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Methodology
For this project we used Google Form as a mode of conveying the questions to the students of UTM Johor Bahru. Our group members shared the Google Form link across platforms available to us such as Whatsapp and Telegram to get people to respond. Futhermore, by using this method which is mainly online is more convenient especially as while this survey was done our country Malaysia went into movement control therefore as it was online it did not affect our progress. Our aim for the amount of respondents we wanted to achieve was 60 and we manage to achieve that within a week or so. We managed to get a mix of both male and female respondents to ensure that this survey as well as the result was balanced and had the right variables. The age range of our respondents was between 19 to 24 years old, therefore we were able to get different data and findings due to the age difference. The responses from the survey was generated into a Microsoft Excel file which enabled us to arrange the data accordingly and systematically before it was imported into another software for graphical representation. The software that is used for creating a graphical diagram to represent the data is the R Programming software. We are able to generate various types of graphical diagrams that is suitable for the data to achieve the best representation for our findings. This was a good way to find out the reasons as well as factors needed correctly to ensure our representation and findings were proper.
We imported the data from our excel into the RStudio programme to represent these data in proper graphical forms. This makes it easier for us to compare the data as well as a study it to finalise our findings and discuss our conclusion as well as results. Below are some of the graphical representation for our data.
- Frequency population of genders and faculties
- this representation below helps us to compare the difference in genders as well as find out the majority of students faculties to understand if that plays a vital role as well in them not receiving enough sleep.
- Histogram of Average hours of sleep every night
- The graph below clearly represents the data correctly. By using this representation we were able to find out the average hour of sleep every night and this made it easier for us to see the difference between the students and to find out what amount of hours a student usually gets as we have 60 respondents so this representation makes it clearly shown.
- Bar chart to represent our question on what is stopping you from getting enough sleep.
- By using this graphical representation we are able to what are the factors accordingly and know which one of them is the highest. For example in the representation below we know that the highest factor is too much work and the factor with the least amount is mental health. This enables us to directly relate and discuss the factors accordingly
- Stem and Leaf representation for Credit hours.
- This represntation was done to show the current credit hour of student for this semester as we wanted to find out if the hours affected their sleep schedule. In this way we were able to relate it to the bar chart above as well as the histogram on average hours of sleep at night.
- Box Plot for how not getting enough sleep affects their body performance
- The question was made out of a scale of 10 to see if their lack of sleep had affected them during the day. This representation helped show the shape of the distribution of responses and aswers of the respondents as well as its central value and variabilty.
- Frequency Distribution Table and Graph for CGPA
- From our survey, one of our questions was based on the cgpa for current semester. The CGPA was represented in the graph below. We did this find out if there was a relation to the sleep schedule students. If their results was also affected by their sleep schedule.
- Scatter Plot
- Scatter Plot was used to represent data of the question how does not getting enough sleep affect the concentration and this reprsentation directly depicts the data we needed to derive and discuss on as the question was to rate it out of 10 and therefore this representation was easy to understand and discuss on as well as to relate it to other factors.
DISCUSION
Our survey that was conducted on Health Awareness on the matter of sleep managed to receive a number of responses from 60 students from University Technology Malaysia. We managed to receive responses from male and female students which helped us to balance the findings we wanted to get to ensure that it contains a group of people from all genders making it easier to see if gender played a role or a factor of if there was any difference in our findings. We also made sure our respondents were from different faculties to also find out whether their educational lifestyle or course also affects their sleep schedule therefore it was great that we managed to have responses from 4 different faculties. This enabled us to see if their schedule or course played any role in their lack of sleep. We also managed to find out their credit hours to see if that played a role as well.
The histogram below represents the average hours of sleep a student gets every night. This question was made to find out the hours of sleep each student gets at night. This was the first step into finding out if they were having a healthy sleep schedule at night. This histogram shows us that majority of the students were getting about 4 to 7 hours of sleep every night. There were a number of students who were only getting about 2 to 3 hours of sleep and this was very unhealthy.
We also asked the students to rate their sleep out of the scale of five. Five being that it was a good R.E.M sleep and one being terrible. This is because, although a student may sleep for long hours it doesn’t mean that their sleep was good. This may be due to many factors such as stress, overthinking as well the body being too tired which could lead to the heart or brain functioning overtime to regenerate the cells. From the representation below we know that most of the students sleep are moderate and a only a small amount actually suffer from a not so good sleep while most have rated their sleep as being moderate to really good.
It was also found that majority of the students as shown in the pie chart below do not know about consequences of not getting enough sleep. This question was made to find out if the students actually knew about the effects of not getting enough sleep both long-term and short-term on their health. This representation in the pie chart below helps us understand that many of them are not aware about it and is alarming issue. The relation to the average hours of sleep a student received every night was that most of them who were only getting about 2 to 5 hours of sleep were not aware about these consequences.
In the bar chart below the factors as to why the respondents have trouble with their sleep is shown. The answers given were based of issues students face in this day and age therefore we wanted to narrow it down and find out which of this one factors were the leading cause. For example in the representation below we know that the highest factor is too much work and the factor with the least amount is mental health. As we were able to relate this from the bar chart, we were able to find that a large amount of the students who were getting only about 2 hours to 5 hours of sleep were the ones who faced the issue of to much work and bad habits.
In our survey, we asked the resspondents about their credit hours for current semester. This was because we wanted to find out if there was a relation between their faculties and credit hours and whether or not it was what was affecting their lack of sleep. Through this we were able to find that although not all the students who were having more credit hours were sleeping less than the recommended time but majority of them were no matter the faculty. As we can see in the graph shown below. Majority of the students were having credit hours of 18 for this current sem. A majority of them as well answered that they were averagely only getting less than 5 hours of sleep.
Sleep patterns are usually built over time and we asked the respondents for their current semester CGPA to find out if their sleep patterns affected their results or was one of the factors as to why they do not receive enough sleep. Working hard is good but not receiving the recommended amount of hours of sleep could be detrimental to their health both long term and short term. From the frequency distribution table and graph below we can see that majority of the students did pretty well and had good CGPA. Although their lack of sleep did not affect their result but it may be thhat burning the midnight oil to obatain them has been detrimental to their health as well as their sleep schedule. Although we cant say for sure but there is the possibility.
We also asked the respondents if their lack of sleep affected their body performace throughout the day. As we know one of the issues faced by people from lack of sleep is the feeling of tiredness and lethargic. We asked them to rate it out of a scale of 10, where 1 being not at all and 10 being really tired and unable to perform. As we can see from the repsentation below, most of them rated it in between the scale of 5 to 9 and this meant that they were not really able to perfrom and felt tired. Most of whom only get an average of 5 hours or less of sleep. This was alarming as most of these students were already showing signs of the short-term effects on their health from not getting enough sleep.
CONCLUSION
In the same way we wanted to find out if the lack of sleep has also affected their concentration and understanding of their lessons in class. We asked them to rate it out of a scale of 10, where 1 being not at all and 10 being really bad. Theories have suggested that it would affect them and so by representing them in graphs such as scatter plot as well as frequency distribution graphs would help us get a clearer picture and understanding. Based of the repsonses, we were able to find that a huge amount of the students who were currently not getting enough sleep feel like they are unable to understand or concentrate in class. Based of the relationship between the hours of average sleep at night, those who were getting the right amount were able to concentrate and understand better compared to those who were not. In the long run, it is unhealthy for their physical and mental state as well as emotional and could lead them to underperforming in those particular classes and subjects. As we can see below, most of the students who were getting less than the recommended hours of sleep, responded on the scale of 6 to 10.
In conclusion, we were able to relate that the average hours of sleep does have an effect on the health. As we can take away from the responses, a large number of those who are avaragely slepping for 5 to 2 hours every night were struggling as they were unable to concentrate, understand and even physicall have the capabilty for their bodies to perform. This is because ass the brain is unable to rest and achieve a state of R.E.M sleep, the body was not able to functionto its full capacity. The capability to understand and concentrate are reduced as well. It is also clearly seen that a large number of them face the issue of to much work and therefore they are unable to get enough sleep. This may be due to time management or even overbearing amount of work. These factors are easily overcomed and should not be taken lightly by anyone. It should be taken into account and improved upon in the future to come. It is also important to educate society on the consequences of lack of sleep on the health as majority of the respondents were unaware. Health awareness should be focused upon and sleep althoough it may seem like a small issue, should not be taken so lightly.