members inside would mean that you have to start everything from scratch. Asking for more members, promoting your CCA to others and finally expand to a CCA which is popular in the school; isn’t that too much of a hassle? Obviously one would go for the popular one.
Not only so, popular CCAs tend to come with more benefits. They tend to receive more support from SP in aspects of funding and also support when events are organised (The number of people who turned up for event). This would definitely make one feel more secured and confident. Some other personal reasons as to why students choose that particular CCA would be due to time, CCA points and interests.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion from what we can see is that, CCAs is one of the important factors in a school that is needed to be taken into account, as it is an important part of SP itself. Therefore, it is important to some of the students too. To solve any problems that arise regarding CCAs, for example on how the growth of each different CCAs can varies from each other, there should be at least one person in each and every CCA to be aware on what is the main catch that students are looking for. This is so as to make the unpopular CCAs achieve a greater understanding on why they have such a low popularity rate. They should be well-aware that there are many various possible reasons why students join a particular CCA. Thus, they need to study on what the ‘in-thing’ is that presently attracts students. By doing some research, they will be able to maintain the good standards of CCAs in SP such that terminating existing CCAs due to unpopularity will never be the solution to the problem. The contents of this report will appeal to the readership of teachers and the relevant personnel in getting a sense of consciousness towards the fluctuating situations happening within the different CCA categories. By reading it, students can also truly discover the benefits and opportunities of CCA events in allowing them to unleash their potential abilities, thereby contributing to the unique levels of popularity of each CCA category.
Title : A study on the growth pattern of different types of CCA categories in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and behaviour of students towards the CCA system
Date : 9 January 2008, AY 2007/2008, Semester 2
Conducted by : Joseph Min Yi P0723349, DCP/1B/01
Wong Tze Hong James P0617417, DBA/2B/11
Jessica Tan Min Hui P0652113, DCHE/2B/02
Teo Serene P0712169, DASE/1A/24
Sartesh Pradeep P0746429, DEEE/1B/09
Nur Qurratuaini Bte Mohd Zuhri P0733081, DIT/1B/04
Teo Yilin Kelly P0763587, DCP/1B/01
Ng Si Leng P0645643, DTRM/2B/04
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why are some categories of CCAs in SP more popular than others?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS
This study of Sports CCA popularity in SP had its approach made from a qualitative social-psychological perspective. The target sampling was selected from SP students only. All the information used for this paper was obtained from both primary and secondary data, i.e. the former served to identify a student’s level of awareness, motivation as well as their attitudes towards participating in sports CCAs relative to other CCA alternatives. Secondary sources would basically comprise of related internet resources such as web articles, personal recounts, speeches, of which extracts would be exhibited in Appendix D.
We employed the survey research method compared to qualitative means like focus group discussions and observational techniques. In particular, it was applied via an online survey using a virtual survey website known as SurveyMonkey. This particular website contained the suitable functions and capabilities to design typical surveys for diversified types of research disciplines.
An alternative of the preceding method was done through personal interviewing, in which students were randomly selected at a certain location to participate in the survey. The research took approximately a total of four weeks to complete, which involved checking and observing the progress of the survey responses as they were being updated online on a regular basis. The research stretched from 13 November 2007 to 10 December 2007, after which the results were tabulated and analysed in the next few following sections of this paper.
The forms of data collection for the research were as follows:
a) The respondents selected were mainly second-year students because of a handful of reasons. Firstly, this group of students were perceived to be more representative of the Polytechnic’s population, since most of them already have adopted specific CCAs during their first year, and probably possess a year of experience for answering the questions in a more balanced and comprehensive manner. The second reason arose from the fact that the email addresses of all second-year students could only be obtained via authorized means while those belonging to other students of different academic year were unable to be obtained.
b) It was considered that higher-year students (seniors) should also be included in the target sampling of this survey research, but the majority would naturally be busy preparing for their graduation examinations, which could be less receptive in checking their mailboxes. As much as they were also highly sought after for participation, the situational circumstances were not permissive of such increase in response rates.
c) There were a total of 418 students, of which 387 were sent through email links of second-year students. Of these figures, 31 had submitted their responses via a mixture of 24 online submissions and 7 hard copies.
d) There were no informal close-ended interviews for the purpose of this research project, as open-ended questions were used throughout the online questionnaire, as mentioned earlier.
Statistical procedures for analysing the survey questions was only possible for one specific question, which enquired about the willingness of students to join any desired category of CCA (see Appendix A). Frequency counting was most suitable, but similar mathematical methods were unfeasible for qualitative analyses of the remaining research findings.
There was a variety of methods which could be used for analysing socio-psychological research studies, and even though all accessible methods need not be employed, we had managed to utilise almost all to give a wide-ranging viewpoint of the issue on sports CCAs’ popularity in SP. The main descriptions and explanations for some of the significant analysis methods were indicated and elaborated to suit the context of this report. Note that the order of the methods was not chronological, i.e. they did not correspond with the flow of question numbers and the analysis under ‘Findings’. The rest of the methods would be indicated under their relevant headings.
The forms/strategies of analysis used were as follows:
a) Open Coding-where appropriate
This was not made in an observational characteristic. The reason was that the bulk of the responses received were amassed in an intangible form, i.e. there was no direct watching of respondents filling up their thoughts through the use of computers. Thus, the interpretation of open coding might be meaningfully changed into minimal transcriptions of selected participants’ answers. Such an approach would be more productive where longer length of responses per survey submission was accomplished.
b) Noting themes and patterns-Q10
When a question invites similar responses under logical conditions, there would bound to be common areas to the scope of answers, normally in repetitive occurrences. The identification of these responses allowed a more superficial understanding of respondents’ thoughts and perceptions of the topic, before other methods came into play for a deeper look.
c) Seeing plausibility-Q1
Answers to a specific question might be different, but if each has their own stand, and that both sides could be interrelated when necessary, they would still make sense.
d) Clustering-Q1
e) Counting-Q2 and Q7
f) Making contrasts/comparisons-Q3
g) Partitioning variables-Q9
h) Subsuming particulars into general-Q5
i) Factoring-Q8
j) Noting relations between variables-Q4
k) Partitioning variables-Q6
Classification of responses for certain questions in the survey are provided in the form of charts and tables in Appendix C.
FINDINGS
Popularity of Sports CCAs in SP
Analysis methods: Matrix cluster and seeing plausibility
SP has implemented the Sports Elective Programme (SEP) few years ago, which also had a degree of impact in enhancing the popularity of sports as compared to the Student Personal Development Programme (SPDP), which consists of other varieties of recreational activities. Though specific statistics were absent, the experience related by one of the respondents was that SEP offers a wide range of sports selections, e.g. jogging and rock climbing conducted on a weekly basis over a period of eight weeks. This allowed a higher chance of developing the applicants’ interests in sports exercises compared to SPDP’s training sessions lasting only approximately two weeks.
There was an external survey with statistics compiled by Singaporean researchers regarding physical activity patterns of Singaporeans. This information was collected to give a better understanding of the general sports situation in Singapore, particularly how often people tend to exercise over a certain period of time. It allowed us to discover the trends of local sporting lifestyles.
Factors affecting Sports CCAs membership
Analysis method: Counting
The reasons for influencing the decisions of students whether to engage in sports CCAs were primarily classified under two groups, i.e. peer pressure and interest. Their ultimate choice relies either on their individual reasoning, or under interpersonal affections. This analysis method is possible when the supporting reasons were not extensive enough, but rather, judged by general responses to lead to numerical counting.
2.1 Peer pressure
There is one specific theory to justify such a truth, which is social identity theory. Friends resort to such pressure tactics by encouraging their counterparts to seek to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with specific groups and perceiving them as being relatively superior. Having ‘accessible rights’ to exploit a membership is a form of outward expression, which allows some scale of liberalisation to exercise mutual influence towards those who have the criteria to belong to a certain group (Tan, 2006). It seemed reasonable that the attribution theory was applicable, which describes the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviour. The more the number of people associated with the group, the stronger the conviction and persuasive efforts to invoke others’ interests in joining them.
2.2 Personal qualities
Individual interests are often imbued since young, and as their characteristics change, the perception of new interests also settle in, either adding on to, or even replacing their existing ones. As a result of unique personalities, the realistic conflict theory tells us about the idea that limited resources will lead to conflict between groups and result in prejudice and discrimination. For instance, a student might assume and perceive himself as superior to another in a certain CCA in areas of wealth and skills, but due to his lack of actual background knowledge of the latter, he could easily display narrow-mindedness.
Favouritism against certain CCAs
Analysis method: Making contrasts/comparisons
For the question of investigating the presence of favouritism for certain CCAs, there could be a few types of orientations experienced by different respondents, e.g. there were both social and resistance orientation present in the broad category of the responses. In addition, the type of contrasts could even exist within the responses of ‘yeses’, since a very small percentage of the survey participants disagreed with the presence of cronyism in a CCA. Hence, the focal point will be finding out the extent of differences among those who replied ‘yes’, but with the support of their reasoning in diverse manners.
3.1 Social orientation
Students tend to display a relatively strong social need to be with their friends not only for companionship, but perhaps for better and convenient approach to an age group similar to themselves. It was quoted that students tend to form their own cliques, i.e. they select friends based on a set of criteria which will be favourable to themselves (snowman_emily, 2007). Added with a possible reality that teenagers will want to have strong relationships established during their youthful age, such motives will prepare them for working life where mingling with clients require intense and effective interaction skills. This is where the social comparison theory can be applied, which reinforces the idea that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others. From external sources, the ‘social network’ concept goes further to explain the difference between friends made in CCAs and classmates, whom the latter is considered ‘hi-bye’ friends with no long-lasting relationships (YounGunz, 2007). Nevertheless, this is a subjective point of view which will warrant a more thorough investigation in relation to the quality or durability of friendships shaped under different contexts.
3.2 Financial stability of CCAs
Another perspective gathered from those who agreed that some form of discrimination prevailed within a specific CCA could be in a practical sense, such that the respondent felt more reassured when the CCA’s operations have sufficient funds for various events like organising important, large-scale programmes where costs would be high. Those who contribute more money for the CCA’s administrative and other functional purposes may be perceived to be more well-respected than others, besides boasting a self-image of wealth. Such thinking can be considered as part of the distinctiveness theory, which suggests that individuals perceive themselves in terms of those attributes that make them different. It is analogous to a company which has a relatively strong annual financial performance, thus attracting more investors and prospects to invest in it. This would be translated into more generous funding from the polytechnic as it continued to earn more valuable awards per unique event (otw_89, 2007).
3.3 Support for greater CCA popularity
Another respondent had similar sentiments which seemed to be the case when a particular CCA becomes popular, it will probably sustain a reasonably high chance of being entitled to more overall support, including subsidies from the school. Yet another also reflected along this idea that ‘preferential treatment’ will be showered by certain groups of people like lecturers compared to other less-welcoming CCAs (parthibanr, 2007). This goes to prove a realistic truth that popularity in terms of monetary backgrounds and selective endorsements by teaching staff may affect a CCA’s destiny.
3.4 Degree of members’ involvement
On an objective side of those who answered ‘yes’, one participant was mentioned as saying that the ‘liveliness’ of a particular CCA can be evaluated based on the quantity and scope of activities being conducted for a selected period of time. However, this viewpoint was likely from an ‘activist’ in being continuously active for a specific CCA which he has keen interest. Such people are considered CCA loyalists, where they may chip in superior efforts in ensuring that not only do they want to see an improvement in the CCA’s running, but also satisfy their personal needs and wants (Loo, 2007). From the size of membership in a CCA, the social impact theory demonstrates that the idea which conforms to social influence depends on the strength of the group’s importance, its immediacy and the number of people in the group. The more members a CCA has, the stronger the impact of the group (club). As evidence from CCA.sg shows, an example of a CCA being widely discussed is animation club in SP. The forum allows both members and non-members to assess and express vested comments regarding the knowledge of anime, depending on the focus of which aspects of anime they often centralise in. Activities need not be exhaustive, so a CCA can employ a variety of programmes to motivate and develop its members’ well-being, e.g. combining and rotating certain types of work periodically, as seen in the probable mix of forums and competitions for anime club members (Lim, 2007).
3.5 Internal affairs
A CCA may play ‘office politics’, be it aggressive or mild. This occurs prevalently on members who hold exclusive positions or have special areas of contribution to the CCA which are hard to come by, thereby getting an above-average level of attention from its counterparts, e.g. juniors. The latter, oblivious to the CCA ‘behind the scene’, will be more easily influenced by word-of-mouth remarks, in this case, their seniors (Kim, 2007). Such a reality might be in accordance to the social dominance theory, i.e. societal groups (in this case, a CCA’s members) can be organised in a power hierarchy in which the dominant groups (club committee) enjoy a disproportionate share of the society’s (club’s) assets and the subordinates (ordinary members) receive most of the liabilities (club cleaning and petty funds provision). This problem is thought to be solved and only resolved when a member becomes part of the committee to truly understand the ‘full picture’, since seeing is believing. It has been studied that a person’s true colour will reveal when he communicates and behaves in a certain way towards familiar people. ‘CCA politics’ tend to occur just like how a president will run for his next term of presidency during upcoming elections via gaining firm support by issuing attractive, last-minute incentives. In CCAs, the severity of the situation may not be the same as real-life politics, but where relationships are concerned, almost anything can happen, even to the extent of stripping a person’s title in a sudden turn of events due to below-standards performance in managing the club well, as well as implicated by bad publicity in the campus or CCA itself (Toh, 2007). Such an ugly truth might stem from the social exchange theory, which describes the idea that people will seek out and maintain relationships in which the rewards exceed the costs, in terms of self-fame and ‘upper-class association’ with the seniors in the CCA.
3.6 Resistance orientation
Conformity can be a variation of resistance orientation, in which a member tries to steer clear of ‘formal group dynamics’ to avoid trouble. The bottomline is that such acts of ‘untrained governance’ will easily backfire and unintentionally inflict souring ties at a tender age (Sim, 2007). Every type of CCA needs to have some form of ethics e.g. in sports CCA, the chairperson has to make sure that all his members are always up and running not only getting engaged actively in training sessions, but also show due respect when necessary, such as facing a foul in soccer and compromising on the seriousness of the fault. The distraction-conflict theory might hold, i.e. the presence of others (popular figures) is a source of distraction that leads to conflicts in attention between an audience (prospective members) and a task that affects performance (selecting the right CCA). Some students detest favouritism; if it is practised and preached in a certain CCA, they shun from it, including avoiding the members associated with it.
3.7 Disagreement of presence of favouritism
This group of students may happen to be involved in the operations of the particular CCA they join, and everything looks peaceful and smooth-sailing. There could be other reasons, i.e. their attendance records may be poor, probably caused by personality factors like laziness to attend the weekly practices or meetings, joining for the basic sake of earning CCA points the easy way. Furthermore, it is logical to consider their mounting academic workload, depending on their specialisation. From looks, they may tend to be easy-going and flexible in complying with instructions from the upper level. For instance, using the soccer sport CCA, the leader may order X to carry a basket of soccer balls out to the field, and there are no qualms. X may be displaying his personality of an ‘anything’ mindset, or that he seems to be a ‘law-abiding’ citizen, such that the willingness to perform requests is naturally within him.
3.8 Uncertainty of presence of favouritism
Some of the explanations were seen to be a feeling of indifference or neutrality towards the ‘domestic affairs of the household’. Such thoughts can be implied to show conservatism, i.e. they chose to remain silent for fear of being implicated with future-related issues. Nonetheless, the reality that they did not have sufficient information and background knowledge about CCAs and the system should never be dismissed in an unconscious attitude. If this survey were quantitative, excluding the responses of ‘don’t know’ will result in data loss and less useful understanding of the real circumstances embattling certain CCAs (Joe, 2007). One participant had substantiated his reaction of not being proactive in the CCAs he engaged in, some do not have any CCAs. Take the example of sports CCAs, consistence and patience, together with perseverance, can enable individual members to exercise their energy under mutual affections of such behaviour, which may lead to better performance during matches and competitions via binding teamwork.
3.9 Membership under favouritism
If favouritism goes to the hands of the majority in a particular CCA, which brings up its popularity, then this is indeed an inflated perception of the CCA in front of potential members during CCA Drives. Cross-checking with question one, in the case of sports CCAs, when a new member gradually realises the truth that training sessions tend to be replaced with internal or non-physical activities, the objectives of him signing up for it initially were not only screwed, but also leave him to generalise sports CCAs are ‘unclean’ CCAs, which certainly prove disastrous in future recruitments of ‘new blood’ for different sports. Favouritism though seems superficially pleasant, will invite long-term criticisms by prospects and may spark off a total drop of memberships throughout other categories of CCAs.
DISCUSSION
From what we see, peer pressure is the main reason affecting students’ choice of CCA. Students may join a CCA not because of interest, but just because their friends are there. This phenomenon arises due to the social identity theory, which is the idea that people seek to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with specific groups and perceiving these groups as being better than other groups. For example, inactive participation in the CCA will make them feel left out if they do not do the same things as their group of friends. Hence in a way, the presence of friends “forces” them to join a particular CCA.
Other social issues we see are that students feel the need to know more friends. They realise the importance of social network as it makes them look popular and in turn give them some confidence. They can also at the same time build up their socialising skills which is important for them when they work in the society e.g. mingling with clients. Therefore, joining a CCA which already has many members is portrayed as a “ready-made” social network, only waiting for you to join in. On the other hand, joining a CCA with only very little members inside would mean that you have to start everything from scratch. Asking for more members, promoting your CCA to others and finally expand to a CCA which is popular in the school; isn’t that too much of a hassle? Obviously one would go for the popular one.
Not only so, popular CCAs tend to come with more benefits. They tend to receive more support from SP in aspects of funding and also support when events are organised (The number of people who turned up for event). This would definitely make one feel more secured and confident. Some other personal reasons as to why students choose that particular CCA would be due to time, CCA points and interests.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion from what we can see is that, CCAs is one of the important factors in a school that is needed to be taken into account, as it is an important part of SP itself. Therefore, it is important to some of the students too. To solve any problems that arise regarding CCAs, for example on how the growth of each different CCAs can varies from each other, there should be at least one person in each and every CCA to be aware on what is the main catch that students are looking for. This is so as to make the unpopular CCAs achieve a greater understanding on why they have such a low popularity rate. They should be well-aware that there are many various possible reasons why students join a particular CCA. Thus, they need to study on what the ‘in-thing’ is that presently attracts students. By doing some research, they will be able to maintain the good standards of CCAs in SP such that terminating existing CCAs due to unpopularity will never be the solution to the problem. The contents of this report will appeal to the readership of teachers and the relevant personnel in getting a sense of consciousness towards the fluctuating situations happening within the different CCA categories. By reading it, students can also truly discover the benefits and opportunities of CCA events in allowing them to unleash their potential abilities, thereby contributing to the unique levels of popularity of each CCA category.
An exploratory study of behaviours after meals in a food court in Singapore Polytechnic.
GROUP: MONKEY BUSINESS II
Title : An exploratory study of behaviours after meals in a food court in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Ong Zhi Xiang Jonathan/0715609
Tan Yi Xun/0725578
Lai Chunyuan/0505394
Ng Shu Ting / 0645870
Liuxuyang/0662488
Ngoh Yi Rui/0620334
Tan Chin Hang/0748913
Peh Si Hui/0737618
Dominic Chong/ 0629289
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why is there a failure to clear plates after eating in food court in Singapore Polytechnic?
DATA COLLECTION AND METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a food court at Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of three weeks to complete. The research stretches from 15th October 2007 to 7th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
30 survey forms were given and completed by 30 different people eating at a food court in Singapore Polytechnic over a period of 3 weeks.
The same 30 people chosen were also being interviewed by us, with each interview lasting around 5 minutes.
FINDINGS
The analysis will compartmentalize the participants’ responses to the stipulated interview questions into categories.
Interview Questions
Why do you clear your plates/don’t clear your plates?
8 people feel that it is everyone’s responsibility and also their integrity.
7 people feel that they are lazy and it is a chore to clear their plates.
7 people feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to clean up for us.
If there are no cleaners to clear you plates, will you return the plates?
Some of them feel that it is their own responsibility to do so.
Can’t be bothered to do so.
Some could be due to rushing of time.
Only if there are no cleaners around.
How often do you clear your plates after eating?
6 of them would always do so because of their integrity.
12 of them feel they would only do it when it is needed.
16 of them just cannot be bothered to clear.
1 person says that he/she would only clear if he/she is not rushing for time.
Do you think it is important for us to practice the habit of clearing our plates after eating?
Some feels that is a good habit to practice.
Feels that it is not their responsibility.
Peer influence can make them not clear their plates.
It is their responsibility to clear their plates after enjoying their meals.
Some of them feel that they should give the cleaners a chance to do their job.
If you don’t clear your plates, do you think it is a waste of time to clear your plates?
7 people feel that they are lazy and it is a chore to clear their plates.
12 people feel that it is everyone’s responsibility and also their integrity.
5 people feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to clean up for us.
6 people feel that they have been taught from young.
If you don’t clear your plates, how would you feel it you are a visitor of the school?
Cannot be bothered
Feels that it is nothing out of the box
Bad impression
If you don’t clear your plates, but your friend did otherwise, how would you feel?
Guilty
Can’t be bothered
Ask others to help
Follow the others and clear as well
If you don’t clear your plates, would you feel bad after the cleaners clear up your table?
Some of them would feel guilty.
Some of them feel indifferent.
One of them feels that it should depend on the cleaner’s age.
Others feel that it is the cleaners’ job to clear the tables.
Do you clear your plates at home or at public places?
Most of them feel that it is only right to clear their plates at home.
Few of them feel that they are just too lazy to do so.
It is only their responsibility to do it.
They feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to do so.
After doing this survey, do you think you will clear up our own plates?
Yes, they feel that this has let them realized how taxing is it for the cleaners to clear up every single table.
No, they feel that this is a survey after all and would not change their lifestyles.
Some feels that they would consider and give a second thought to clear their own plates.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, most of the people are just too lazy to clear the plates or feel that it should be the cleaners’ responsibility to clear it up for them. However, there are still a small number of people who would still clear up their plates. Knowing the use of such behaviours, the polytechnic’s administration can come out with ideas or measures to encourage the students to be more responsible for their behaviours.
Title : An exploratory study of behaviours after meals in a food court in Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Ong Zhi Xiang Jonathan/0715609
Tan Yi Xun/0725578
Lai Chunyuan/0505394
Ng Shu Ting / 0645870
Liuxuyang/0662488
Ngoh Yi Rui/0620334
Tan Chin Hang/0748913
Peh Si Hui/0737618
Dominic Chong/ 0629289
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why is there a failure to clear plates after eating in food court in Singapore Polytechnic?
DATA COLLECTION AND METHODS
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a food court at Singapore Polytechnic. The research takes a total of three weeks to complete. The research stretches from 15th October 2007 to 7th December 2007.
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
30 survey forms were given and completed by 30 different people eating at a food court in Singapore Polytechnic over a period of 3 weeks.
The same 30 people chosen were also being interviewed by us, with each interview lasting around 5 minutes.
FINDINGS
The analysis will compartmentalize the participants’ responses to the stipulated interview questions into categories.
Interview Questions
Why do you clear your plates/don’t clear your plates?
8 people feel that it is everyone’s responsibility and also their integrity.
7 people feel that they are lazy and it is a chore to clear their plates.
7 people feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to clean up for us.
If there are no cleaners to clear you plates, will you return the plates?
Some of them feel that it is their own responsibility to do so.
Can’t be bothered to do so.
Some could be due to rushing of time.
Only if there are no cleaners around.
How often do you clear your plates after eating?
6 of them would always do so because of their integrity.
12 of them feel they would only do it when it is needed.
16 of them just cannot be bothered to clear.
1 person says that he/she would only clear if he/she is not rushing for time.
Do you think it is important for us to practice the habit of clearing our plates after eating?
Some feels that is a good habit to practice.
Feels that it is not their responsibility.
Peer influence can make them not clear their plates.
It is their responsibility to clear their plates after enjoying their meals.
Some of them feel that they should give the cleaners a chance to do their job.
If you don’t clear your plates, do you think it is a waste of time to clear your plates?
7 people feel that they are lazy and it is a chore to clear their plates.
12 people feel that it is everyone’s responsibility and also their integrity.
5 people feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to clean up for us.
6 people feel that they have been taught from young.
If you don’t clear your plates, how would you feel it you are a visitor of the school?
Cannot be bothered
Feels that it is nothing out of the box
Bad impression
If you don’t clear your plates, but your friend did otherwise, how would you feel?
Guilty
Can’t be bothered
Ask others to help
Follow the others and clear as well
If you don’t clear your plates, would you feel bad after the cleaners clear up your table?
Some of them would feel guilty.
Some of them feel indifferent.
One of them feels that it should depend on the cleaner’s age.
Others feel that it is the cleaners’ job to clear the tables.
Do you clear your plates at home or at public places?
Most of them feel that it is only right to clear their plates at home.
Few of them feel that they are just too lazy to do so.
It is only their responsibility to do it.
They feel that it is the cleaners’ responsibility to do so.
After doing this survey, do you think you will clear up our own plates?
Yes, they feel that this has let them realized how taxing is it for the cleaners to clear up every single table.
No, they feel that this is a survey after all and would not change their lifestyles.
Some feels that they would consider and give a second thought to clear their own plates.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, most of the people are just too lazy to clear the plates or feel that it should be the cleaners’ responsibility to clear it up for them. However, there are still a small number of people who would still clear up their plates. Knowing the use of such behaviours, the polytechnic’s administration can come out with ideas or measures to encourage the students to be more responsible for their behaviours.
An exploratory study of the phenomenon of dressing among students in Singapore Polytechnic.
GROUP: MAD COW DISEASE
Title : An exploratory study of the phenomenon of dressing among students in
Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Bernice Seet Seng Gek (P0734404, DEPM/1B/01)
Audrey See Cai Hoon (P0717193, DBA/1B/08)
Zeng Shuhui (P0644684, DPFM/2A/21)
Xu Jia Wei (P0660486, DCSE/2A/22)
Kelvin Yeo (P0620602, DCHE/2A/23)
Zheng Ting Ting (P0738515, DMTM/1A/22)
Nurul Aini Binte Mohd Zaheid (P0535832, DMTM/3A/21)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do student pay special attention to their outer appearance in Singapore Polytechnic?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS (TING TING)
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a Polytechnic in the eastern part of Singapore. The research takes a total of six weeks to complete. The research stretches from 28th Nov 2007 to 11th Jan 2008
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Each of our group members approached students in the polytechnic. We interviewed a total of 35 students from different courses. We observed the trends and know more about the way they will want to present themselves to the public. Each of the interviews took around 10-15 minutes.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding.
b) Noting relations between variables
c) Finding intervening variables
d) Clustering
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
The conditions and the causes that influence the trends and students appearance are as follows:
Types of courses
In this study, it is shown that the types of courses the students are in influence the way that they dress up. For example, engineering students will need to wear covered shoes and simple clothing so that they will not hurt their toes or be hindered by their fanciful clothing while working at the workshop. On the other hand, students taking business courses which emphasize on the interaction with people and presentable self will tend to wear formal clothing as in the business world they will be in later. As for students taking fashion or design courses, they tend to dress up more outstanding and fanciful. Giving another example, it will be inappropriate for a nursing course student to put on heavy make-up. However, there are students whose clothing are not influenced by the types of courses they are in. These students believe their types of clothing are affected by their dressing sense and comfort zone.
Types of peers
Peers also play an important part in influencing students’ dressing. This is especially true for those who are very close to each other. They want to have same design of shirts to show their sisterhood or brotherhood. These peers make them feel that they are recognised in their groups.
Fashion trend
Students may be influenced by the clothing that their singing or movie idols wear. They want to emulate them. This makes them feel that they closer to their idols. At the same time, other students keep up with the trend and dress themselves with ‘IN’ type of clothes.
Types of occasion
Students may dress themselves up on special occasions such as wedding, graduation night and presentation or other important dates in the polytechnic.
CONCLUSION
In order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly. This applies for students studying in Singapore Polytechnic. From this study, we get to know that students do put in effort in dressing up. However, there are some who prefer to wear simply to school and some student dress up only on special occasions. Some students feel inferior when their peers’ dresses are more appealing than them. As a result, they may start to pay attention on their dressing. Some students feel that it is only appropriate for them to emphasise on their dressing if their course requires them to. From our analysis, we are able to conclude that students in Singapore polytechnic emphasise on their dressing. There are many reasons behind this conclusion but the key factors are mainly that they believe first impression counts and good appearance bring confidence. Polytechnics are like a fashion world. Stepping into a lifestyle free from school uniform is a huge jump for most of the students here. Hence, in order to be able to blend into the colourful crowd, most students will have a mindset of putting the best looking front in front of other at all times. In additional, looking good makes one feel better. And as a result, one’s confidence and self-esteem will definitely step up. This makes students easier to socialize around with other.
Title : An exploratory study of the phenomenon of dressing among students in
Singapore Polytechnic.
Date : 3rd January 2008, AY 2007/08, Semester 2
Conducted by : Bernice Seet Seng Gek (P0734404, DEPM/1B/01)
Audrey See Cai Hoon (P0717193, DBA/1B/08)
Zeng Shuhui (P0644684, DPFM/2A/21)
Xu Jia Wei (P0660486, DCSE/2A/22)
Kelvin Yeo (P0620602, DCHE/2A/23)
Zheng Ting Ting (P0738515, DMTM/1A/22)
Nurul Aini Binte Mohd Zaheid (P0535832, DMTM/3A/21)
AIM OF STUDY
The aim of this study is to answer the main research question as below:
Why do student pay special attention to their outer appearance in Singapore Polytechnic?
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHODS (TING TING)
This study employs a qualitative social-psychological research paradigm. The research is conducted in a Polytechnic in the eastern part of Singapore. The research takes a total of six weeks to complete. The research stretches from 28th Nov 2007 to 11th Jan 2008
The forms of data collection for the research are as below:
a) Each of our group members approached students in the polytechnic. We interviewed a total of 35 students from different courses. We observed the trends and know more about the way they will want to present themselves to the public. Each of the interviews took around 10-15 minutes.
The forms of analysis used are as follow:
a) Open Coding.
b) Noting relations between variables
c) Finding intervening variables
d) Clustering
FINDINGS
The findings for this research are as follows:
The conditions and the causes that influence the trends and students appearance are as follows:
Types of courses
In this study, it is shown that the types of courses the students are in influence the way that they dress up. For example, engineering students will need to wear covered shoes and simple clothing so that they will not hurt their toes or be hindered by their fanciful clothing while working at the workshop. On the other hand, students taking business courses which emphasize on the interaction with people and presentable self will tend to wear formal clothing as in the business world they will be in later. As for students taking fashion or design courses, they tend to dress up more outstanding and fanciful. Giving another example, it will be inappropriate for a nursing course student to put on heavy make-up. However, there are students whose clothing are not influenced by the types of courses they are in. These students believe their types of clothing are affected by their dressing sense and comfort zone.
Types of peers
Peers also play an important part in influencing students’ dressing. This is especially true for those who are very close to each other. They want to have same design of shirts to show their sisterhood or brotherhood. These peers make them feel that they are recognised in their groups.
Fashion trend
Students may be influenced by the clothing that their singing or movie idols wear. They want to emulate them. This makes them feel that they closer to their idols. At the same time, other students keep up with the trend and dress themselves with ‘IN’ type of clothes.
Types of occasion
Students may dress themselves up on special occasions such as wedding, graduation night and presentation or other important dates in the polytechnic.
CONCLUSION
In order to provide the most effective solution to a problem, there is a need to understand the problem thoroughly. This applies for students studying in Singapore Polytechnic. From this study, we get to know that students do put in effort in dressing up. However, there are some who prefer to wear simply to school and some student dress up only on special occasions. Some students feel inferior when their peers’ dresses are more appealing than them. As a result, they may start to pay attention on their dressing. Some students feel that it is only appropriate for them to emphasise on their dressing if their course requires them to. From our analysis, we are able to conclude that students in Singapore polytechnic emphasise on their dressing. There are many reasons behind this conclusion but the key factors are mainly that they believe first impression counts and good appearance bring confidence. Polytechnics are like a fashion world. Stepping into a lifestyle free from school uniform is a huge jump for most of the students here. Hence, in order to be able to blend into the colourful crowd, most students will have a mindset of putting the best looking front in front of other at all times. In additional, looking good makes one feel better. And as a result, one’s confidence and self-esteem will definitely step up. This makes students easier to socialize around with other.
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