RMAS2 - Research Diary Template (2019/20) A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Please fill in the following information about you, and the study you took part in. Your full name and student ID: Bethany Moody, s5104646 Your personal tutor's name: Professor Jan Wiener Name of researcher running the experiment: Georgia Mann Title of experiment: Student sleep and mental health: The relationship with lecture/seminar attendance Date of experiment: 22/02/2020 B. LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIMENT 1) How long did the study take to complete? 30 minutes 2) What type of equipment or materials were used and what data will be produced? The study took place in the lab. 4 short questionnaires were used. Three of the questionnaires were answered on a 5-point Likert scale so ordinal data will be produced. One questionnaire used open ended questions and so will produce qualitative data. 3) What type of design was used and why was that chosen instead of alternatives? A within subject's design was used, all participants completed all the questionnaires. This is because it is important to gain the information from both questionnaires for all participants to see the difference between them. In a between subject's design participants would complete different questionnaires and be assigned to a condition where they are told to sleep for a certain amount of sleep so this wouldn't be appropriate for this study as the variables are naturally occurring. 4) What was the main research question? Is there a relationship between students' sleep and mental health, and how does this affect university attendance? 5) What relevance do you think this research question has to real world applications? I think that a lack of sleep can severely affect your mindset and how positive you feel. 1
The rise in use of social media and mobile phones can affect this and as the rise in mobile phone usage is such a modern issue, I believe the study is applicable to the real world. I also think that as a university student, you go on nights out and stay up late and so it is interesting to see how this affects attendance. 6) Write a brief procedure. In what ways do you think the researcher did or did not show professionalism during the testing? The study was explained in full before I was provided with the information sheet which again explained in detail what the study would consist of and how data would be handled. I was then asked for consent. I was also informed they may withdraw at any time. At the end of the study a debriefing sheet was provided revealing the true aim of the experiment and how data would be used. There were also email addresses, phone numbers and websites provided in case any of the content upset participants. 7) How will the data be analysed? The outputs will be anonymised and the total scores for the Likert scales will be calculated and compared. The qualitative data will be coded and analysed. Tables and graphs will be formed, and the