The main purpose of the study of academic procrastination amongst male and female students is to evaluate the differences on how male and female students perceive procrastination in their academic studies.
This study made use of non random sampling where only college students were eligible. It used a total of 60 samples where 30 samples were from male students and the other 30 from the female students.
They were from no specific age group. The survey used for this study was the Procrastination Scale (PS; Tuckman, 1991). It is a 35-item scale arranged in a 4 point Likert format (e.g., “When I have a deadline, I wait until the last minute”). The responses can range from “1” (“That's not me for sure”) to “4” (That's me for sure”).
The scale measured tendencies to why students procrastinate. The PS was administered to willing volunteers as a paper survey. The scale is measured by obtaining the sum of the 35 item scale Likert number chosen which is; 1 through 4. The higher the score on the survey indicates the greater tendency for procrastination and vice versa. Validity evidence reveals a negative relationship of self-regulated behaviour and the PS scores. Findings showed that Male and female students differed significantly on surveys measuring perceptions of procrastination.
The effects of academic procrastination on students were shown and recommendations on how to reduce it were suggested.
Review of the literature
Introduction
Academic procrastination has become a common occurrence in the behaviour of students especially among college and university students and therefore a subject to be given so much attention. It is defined as the tendency to out off or delay tasks related to someone’s studies so that the tasks are not completed in their due time or the have to be rushed to meet the deadline (Solomon and Rothblum, 1994).
It is about being aware that you have an activity that you need to perform and even have the urge the need to do so but fail to be motivated to accomplish it within the framework given. This behaviour has resulted in making students perform poorly in their academic studies since it does more harm than good in their studies.
The most common form of procrastination among college students is when students wait until the last minute to hand in assignments or prepare for exams. It affects mostly students who have their academic lives characterized by frequent and strict deadlines. It is an “interactive dysfunctional and behaviour avoidance process,” (Ellis and Knaus, 2002) and therefore involves the need to avoid tasks, postponing them and seeking excuses that will justify the avoidance.
Ellis and Knaus claim that this behaviour is encouraged /reinforced by passing exams after reading during the last minute. Hence, students feel that this is the best way of studying. However, evidence also shows that academic procrastination leads to poor performance among students.
· The review has a final paragraph introducing the present study
· The contents of the literature review are organized according to finding or chronologically
· References are in APA format and correct
· Information is appropriately referenced.
Method
Participants
The survey conducted was introduced as academic procrastination amongst male and female students. The participants for this study were 60 college students. 30 were male students while the other 30 were female students. They were not from any specific age group. Consent was obtained from all participants prior to completing the survey hence there were no invalid forms.
Analysis was therefore done for all the 60 participants. All willing participants were administered a consent and demographic sheet. The study was then explained to participants who signed the consent form. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the difference on how female and male students perceived procrastination in their academic studies.
Procedure
Participants completed a consent form along with demographics sheet which were collected prior to issuing the survey. The survey was administered to all participants who turned in their consent and demographic sheets.
Once participants completed the survey they turned it in to the examiner. At that point in time the examiner asked participants individually if they had any questions regarding the study and they were addressed appropriately. Measures
The statistical analysis I used was the independent (between groups) t-test. I analyzed the data using the T-test to evaluate evaluate the difference between the means of two independent groups that is the male group and the female group.
Instrument
The Procrastination Scale (PS; Tuckman, 1991) is a 35-item scale arranged in a 4 point Likert format (e.g., “When I have a deadline, I wait until the last minute”) was used. The responses can range from “1” (“That's not me for sure”) to “4” (That's me for sure”).
The scale measured tendencies to why students procrastinate. The PS was administered to willing volunteers as a hard copy/ paper survey. The scale was measured by obtaining the sum of the 35 item scale Likert number chosen which is 1 through
4. The higher the score on the survey indicates the greater tendency for procrastination. The lower the score on the survey indicates the least tendency for procrastination. According to Tuckman (1991), the reliability of the PS has shown to be .90. Validity evidence reveals a negative relationship of self-regulated behaviour and the PS scores.
