Introduction
Time management is key facet in life. However, people have different abilities in terms of managing their time. In order to ascertain that this hypothesis holds, this paper takes students from Royal Docks business as the test sample. The students sampled are almost of the same age thereby reducing bias that might be brought about by the issue of age. This research is interesting because there are two different groups of people, of the same age, who employ different time management skills. The students from the school of Architecture, Computing and Engineering manage their time more effectively compared to students from Royal Docks business school are seen to have very poor time management skills. Another aspect of this research that makes it interesting is the manner that the undergraduate students and the post graduate students employ different time management skills. It is evident that despite the undergraduate students having ample time to do whatever they want, they normally have very poor time management skills. The postgraduate students organize their time more effectively, thus they manage to accomplish a lot more despite having very little time. The research is also interesting because it employs two different methods of data collection. This enables the research to establish whether there will be a disparity in the data collected as a result of employing different data collection techniques. The two different data collection techniques to be used are survey and interviews. The research methodology describes what shall be done during the research in technical terms. It shows the phases of the research project; the research design population and sampling procedures, data collection methods and instruments, and the proposed data analysis. The main purpose of the research methodologies is to enable the readers to gain a proper understanding of the procedures that are implemented during the research, and how they affected the results (Barrette, 2007, p.15). The description of the research methodology allows the reviewers to form a good critique about the project. Ideally, their critique will be based on the factors that prevailed during the research. The research methodology will also give details with regard to the reason why a particular type of research design was used for a particular research. It will give details on the criterion that was implemented in the selection the population of the study. This segment of the research will shed more light on the approach that was employed in the selection of the sample population (Birley, 1999, p.19). Details on the techniques that were used for the purposes of data collection will be highlighted. After highlighting the techniques they will be followed by justifications of why they were implemented. The last section of this report will contain the data analysis. In this portion the research will state the methodology that was employed in order to analyze data while giving reasons as to why this is the best method of analyzing data in this study.
This study adopted an explanatory research design in the form of a survey. The research aimed at establishing some of the major factors that influence time management, and balancing of studies and private lives for students of the University of East London (David, 2004). The research employed two different research methods in order to achieve the objective of the research. I conducted the research as a survey.
This is because I wanted to obtain data that will be representative of the population of students in the University of East London. The survey was conducted through the issuance of questionnaires to the University students (Flick, 2009). Since I conducted the research as a survey I had to prepare a questionnaire in order to collect data. After preparing a questionnaire I pre tested the questionnaire as a way of ascertaining that the students can be able to understand and respond to the questionnaire appropriately. Thereafter I sampled the population and later embarked in the process of data collection. Upon collection of the data it was analyzed and the results were presented. Research also employed a secondary research design known as an interview. I was determined a target population within the University of East London that would enable him to carry out his research effectively. I then prepared a list of questions that will be used during the interviewing process (Henn, 2009, p.23). The population
The population of the research comprised of the more than three thousand students in the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering and also students of the Royal Docks Business School of the University of East London. This is because all of the take part in time management as well as they try to strike a balance between their studies and their private lives (Mertler, 2012, p.37). The large population is also advantageous to this research and this is attributable to the fact that there will be diversity in the opinions of the students. The diversity in sentiments will enable me to obtain other factors that were not included in the questionnaire and are relevant to this particular research. By using a large population I will be able to determine a good sample size for this research.
The Sample
In order to effectively and efficiently carry out the research, I developed a sample population that was geared towards enabling me to obtain adequate data on the study population. In the selection of the sample size I put into consideration the magnitude of the research (O'Leary, 2004, p.31). This research was a small scale research therefore it means that I was allowed to use a relatively small sample size. However it is important to note that the sample size has to be representative. Before the selection of the sample I took into consideration the amount of time that was allocated to him. For this particular research the amount of time allocated was less than four weeks. As a result of this I had to utilize a relatively small sample population.
The students that were chosen to be part of the sample population where chosen on the following basis. They were chosen on the basis of age this is because for this research to be conducted effectively to had to have a fine blend in the ages of the participants (Oliver, 2010, p.29). However the participants of this research were required to be above the age of eighteen.
The participants were also selected on the basis on gender. This is attributable to the fact that the two genders use their time differently. I selected the sample population on the basis of gender in order to establish whether some of the myths perpetuated by the general public are backed by facts (Rugg, 2007, p.43). Gender also played a key role because the student population of the University of East London is composed of the two genders.
I selected the participants based on their marital status. This is attributable to the fact that the school of Architecture, Computing and Engineering and the Royal Dock school of Business is comprised of both single and married students (Silverman, 2004, p.21). The research sort to establish whether there is some disparity in the manner in which the two sets of students managed their time.
The people that took part in this research were also selected on the basis of their level of study. The research sought to establish whether the there is a difference in the techniques used in time management between the two groups of students that is the undergraduate students and the post graduate students (Simons, 2009, p.31). This is because it is expected that the post graduate students are usually faced with a lot of time constraints. The post graduate students are expected to have a larger work load as compared to the undergraduate students.
The sample population was also selected on the basis of the two schools that were involved in this research that is the Royal Docks Business School and the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering. This criterion is useful in establishing whether the students who pursue Architecture, Computing and Engineering manage their time more effectively than the students that pursue business related courses (Veit, 1998). This is because the former is considered to be relatively more demanding in terms of academic hours whereas the latter is considered to be relatively less demanding.Reasons why Chose Survey and Interview For the purposes of this research data were collected by the use of two different techniques that is a questionnaire and interview (Vaus, 2005). The questionnaire was comprised of twenty factors that the research sought to establish the degree of impact that they had on the manner through which students manage their time and the methods which they employ in order to maintain a healthy balance between their studies and their private lives. The factors contained in the questionnaire were obtained from the analysis of a lot of journals, articles, publications, studies and books on time management for university students. On the other hand I conducted interviews that were geared towards establishing the factors that were influencing the manner in which the students of University of East London were managing their time. The interview comprised of both open ended questions as well as close ended questions (Thomas, 2009, p.44). The close ended queries were aiming at establishing whether certain factors were in any way influencing the manner in which the students are managing their time as well as balancing their studies and their private lives. The open ended questions were geared towards obtaining additional factors that are relevant to this researcher and I had not taken account of them.Reasons why these two methods of data collection were better than the others Methods of data collection are very effective with regard in collecting primary data. This is because they enabled me to collect data directly from the participants in a manner that was effective and efficient. The questionnaires are very cost effective and they are normally not time consuming. On the other hand interviews enable the researcher to collect additional factors however they are usually consume a lot of time.Data Analysis Before processing the responses, I edited the completed questionnaires for completeness and accuracy. I analyzed the data from the completely filled questionnaires using descriptive statistics (Simons, 2009, p.27). This was due to the fact that only qualitative data was collected. Upon analysis of the data it was evident that both female and male students that were between the ages of twenty five and forty managed their time effectively. Students that were below the age of twenty five had very poor time management skills as shown in the table 2 below (Srivastava, 2011, p.33). This is attributed to the fact that they engage in a lot of fun activities such as partying; hence they have fewer responsibilities compared to their counterpart of above the age of twenty five. Most of the students that are pursuing post graduate studies had very effective and efficient time management skills. It is also worth noting that most of these students are married, and they have a lot of work load from both at work and school. It was evident that despite most of them having effective time management skills, they rarely maintained a good life and work balance (Silverman, 2004, p.42). On the other hand, the students pursuing their first degree usually have a lot of time to do what they want, despite lacking good time management skills. This study indicated that students of below the age of twenty five, and pursuing their undergraduate studies normally engage in activities that distract them from studying (Rugg, 2007, p.53). It was also evident that students of the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering organize their days in advance, whereas those of the Royal Docks Business School rarely organize their days in advance. This study justified most of the factors that were contained in the questionnaire. The research did not encounter significant challenges. The only challenge that I encountered was management of financial resources and time during the research (Oliver, 2010, p.44). Despite this, I completed the research in good time, and it was a success.
The research also indicated that most of the students below the age of twenty five do not manage their time effectively. This is mainly attributed to the fact that they have little to do in the course of the day; thus they do not find it necessary to manage their time. The students of above the age of twenty five usually take part in many activities all at once; thus, they find it necessary to employ various time manage techniques. The management of their time enables them to achieve a lot within a very short period of time, thus making their time management skills effective and efficient.
Limitations of this research the questionnaires were standardized and it was therefore it was impossible to clarify queries that the students taking part in the research might misinterpret. Some of the students did not have enough time to respond to the questionnaires; thus they responded to them superficially. Moreover, others were reluctant to respond to the questionnaires (Vaus, 2005, p.16). A questionnaire lacks validity and this mainly attributable to the fact that one cannot determine whether the respondent is telling the truth. The challenge with conducting interviews during the research was that most of the students were reluctant to respond to interviews or questionnaire when they were having their meals. It is also important to take note of the fact students detest being interrupted when they are studying in the library. It was also challenging to find people to interview because the process of interviewing is relatively long and the students would rather be engaged in other fun activities such as sports than respond to research questions (Srivastava, 2011, p.55). The results of the respondents were challenging to analyze and this was mainly due to the fact that some of the responses contradicted each other. Most of the students were unwilling to take part in the interview for they thought it sought to know details that they considered to be personal.
It was also very challenging to collect data during this season of the year. This is because it is currently very cold and most of the student preferred being indoors in places that is warm such as their rooms. As a result of this it was challenging to locate students outside their rooms or lecture halls in order to collect data. In order to collect data from some students I had to offer to procure hot coffee for them or entice them by buying for them a meal.
AppendixResearch Schedule
Graphs
Fig 1.1: Graph showing age distribution
Fig 1.2: Graph showing age distribution
Fig 1.3 : Graph showing gender and age distribution
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