If possible, the research could be continued over six years, tracing the graduation rates of three classes in direct relation to the amount of classes missed, studying the trends of missing lectures.
Expected Outcomes of the Study
It makes reasonable sense to believe that students, more stressed in academia now than ever before, are missing lectures not because of lack of respect for their teachers and learning environments, but instead because there is too much to do and not enough time for them to accomplish all that is expected. This hypothesis encompasses missed lectures because of other class work remaining (not due to having poorly timed the period in which to complete it, but because of too much to do during that time period) and having a job outside of school to help support the student during the academic career.
Project Management and Timetable
The project will be controlled by regulated performance of interviews; all recorded and then transcribed for comparison, and standardized surveys. Surveys will be administered to teachers in their mailboxes and returned to a private mailbox to be read; surveys administered to students will be done in student-friendly locations like food courts and student centers, and if possible, be made visible and encouraging by offering hungry college students an eatable treat (like a free sundae) for completion of the survey. An online component of the survey, sent out through email to a student populus, may also prove a valuable idea.
Timetable in Appendix I.
Appendix I.
First week of Term: Survey students by email with a "yes" or "no" response, asking:
Do you think you will have...
"School Culture." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Il, USA: May 15, 2005. p. 8.
McGlynn, Angela Provitera. "College Benefits Differ by Gender, Race, and Class." The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. Paramus, NJ, USA: Feb. 23, 2005. Vol. 15, Iss. 11. p. 32.
A new study, published by the American Psychological Association, reports from Carnegie-Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, that first-year students face more stresses in their new environment than do other students. This heightened level of stress may be responsible, they assert, for poor immune systems, higher levels of substance abuse, and increased feelings of loneliness that might detract from a student's still not fully developed decision-making ability from the amygdala of his or her brain. The newsroom at Carnegie-Mellon has the full release, and it is possible to find an archived version of the May 8 release of the article by the APA.
