Sleeping Problem Research

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Module Code:                           PM504

Module Title:                           Research Project

Class Group Number:              2

Research Subject:           Identify students’ experience of sleeping      

                           problems and its affects.

Kaplan ID Number:                         69963

Student Name:              Chen Yang

Tutor’s Name:                          Lesley Gower

Total Number of Words:              3651

Submission Date:                           29th June 2017

Research Project Report

Chen Yang

69963

PM504 Research Project KICL

Kaplan International College London (KICL)

Summer 2017

Abstract

        Currently, sleeping problems have been harmful to human beings. Many of students claimed that they have various sleeping problems. Objective: This research aims to identify students’ experience of sleeping problems, find out the factors that cause sleeping problems and how it affects students. Research Design and method: the same questionnaires, which contain 15 questions, were distributed to 25 college students in Kaplan International College London (KICL). Questions focus on types of sleeping problems, reasons of problems and impact of problems. Result: The prevalence of sleep problems was over 80%, 60% reported insomnia and 52% had daytime sleepiness. Most participants had unhealthy behavior before sleep, such as addiction to new media. In addition, results showed busy school life was another reason. Major of participants with sleeping problems believe these problem had have impacts on their academic performance in class, emotional performance and behavior on next day.

Content List

Abstract        2

Introduction        4

Research Objectives        5

Research Questions        5

Literature Review        6

Methodology        11

Research design        11

Research Methods        11

Ethical considerations        13

Findings        14

Discussion        19

Conclusions and Recommendations        22

References        24

Appendices:        27

Appendix 1 – Questionnaire        27

Appendix 2 – Letter of Indemnity        32

Appendix 3 – Reflection        33

Introduction

This study will investigate the students’ experience of having sleeping problems. The reason why the writer chooses this topic is that most of writer’s friends and researcher suffer various degrees of sleeping problems. Sleep is essential to personal health. Normally, a person needs 7 to 8 hours sleep so that it can keep the body function in good level. Nevertheless, a large number of students are facing sleeping problems in recent years. For instance, in accordance with a sleep disorder research designed by the National Commission, nearly 70 million American people have sleep related disorders. Among these 70 million people, approximate 40 million have chronic sleep disorders. The recent studies (Martin et al., 2007) suggested that people with sleeping problem have less energy and worse health than those who sleep well. In addition, insufficient sleep quantity and quality are related to different features as follow: mental health problems such as anxiety, depression; stress; poor health status; various risk behavior: smoking, drinking more, short sleep, media use, giving up breakfast; and poor school performance. The research (Gaultney, 2010) which participants were 1845 college students in a university in the US indicated that during 2007-2008, 27% of students have one sleep disorder or more potentially. Also those students who at risk for sleep problem are likely stuck in academic performance failure. Therefore, the study will also find reasons and how sleeping problems impact students’ daily life.

Research Objectives

1. To examine the prevalence of different sleeping problems among students.
2. To identify the factors that cause sleeping problems.
3. To evaluate the impact of sleeping problems in student’s daily life.

Research Questions

1. What are main sleeping problems among KICL students?
2. What are the factors of sleeping problems among KICL students?
3. How sleeping problems affect KICL students’ academic performance and personal life?

Literature Review

        At first, the literature review will find out what kinds of sleeping problems among international students, which previous studies have examined. Next, a number of reasons of sleeping problem that found by previous studies will be showed in the review. At last, the correlation between sleeping problems and social and academic performance that evaluated by various studies will be present in the review. Besides, this research will compare and discuss previous studies.

There are an increasing number of young people suffering sleeping problems, which affects their quality of daily living (Yang et al., 2003). A number of studies focus on sleep patterns and sleep habits. Hershner and Chervin (2014) found that daytime sleepiness, sleep deprivation and irregular sleep are the most common among college students. Writing in 2012, Schiarb, Kulessa & Gulewitsch showed that over 16% of 2196 university students need at least half an hour to fall asleep. However, 70.9% of participants are female. The result may not indicate the gender difference. To be precise, Tsai (2004) asked 263 participants completed a 7-day log to record sleep patterns of them. The work of Tsai stated that female’s sleep and wake up earlier than males, but poorer sleep quality than the male. Although the work of Tsai had smaller sample, it present reliable data because of log in detail instead of questionnaire. Moreover, Tsui and Wing (2009) investigated sleep patterns and sleeping problems in 620 Chinese business students in Hong Kong. Figures from Tsui’s and Wing’s study indicated that most students had noticeable less sleep duration in weekdays and sleep deprivation. A similar study can also be found in Korea. In 2001, Ban and Lee (2001) investigated sleep patterns of 1414 university students in Korea by questionnaires. The result of the study confirmed that the mean sleep duration of university students was near 6.7 hours. Figures showed that nearly a third of respondents suffered insufficient sleep, 36% of them had at least a kind of sleep disturbances. Both of studies of Tsui and Ban had large sample, which may help to reduce mistake of research. However, each study above only research in one university, even one type of students. Furthermore, Preisegolaviciute (2010) and his colleagues selected 405 students from different universities and different grades in Lithuania. Researchers demonstrated that 59.4% of participants reported sleep disorder. In particular, the figures showed that medical students had highest frequency of suffering sleep disturbances compared with law and economics students.  

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