BML224 Research Posters

Student Numbers: -1102588 -1103367 -1101442 -1105757 -1103182

POTENTIA POSTER: HAS THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS INSPIRED A GENERATION London 2012 Aim: “Inspire a new generation to greater sporting activity and achievement, helping to foster a healthy and active nation”

35%

Intro:

Figure 1: Inspired to participate in new sports after London 2012 Olympics

Figure 2: Prepared to travel to be able to compete Figure 3: Did you watch the London 2012 in sport?

Olympics?

Testing:

This project has been about looking at the London 2012 Olympics and seeing whether or not the event has inspired a new generation of athletes.

From doing background research we wanted to find out about how active people are. For example, we wanted to find out whether the individual person plays sport occasionally or is dedicated to playing sport.

What does Figure 1 show?

-Shows that Females were less inspired than males to participate in new sports

What does Figure 2 show?

-Shows that overall a higher percentage of respondents are prepared to travel to play sport -However, there are a higher percentage of students who aren’t prepared to travel, due to University, Income, Time constraints

What does Figure 10 show?

-There is no significant difference as p(135)>0.05 -The null hypothesis can be accepted -There is no significant difference between Watching London 2012 and Healthy Eating

-However, as a percentage more Males disagreed 34% The main objectives of the project were to: -See if people of all ages had become inspired to participate in sport because of the Olympics -Find out about people’s opinions on the after effects of the Olympics and seeing how to engage more people to play sport -See what factors have influenced people to participate in sports

compared to 32% of females -42% of Males Agreed compared to 37% of Females

Figure 8: 3 words on what influences people to play sport?

What does Figure 3 show?

-Majority of the respondents watched the Olympic Games -Shows that compared to participation more respondents wanted to watch sport -92% of respondents watched the Olympics -Shows the effect that the Olympics had an effect on respondents

Figure 9: Map of where respondents of the survey are located

play sport and find the reasons as to why this was the case.

What does Figure 4 show?

-Shows that 81% Females do less than 4 hours of sport.

-Shows that the Females who participated in the Survey are more inactive and that they value sport less than other activities.

Figure 11: Correlation on Inspired to participate in new sports and inspired to get physically fitter

What goes Figure 11 show?

-Shows that there is a modest correlation of 0.45 -This was significant as r=0.45, n=151 p(0.0005)<0.05 -However, since it is a modest correlation there is a limited impact between being inspired to participate in new sports and inspired to get physically fitter

-Find out why people couldn’t

Figure 4: Time Spent Playing Sport each week by Females

Figure 10: Chi Square on Watching London 2012 and Healthy Eating

Summary: Figure 5: Time Spent Playing Sport each week by Males

What does Figure 5 show?

-Shows that Males value sport more than Females.

-12% Male 8-12 compared to 5% Female 8-12 -33% Male 4-8 compared to 13% Female -Shows that Males are more physically active when it comes to sport

Figure 6: Would Monetary Rewards make people participate more in sport?

Figure 7: Schools/Colleges should become partners with sports clubs and governing bodies so that there are facilities to participate in sport?

What does Figure 6 show?

-Shows that there is a higher percentage of people that would participate more sport with monetary rewards -However, 24% of Males and 31% of Females are undecided on whether Monetary Rewards would make them participate in sport -Shows that there is a divided opinion on the matter

What does Figure 7 show?

-Majority agree that this should happen despite government stopping the scheme -Positive Skewness to the graph -80% Males agree that the scheme should happen -79% Females agree that the scheme should happen

Overall, the project was a success. We were able to find the right amount of literature and be able to create a questionnaire that enabled us to complete the project.

Our results allowed us to look at people’s attitude to sport and see how London 2012 has helped improve awareness in sport.

However, if we were looking at areas to improve on, if we did the same project again, then it would be that: -To try and find out more about people’s attitudes towards the Olympics.

-To try and find out more about people’s attitudes towards sport and why they like/dislike sport -Whether the long-term aim of the Olympics can be met.

-The questionnaire should have been more focused towards the aims of the project and towards the literature found.

-To be more thorough when finding literature to back up our views and questions.

35%

Data Analysis for Research Car Insurance Our objectives:

Who are we?

We are a data analyst company called ConsulTech, we conduct research into areas to see what the publics views and perceptions are towards areas in which could be improved. In this instance we have conducted research into car insurance and what a sample of the population feels towards car insurance.



To find out whether young people feel they are paying too much for car insurance.



To also understand the views of the people surveyed as to who they feel are the most dangerous age category.



To also find out if the younger population feel that because of their age or gender they are segregated by authorities when driving.

One-sample Test. Age vs. insurance cost

From conducting a One-Sample test of Age vs. insurance cost we can see that p(<0.0005)<0.05, therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference between age and insurance cost.

Conclusion We concluded from the research and analysing data that many younger people do feel that they are unfairly paying to much for their car insurance, when many of the youngest age category (18-21) feel that elder drivers should also have to pay more for their insurance packages.

Gender vs. engine size Firstly, we compared the engine size and the gender of the population that we surveyed, this would give us a reflection on what size engine male and female drivers drive. The results show us that the majority of car engine sizes that were owned were between 1.2 and 1.4 inclusive. The overall perception for the engine size that both males and females have was very similar throughout. The engine size is a major factor in determining insurance costs.

Age category vs. Car insurance company Age Category vs. Insurance type

The next data we analysed was to see which insurance policies each age category had on there vehicle, this would determine to us which insurance policies each age category were able to obtain, this could be due to the cost of the insurance, it could otherwise be because they were restricted on which policy companies would sell to them.

The younger the age group are the most likely to have third party theft and fire than those in older categories.

Following on from discovering what type of insurance each age group are able to obtain, we then analysed which companies are the most popular for each age category.

Our findings were that Admiral is the most popular company across all of the age categories apart from the 26-30 age category which only one was surveyed. Furthermore we discovered that all but three of the companies insure drivers in the 18-21 age category.

We have also discovered that many of the insurance companies do cover the 18—21 age category, however the type of insurance cover they are able to purchase is less likely to be a fully comprehensive insurance, this is likely to be because of the age of the drivers looking to be insured because it could be too expensive, or they unable to get full comprehensive cover..

Moreover we have also discovered that there is a significant difference between age and the cost of insurance.

ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH SPORT

AIM

HYPOTHESIS AND TEST RESULTS:

FACILITIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER

The Journal of Physical Activities, Dhurup M (2012) writes about the benefits derived from physical activity participation among university students.

SCENARIO:

Student Numbers: - 1108130

The research was conducted to assess where, both male and female students from both campuses reside.

- 1102575

The real benefits of regular physical exercise are well documented in literature (Webber, D, & Mearman, 2009). However, despite the benefits, many University students stop engaging in sports and physical activities after College.

- 1103247

HYPOTHESIS: Null hypothesisThere is no significant difference between the areas of residence lived in by students and their gender.

The purpose of our study was to examine the University of Chichester’s student’s level of sports participation and their satisfaction with the facilities. We examined both campuses and included variation of usage of sports facilities with regard to gender.

Alternative hypothesis (two tailed) There is a significant difference between the areas of residence lived in by students and their gender.

The Base Results showed the following:

OUTPUT:

Students use the facilities for only up to 1hr in a week and 40% have no strong feelings about the quality of amenities provided.

A Chi-squared test was conducted to determine if there is a significant difference in the areas of residence between the male and female parts of the student population. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference, were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

However, 39% of participants found the employees that run the centre to be knowledgeable, 45% found them friendly but only 29% were assessed as good at under standing student’s requirements.

The difference was not significant, therefore the null hypothesis is accepted and we can assume that there is no significant difference in the areas of residence between the male and female parts of the student population.

Female Male

Map 1: The West Sussex coastline.

The proximity of the facilities and the range of facilities provided was rated average by 34% of the students and Bognor Campus students would like to see a range of facilities Established on their campus although majority expressed preference for a gym.

Map showing the dispersion of University of Chichester students that had completed our survey.

Statistics Q1Campus Valid

50

50

1

1

Mean

1.54

1.44

Std. Error of Mean

.071

.071

Median

2.00

1.00

2

1

Std. Deviation

.503

.501

Variance

.253

.251

-.166

.249

.337

.337

-2.057

-2.020

.662

.662

Range

1

1

Fisher's Exact Test

Minimum

1

1

Linear-by-Linear Associa-

Maximum

2

2

tion

77

72

N

And finally, 54% of our respondents would recommend the facilities to others.

Missing

Mode

Skewness Std. Error of Skewness Kurtosis

Table showing students’ satisfaction with sport facilities in University of Chichester Somewhat Disagree 11%

Disagree 3%

Strongly Disagree 3%

Std. Error of Kurtosis

Figure 1: Are you happy with the quality of facilities provided

Strongly Agree 10%

Sum

National Lottery funding from Sports England (2012, a), provided £72,000 to the University of Agree 16%

Q5Gender

Chi-Square Tests Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-

Exact Sig. (2-

Exact Sig. (1-

sided)

sided)

sided)

.007a

1

.934

Continuity Correctionb

.000

1

1.000

Likelihood Ratio

.007

1

.934

Pearson Chi-Square

N of Valid Cases

1.000 .007

1

.581

.935

49

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 9.86. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table

Chichester for building of a new sporting facility. The building was completed this year and the Strongly agree

facility includes indoor and outdoor climbing walls and a new sports dome that houses 4 tennis courts and 3 netball courts.

Agree Somewhat agree Neutral

Somewhat disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Our analysis included a range of questions on the views of students with regard to the quality of sporting facilities built, choice of activities, opening hours, guidance and cleanliness.

40% of students were neutral to this question and had no strong feelings towards the quality of the amenities provided.

EVALUATION Although most of the students that responded to this survey were already taking part in some sports, it was surprising to see that the majority of them had no strong feelings about the quality of the facilities provided and that most of them had used the facilities for only a month. It could have been motivating to have data on why this is the case.

N= 49

Somewhat Agree 17%

Neutral 40%

Figure 1

Weekly participation and usage of Sporting Facilities amongst females

As our initial research shows, despite the well known health benefits of sports, many University students stop engaging in physical activity after College. The University should seek to promote and encourage the usage of sport facilities if we are to have a healthier, more balanced society.

Weekly participation and usage of Sporting Facilities amongst males

MALE

FEMALE Sportclub

53%%

CRITIQUE OF METHODOLOGY

13%

13%

7%

Sportclub

14%

50%

What worked well: 17%

11%

The existing research influenced what we included into our survey; this made us gain confidence in choosing the direction and aim.

22%

Up to an Hour

Up to an Hour Climbing

64%

8%

20%

Climbing

8%

61%

11%

11%

From 1 - 2 Hours Tennis

67%

17%

7%

Tennis

7% From 2- 3 Hours

Sport facilities Netball

FootRugby

59%

25%

66%

8%

17%

8%

33%

17%

Netball

From 3 - 4 Hours

FootRugby

56%

17%

32%

17%

42%

From 2- 3 Hours

What did not work well:

6%

Sport facilities

From 4 - 5 Hours

17%

44%

From 1 - 2 Hours

We got a good mix of students from both campuses, which made our analysis easier to review.

17%

11%

16%

From 3 - 4 Hours

From 4 - 5 Hours

10%

Some of the questions were formulated without a proper understanding how they will be placed into the analysis process and the supporting charts. As a result, it was difficult to find useful and significant differences using the data we had acquired.

Only 51 respondents made our results disappointingly thin.

10% Gym

Athletics

71%

21%

79%

14%

8%

Gym

7%

Athletics

30%

53%

20%

32%

What could be improved:

10%

11%

The survey could have been improved by sending it to larger audience of University students. This could have created significant differences in both results and analysis.

4%

Percentage of hours usage

Percentage of hours usage

N=22

30%

Figure 2

N=28

Figures 3

Additional, wearied questions could have helped to deliver a more rounded analysis.

Conducting the same survey on an annual basis and comparing those results could reveal interesting and useful trends.

Sports England APS3 2009 Survey, had found that only 3 students in 10 participate in sports regularly (Sports England, 2012, b). Furthermore, Dhurup M (2012) in his survey showed that the level of sporting activities amongst females is lower than amongst male students. The university environment poses challenges within which students have to combine a lifestyle that has to support their health and wellbeing as well as satisfying their demanding academic requirements. In the first year of University the challenge to fit into a new social environment and remain healthy poses a significant challenge to many.

Equally, following graduation, the personal commitment to participate in sports remains a struggle for most.

Ensuring that key questions were compulsory and not optional would have created more data to work with.

REFERENCES: 





Dhurp, M. (2012) A dimensional analysis of the benefits derived from physical activity participation among university students and variation in terms of gender, African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, (AJPHERD) Vol. 18, No. 3 (September), 2012, pp. 614-627, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 December 2012.

Sport England (2012) Active People Survey 3 *Online+ Available from: http://www.sportengland.org/research/ active_people_survey/active_people_survey_3.aspx Accessed on: 20th November 2012 Webber, D, & Mearman, A 2009, 'Student participation in sporting activities', Applied Economics, 41, 9, pp. 1183-1190, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 December 2012.

AIM

SCENARIO:

The report of the National Student Survey, CIBER (2011) writes about the student satisfaction and library provision.

The report showed about the university students’ feeling of library facilities, the satisfaction of the library services and IT provision. The result reveal that library satisfaction is overall positively correlated, which mean students rate their libraries highly. The library effect is statistically very significant but small, explaining 2.6% in overall course satisfaction.

The research was conducted to access if there is significant difference in students’ opinions on receive fair treatment or not between domestic and international students.

The purpose of our study is to investigate the University of Chichester student’s opinions on the library services performance at the Bognor campus and find out the new library’s improvement compare with the old library.

Alternative hypothesis (two tailed)

The base result showed the following:

OUTPUT:









HYPOTHESIS: Null hypothesis There is no significant difference in students’ opinions on receive fair treatment or not between domestic and international students.

There is a significant difference in students’ opinions on receive fair treatment or not between domestic and international students.

This survey has total received 50 sample size which collected in Bognor Regis Campus, University of Chichester.

A Man Whitney T-test was conducted to determine if a significant difference in students’ opinions on receive fair treatment or not between domestic and international students.

In the quality of library environment, Over 68% of respondents satisfied with lighting, 66% of respondents comfortable to the temperature. Unfortunately, 44% of respondents think library is not quiet.

A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

About 50% of students satisfied with electric equipment. However 54% of students dissatisfy of the computer amount.

The difference was not significant: U=259, p (0.431)>0.05, therefore, the null hypothesis can be accepted and we can assume that there is no significant difference in students’ opinions on receives fair treatment or not between domestic and international students.

This bar chart gives the percentage of how student satisfy on the library’s environment.

The most stands out satisfaction are students do think the lighting is suitable and power socket provision. However, some student feel the library is not quite enough.

Students do spend more time in the new Learning Resources Centre for group works.



Generally, student think librarian treat them without discrimination



Overall, students were gratified to the library’s service.

Test Statistics’

Ranks

Q5_f

Q3

N

Domestic student

Mean Rank

19

23.63

449.00

This chart has showed the domestic and international students’ feeling of how librarian treat them, whether discrimination or not.

449.000

Z

International Student

31

Total

50

26.65

826.00

-.788

.431

a. Grouping Variable: Q3

EVALUATION

14% of international students strongly agree staff treat them without discrimination; average 10 to 12% domestic students think librarian treats them without discrimination, which is lower than the percentage of international student and this is out of our expected.

Figure 1

Wilcoxon W

a. Grouping Variable: Q3

Figure2. How much do student satisfy on library environment?

While 0% of students think librarian treat them unequally.

259.000

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

Q5_f

Figure1. Does librarian treat international students with discrimination?

Mann-Whitney U Sum of Ranks

Figure 2

The New Learning Resources Centre has started function at this year2012 January, it has hold over 200,000 books covering the full range of the curriculum, also provides printing services, available of internet PCs and separate group work rooms.

Overall University of Chichester’s students are mostly satisfied with the new Learning Resources Centre. Librarian treat students without discrimination, provide accurate answer, efficiently and patient.

Also, student rated highly to the quality of library environment , they do think the library is quiet , suitable lighting,comfortable temperature and sufficient group work area As our initial research shows, most of students have no comment with the booking of PC, however, they do feel dissatisfied in the numbers of computer, simply put, the PCs booking service has not promote well, use of PCs are not in a good use of allocation resources.

CRITIQUE OF METHODOLOGY

What worked well: This bar chart gives the percentage of how student satisfy on the library’s environment.

The most stands out satisfaction are students do think the lighting is suitable and power socket provision. However, some student feel the library is not quite enough.

Figure3&4. Do students spend more time in library because of group work, as new library has provided more opportunity for group works

The comprehensive types of questions have provide wide data to analysis, help the result showed a wide range of information, which do specified to our topic – library satisfaction survey ‘s aim and objectives.

What did not worked well:

Figure5. How do student satisfy on the library’s Electric equipment?

Some of the questions on the survey are not clear enough and not provide right answers for respondents to choose, responses maybe in a wrong direction, which would affect the accuracy of the survey result. Moreover, there were only 50 respondents which are disappointed.

What could be improved: Figure 3

Figure 4

These pie chat illustrates whether students spend more times in library for group work and showing how much times they have spent.

86% respondents spend more times in library because of group work, 40% students spend about 10 hours.

In contrast, 14% respondents spent time in library for other reason and 57% of them spend more than 20 hours.

The result is group work is the main reason why student spend more time in library.

Bibliography: 

CASE, D. O. Looking for Information: a survey of research on information seeking, needs and behaviour. 3. ed. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Pub, 2012.



CIBER. Student satisfaction and library provision. National Student Survey. London, p. 27. 2011.



ELLIOT, J. Bamford Library Student Satisfaction Survey. HARPER ADAMS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, May 2012. Disponivel : http://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/library-services/files/Survey-2012-Results.pdf, Access: 11 Dec. 2012.



HANSEN, M. H. Sample Survey Methods V1 P: Methods and Theory. 23 Sep 1993. ed. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, v. 1, 1993.



JANE HARVELL, G. M. D. A. S. T. Library Survey 2011. University of Sussex. UK, p. 46. 2011.



LONDON, I. C. the Library Books and borrowing, 2010. Disponivel: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/library/aboutus/polls/librarysurvey2009/borrowing, Access :11 Dec. 2012.



STREETER, B. H. The Chained Library: A Survey of Four Centuries in the Evolution of the English Library. 10 Mar 2011. ed. UK: Cambridge University Press, v. 1, 2011.

Figure 5

Group Member: Lily Chan Hiu Ching 1207665 Qi Wang 1206354 Linna Li 1108866 John Ren Zhang 1108553

This chart presents the student’s satisfaction of electric equipment.

58% students feel good about the borrowed & returned books machine.

48% students have no comments on booking of PCs while 44% students were dissatisfied on the numbers of computer; in other word the booking PCs ‘s limitation causes the unwell use of allocation resources.

Overall, most students do satisfy on the library’s electric equipment.

Questions would improve into a clear structure and create suitable answers which might help delivery the final result in more accuracy way.

Also, based on the area range of audience is too narrow, it could be improve to ensure the survey reaches more amounts of respondents.

2.0 Results for overall sample

1.0 Introduction No. of recepipients

40

30

Distribution of age in respondents

Distribution by Gender

20

1206965, 100035, 1108486, 1108628 4.0 Testing

Female 45% Male 55%

10

0 Under 16 16-25

Age 26-35Category 36-45

46-55

56-65

Shop Online?

Yes

Fulltime Stud ent Unem ploye dSelfEmplo Other yed

6% 13%

11%

8%

30% 32%

Our scatterplot graph states that there is no linear relationship expressed and therefore there is a very weak correlation between the two variables. This means that average spend online is not influenced by gender.

65+

State of employment

No

17%

Why people shop online 83%

Preference for Shopping

Distribution of Income from respondants

40 35 30

No. of recipiets

No. of recipients

Males v Females: Purchasing electronics online

25

20 15 10 5

30 20 10

Chi-Squared

0

0 Online

In-store

Where they shop

Telephone

Income Category

3.0Analysis: Split files/factor determinants Age Category v Amount spent online 5.0 Summary and Critical Reflection Employment v Amount spent online (pw) Males v Females: Preference for purchasing against money spent Shop Online v Fear of online shopping due to media

Introduction

Figure 7:

Figure 6:

The following report explores the findings of qualitative research on ‘Students attitudes towards Bognor Regis’s local facilities and potential improvements’ carry out by the University of Chichester Students in autumn 2012. The University attracts students into Bognor Regis this in effect should increase the overall consumer spending within the local area, these results explore what deters students from spending within Bognor and identifies changes to be made that would increase overall spending and satisfaction.

Travel When it comes to visiting a location one of the primary concerns as to why students are not coming to Bognor Regis when using certain facilities could quite easily be due to the accessibility of the location, and because of this we decided to find out the ways in which our respondents access Bognor Regis. On our survey we asked two questions pacifically towards travel; how do you travel into Bognor town centre and do you think there could be any improvements on transport links in and out of Bognor?

Our research objectives included:     

Identify Students Attitudes towards Bognor Regis Pre and Post Visit Explore Accessibility into Bognor Regis Identify the Purposes of Students Visits Research the Visiting Experience Develop Suggestions for Improvements

Figure 14:

Figure 8:

Figure 9:

Figure 10:

Figure 11:

The existing sources of data that influenced our data collection and report included, ‘Your Town, Your Future, Your Say 2012’ report and questionnaire conducted by Arun District Council which used data collected in 2007, and ‘Student-Linked VFR traffic’ Hunter-Jones, P, 2008.

Profile Respondents Almost two-thirds of the sample (61.5%) were female, the remainder (38.5%) male. The majority were aged 17-25 (88.5%), followed by 26+ (11.5%). Similar statistics were applicable to the students’ campus location equalling 88.5% attending Bognor Regis campus and 11.5% Bishop Otter campus in Chichester. 59.6% (31) of the sample were unemployed meaning 40.4% (21) were employed 7.7% (4) of which work in Bognor.

Student Transport into Bognor Regis Town Centre Figure 14 identifies how students travel into Bognor Regis town centre. From this we found that the majority of our respondents access Bognor Regis town centre by walking (61%), followed by driving (25%), however no respondents travel by bike or taxi.

In contrast to students living location, it can be identified that there is a link to how people have travelled into the town centre and where they live.

Attitudes The following figures identify what students initial perceptions were of Bognor and whether these perceptions changed after starting university.

Figure 16:

Pre-Visit Figure 12:

Figures 4—10 show the different facilities and how often the respondents visited them on average in a week. Figures 6, 10 and 11 were all the most popular within Bognor Regis as reasons to visit. This reflects poorly on the beach, which as figure 1.2 shows, the beach has declined from the original thoughts in figure 1.1, and is reflected in the number of visits to the beach being relatively low. Figure 12 shows how there is an opening for more job opportunities in Bognor Regis, with a large amount of respondents either unemployed or working elsewhere.

Figure 15 indicates that the majority of people who filled out the survey live in Bognor Regis which explains why 61% of the respondents said they walk. Figure 16 shows how travel is affected by respondents being based at the Chichester campus, and this seems to influence the amount of visits according to how many students visit Bognor Regis 16+ times a week. Figure 16 shows that no students based at the Chichester campus visit within the 16+ category, which can be attributed to the traveling services into Bognor Regis.

Tests Comparing Respondents Results on Facilities We asked the students to summarise in a few words what they had thought of Bognor before they started University. As shown in Figure 1.1, the majority of students questioned had thought Bognor to be a quiet, boring, rundown old town. However it was also apparent that many of the students believed Bognor to have a better reputation for its more traditional seaside features such as the beach and the parks. It could be reasoned that it is because Bognor is by the sea with these more favourable features that students would not have been deterred from coming to the University of Chichester to live there altogether.

Chi-Squared Test on the Rating of Shopping Facilities Against the Need for More Retail Options The Null Hypothesis: (H0) There is no significant difference between how respondents rate the shopping facilities in Bognor Regis and the opinions on the need for more retail options in Bognor Regis.

The Alternative Hypothesis: (H1) There is a significant difference between how respondents rate the shopping facilities in Bognor Regis and the opinions on the need for more retail options in Bognor Regis.

Post-Visit

Report the Output A Chi-Squared test was conducted to determine if a significant difference existed between how respondents rate the shopping facilities in Bognor Regis and the opinions on the need for more retail options in Bognor Regis. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a positive difference were established, and a 95% confident level was assumed.

The difference was not significant: x² (4)= 21.296, n=52, p (0.167)>0.05. Therefore null hypothesis can be accepted and no significant difference between the average amounts spent by respondents in Bognor Regis a week and the average spent by respondents on leisure facilities.

Chi-Squared Test on the Average Amount Spent a Week in Bognor Regis and Average Spent on Leisure Facilitates

We then asked students whether their thoughts about Bognor had changed since they began University. The dominant thoughts of the students are shown in the word cloud in Figure 2.2. 38% of those questioned said that they had changed their opinion, with the other 62% saying Bognor was how they imagined it to be. Of those who said their opinion had changed, 60% of those said they thought Bognor to be worse than they had previously thought, with some stating the reason being the lack of things to do, and others said they didn't like the quality of the area, suggesting the town is rundown.

The Null Hypothesis: (H0) There is no significant difference between the average spent by respondents in Bognor Regis a week and the average spent by respondents on leisure facilities.

The Alternative Hypothesis: (H1) There is a significant difference between the average spent by respondents in Bognor Regis a week and the average spent by respondents on leisure facilities.

Report the Output

Summary This data suggests that Bognor's reputation as a place to live precede it, and that the town is in need of investment and redevelopment if it wants to attract more of the student population to live and study there at the university. This is important for the town, as more students, means more money being spent in Bognor.

Due to the respondents post-visits being negative, we have decided to use the respondents results to identify if there was a link between the negative perceptions and the facilities within Bognor Regis.

Respondents results regarding facilities

Figure 4:

The difference was no significant: x² (4) = 16.389, n= 52, p (0.357)>0.05. Therefore null hypothesis can be accepted and no significant difference between the average amounts spent by respondents in Bognor Regis a week and the average spent by respondents on leisure facilities.

Summary of Tests

Identifying the problems: Facilities in Bognor

Figure 2:

A Chi-Squared test was conducted to determine if a significant difference existed between the average spent by respondents in Bognor Regis a week and the average spent by respondents on leisure facilities. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a positive difference were established, and a 95% confident level was assumed.

These tests indicate that there is no real difference, either between the test for spending in Bognor and on leisure, and the test for the want for more shopping facilities compared to respondents opinions on the current shopping facilities. This shows how there are links between both test variables, and that an improvement in one aspect has an increased chance in resulting with an improvement in the other variable.

Potential Deterrents A comparison beFigure 3: tween figures 2 and 3 show a difference between people finding Bognor entertaining, with 59% saying they don't find Bognor entertaining, showing similarity as to why 62% of people would not want to live in Bognor.

Figure 5:

One question that was added into our survey was used to ascertain what, if anything, deterred people from visiting Bognor. We believed asking this would help narrow our focus as to what our respondents wanted to change in Bognor Regis.

Figure 13 shows how most reasons have some effect on people coming to Bognor, but most retain the same average low and considerably less people are put off by these factors then those that are not. This is not true for the “lack of entertainment” option, which many regarded as a reason to be deterred from Bognor. This correlates with previous results gathered from figures 1.1 and 1.2, where many responses stated that it was old, boring, quiet and dull. The second highest from figure 13 was “other” where people commented on what reasons they were deterred. These were comments such as attractiveness, and that Bognor does not compare to nearby cities. This shows a lacking in Bognor in terms of facilities, and this is the main reason why people are deterred from visiting Bognor Regis.

Figure 13:

Suggestions for Improvements on Transport Links In and Out of Bognor Regis As shown in Figure 15 the most popular way to travel into Bognor Regis town centre is through walking, however this was shown that the majority of people walking into Bognor Regis town centre live in Bognor.

We decided to find out if there were any improvements our respondents thought should be made to the transport links in and out of Bognor. 34% of respondents said that there were improvements which needed to be made, however the majority stands with the respondents which replied that there were no improvements that needed to be made with 66%. The 66% figure shows similarity to the 61% of the respondents living in Bognor Regis. This could suggest that many of those who do not think that there should be improvements to transport links live in Bognor, and therefore do not use them.

Respondents said that they would prefer better train links and routes into Bognor Regis, for a main road to be built going into Bognor for a more direct route, more bus routes around Bognor and from Chichester, and more parking. All these suggestions can be made to make it easier for people to access the town centre; if these improvements towards the accessibility of Bognor Regis were implemented Bognor may attract more consumers spending.

These results are similar to our background reading, as a survey conducted in 2007 by the Arun District Council on the development plans in Bognor. Most respondents stated their concerns in the 2007 survey that they were worried about the parking facilities to be provided.

What Can be Changed Based on What We Observed in Our Survey and Our Background Reading?

With a large amount of the respondents replying that the first thing they thought about Bognor Regis was the beach, and comparing this to their thoughts after they had visited which had changed dramatically, this shows how an improvement to the beachfront in Bognor, which is clearly a selling point for the town, is where a lot of renovation should be focussed. One piece of reading conducting a survey on people’s opinions in Bognor agrees with this, as most respondents replied that they felt they wanted to improve and focus on the beach and the esplanade. One of the second most notable views is that Bognor is quite dirty, and not well maintained, as well as its buildings giving Bognor a not particularly welcoming feel. This correlates with responses to the question does Bognor have attractive architecture, where many disagreed and strongly disagreed with the statement. This seems to be another focus of peoples dislike for Bognor, or why they are hesitant to come to Bognor. Other possible changes related to the data was a call for a larger amount of jobs available, particularly part time jobs, with over half of respondents without a job, granting more opportunities and possibly addressing any negative views on the lack of retail options within Bognor. Travel accessibility was generally positive, however respondents seemed to prefer more train links, and maybe a main road for increased accessibility, and congestion seems to be the main cause of this view. Finally, one of the frequently mentions was the nightlife and entertainment of Bognor Regis. A focus on more nightclubs or bars, along with maybe more daytime entertainment facilities such as a bowling alley or a bigger/improved cinema, which correlates with background reading surveys that found a large number of respondents wanted to retain and improve the entertainment sphere of Bognor Regis.

Summary In our survey, our aim was to find out what students thought of Bognor as a town, how much they spent on shops and facilities, and what improvements and redevelopments needed to be made. From these results we then hoped to identify ideas for possible improvements for Bognor Regis’ town centre and facilities. The results gathered from our survey showed that whilst Bognor is still liked by those living outside and in the town for its more traditional seaside features, it does carry a reputation of not being a nice place to go and has a fairly limited leisure market. This issue is a recurring theme with both figures 1.1 and 1.2 showing a negative view of Bognor Regis, both of which puts people off from coming to Bognor and minimises the chances of people returning. Whilst the residential area is an issue for students in Bognor according to figure 1.1 and 1.2, it is the quality of the town's local retail and leisure facilities that were the focal point of our survey. The results from our tests show that students were happy with certain facilities such as the current shopping, cinema and places to study, with the latter being due mainly to the university. However, there was a general need for more to do in terms of leisure activities in and around the town. Bognor's reputation may not be exclusive to students, but if the town is to thrive, then money needs to be invested, and redevelopments need to be made, which was similarly recognised in the back ground reading, particularly the 2007 survey by Arun district council. The background reading identified that within Bognor there was also desire for similar improvements, regarding parking and access, as well as the amount of focus on the beach being improved.

Should we try to repeat our survey to get a more accurate idea regarding students attitudes towards Bognor Regis and its facilities, there are a number of things which we would need to change. Firstly we would need to change some of our questions in our survey, as they are limited in the respect that we have too many ordinal and nominal questions, and not enough ration data. This limited the amount of tests that we could of performed, and changes to this could possibly have made our data more accurate and relevant. We also found that some of our questions were a bit ambiguous and therefore answers we received were not in the same context or format, such as how would you describe Bognor, which had a large amounts of unrelated connectives which is not actually relevant in describing Bognor, and makes similarities difficult to identify, thus greatly reducing our ability to compare data. Finally another change that would need to be made is that one of our primary data questions that we created ourselves, to identify different shops in Bognor Regis and how respondents rated these. The question itself was too long, as each shop had three parts, making a grand total of 173 questions for one section.

This not only made the data collected from this question hard to use and understand, with many people leaving sections blank. This also caused problems according to our feedback as the question itself took too long to complete, particularly with question 17 being so long, and this put off the amount of people completing the survey, arguably reducing replies and accuracy to the survey.

Mann Whitney Test

Introduction:

We wanted to establish if there was any relationship between whether people currently participate in sport and the perceived costs of participating in sport.

Scenario – levels of sport participation and factors affecting sport participation Existing literature – Sport England (2009) Research into variations in sports participation between local areas showed that the national average for participation in sport and active recreation is 21.9% Sport England found that there were significant difference in the levels of sports participation between different geographical locations Results found that main factors affecting sports participation are gender, age, socio-economic groups and geographical location

Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between whether people currently participate in sport and the perceived cost of participating in sport; sports participation is not influenced by costs.

Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant difference between whether people currently participate in sport and the perceived cost of participating in sport; sports participation is influenced by costs.

Overview of results: Sample size = 53 people

Output: The difference was not significant U = 232.5, p (0.146)>0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis is accepted, and we can assume that there is no significant difference between perceived costs of sports participation and whether people currently participate in sport.

 54.7% male (29 respondents), 45.3% female (24 respondents)  46.2% of respondents live in Bognor Regis, 26.9% live in Chichester; remaining respondents live in Brighton and Southampton.

 Average age of sample is 21 years old.  54.9% of sample have previously been involved in sports at a club level  67.3% of sample currently participate in sports related activities, with 51.4% of these participating in sport 2-3 times a week

Conclusion: The result shows what factors influencing interviewees participate in sport. And the result analysis that:

Location to engage sports

People participate in sports

A higher percentage of interviewees prefer to do sport in

34% 29%

Gym and University of Chichester.

32%

28%

Gym Home Town

People participate in sports

Local playing fields

16%

Sports Hall

13%

University of Chichester

9%

A large number of interviewees who participate in sport agree that engaging sport can stay healthy.

52.8% of interviewees prefer to spend less than 10 minutes to travel to the nearest sport facilities.

Most interviewees are currently participating in sport1

2

3

4

5

13%

Rank how cost affect sport participation 1= Less affect; 5= Most affect

10%

related activities and participate 2-3 times a week.

16%

This research shows what factor influencing the interviewees participates in sport. It shows time consume is the most important factor to interviewees choose if they engage sport or not.

People don't participate in sports 50%

Through the research of factors influencing sport participation, the results suggest: People don't participate in sports

18% 9%

15%

3% 1

2

3

Rank how cost affect sport participation

Student number: 1109117 1109186 1108865 1005015

4

5

Bognor Regis campus should provide more sport facilities to student. As 46.2% of interviewees are living in Bognor Regis.

However, there is only one Gym in Bognor Regis and it takes 20 minutes on foot from University.

University of Chichester should spend Wednesday as Sport’s Day to encourage student participate in sport because many sport teams have competitions on Wednesday.

This result is based on an online survey, there is a limitation of this result such as there are some useless data from the interviewees. This may influence the accuracy of the result.

Introduction

The Challenges of Internationalisation and Multi-Cultural Group Work

Part of being a student in 2012 means facing a variety of assessments and completing tasks as a member of a multi-cultural group, preparing you for the modern way of working in an organisation in a multi-cultural society. During our time so far at university our group members have all experienced being part of a multi-cultural group and the associated challenges of internationalisation that this presents.

Distribution of Sample by Origin of Area

Having experienced the challenges of international groups first hand we decided to investigate the issues further to find out what causes them and find possible ways of overcoming them.

Due to internationalisation being such a broad topic we decided to focus on multi-cultural group work as this is the most relevant area for us as students at this time.

Distribution of SEMAL Students by Origin of Area

The two Pie Charts show the distribution of Domestic, EU International and Non-EU International students in the SEMAL department of the University of Chichester and our research sample. When comparing the two we can see the distribution of our sample was very similar to that of the whole SEMAL department but on a smaller scale representing roughly 12% of the whole department. This means that our sample is fairly representative and so increases its validity.

During our research we found that multi-cultural groups present a variety of issues and that the effect is that students can become reluctant to join a group that includes other nationalities. Here you can see the results and analysis of our research supported by relevant literature as well as unexpected findings of interest.

Background Research 

Firstly, we spoke to Paivi, L. (2012) to find out her points of view on the topic as she is an international students advisor. She informed us of some useful resources on the topic and also provided us with a breakdown of the number of students in SEMAL and their respective nationalities.



Next we looked at DeVita, G. (2002) who suggested that UK domestic students held the belief that assessed multi-cultural group work compromised their final marks and brought their average grade down. It also suggested that a primary concern of domestic students was language barriers resulting in the attitude that they didn't want to work with international students who’s level of English was poor.







Domestic and International Students Attitudes About Whether Multi-Cultural Group Assessment Will Bring Average Grade Down 12

We also read work by Harrison, N. and Peacock, N. (2007) who suggested UK students would rather stay in mono-cultural groups and gave the opinion that international students “all group together and I don’t think they integrate quite as well”. This suggested that students would rather stay in groups composed of the same nationality as themselves rather then work in multi-cultural groups.

 

The background research showed that one of the issues associated with multi-cultural group work was that Domestic students believed that their average grade would be reduced as a direct consequence of working with international students.



We asked students to rate the extent to which they agreed with this statement.



The results of our research showed that international students tended to strongly disagree with the statement as expected. On the other hand, the results from the domestic students were inconclusive with roughly half agreeing with the statement to various degrees and half disagreeing with the statement.

10 8 6



4

Domestic

2

We looked at Chuah, S. (2010) who introduced the concept that East-Asian students are often quiet and passive and therefore perceived as unconfident and shy. However they went on to explain that they feel this is more likely a cultural difference in learning style and manners rather than being due to poor confidence as perceived by other students.



International

0

This image represents the regularly used words and phrases used by our respondents to describe their experiences of multicultural group work. The size of the fonts represents how frequently the words were used and is useful for showing commonly held opinions of students concerning international groups.

Test Statistics

This was very unexpected as it didn't conform to the results of the background research. This could be due to several factors including; sample size, the area the questionnaire was conducted, questionnaire distribution technique or the sample trying to be politically correct.

A Mann Whitney Test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between international and domestic students responses.

The difference was significant U= 200, p ( 0.014) < 0.05. Therefore we could reject the null hypothesis and we can assume there is a significant difference between domestic and international students attitudes about whether their average grade would be affected. Attitudes about grade depreciation are influenced by whether you are a international or domestic student.

MannWhitney U

GRADE_DEPR C 200.000

Wilcoxon W Z Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

"I am being judged by British students. Doesn't matter what is the level of my English or how much knowledge I have about the subject. When you work in a group with other international students your confidence is affected so much that you just feel that you can't do things better than other groups with British students only”

903.000 -2.452

“When working with international students the main problems arise with students whose English is not great.”

.014

a. Grouping Variable: INTvDOM

“The discussion about multi-cultural groups experience is strongly individual. I would say that this had been the worst experience for me during my course.

Furthermore I don't think that this experience has really contributed to my personal development. In my opinion the future generation international students would rather decide to study at their own countries or at universities where there will be more students with the same nationality as we can observe it at the moment having a dominant group of Chinese students.”

Finally, we used the Higher Education Academy (2012) to give us a better understanding of the various issues within internationalisation and integration of international students.

Crosstabulation of Students Group Composition Preferences Split by EU and Non-EU

Reference List of Background Resources - Chuah, S. (2010) Teaching East-Asian Students: Some Observations, retrieved: 14/10/12, from http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/chuah_international

Crosstabulation of Students Group Composition Preferences Split by International and Domestic

- DeVita, G. (2002), ‘Does Assessed Multicultural Group Work Really Pull UK Students’ Average Down?’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 27, No. 2

IDL_TEAMS



IDL_TEAMS

- Harrison, N. and Peacock, N. (2007) Understanding UK Student Response to Internationalisation, retrieved: 14/10/12, from http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/files/pdf/world_views/ uk_student_response.pdf

INTvDOM

Same All British nationality Mixture of Don't students as myself nationalities care 2 2 10 4

International Count % within INTvDOM Domestic

- Higher Education Academy (2012) Internationalisation, retrieved: 25/10/12, from http:// www.heacademy.ac.uk/internationalisation

Count % within INTvDOM

Total

- Paivi, L. (2012) University of Chichester Learning and Teaching Conference - Internationalisation

Count % within INTvDOM

11.1%

11.1%

16

3

42.1%

7.9%

18

5

32.1%

8.9%

55.6% 22.2% 3



Total 18 100.0%

16

38

7.9% 42.1%

100.0%

13

20

56

23.2% 35.7%

100.0%



Another area we were interested in was which type of group composition students wanted to work in and whether it was different for domestic students compared to international students. To investigate this we conducted a cross tabulation comparing whether students were international or domestic with which group type they preferred to work with.

EUvNonEU

Count % within EUvNonEU

Non EU

The results showed that 50% of domestic students wanted to work in the same nationality as themselves which agreed with the background information but 42.1% didn't care what type of group they were put in suggesting that many students would be happy working in any combination.

On the other hand 55.6% international students would rather work with a mixture of nationalities and 22.2% didn’t care showing that they are far more willing to work in multi-cultural groups. This was expected as they are moving to a foreign country to study showing a predisposed willingness to work in multi-cultural groups.

EU

Count % within EUvNonEU

Total

Count % within EUvNonEU

All British Same nationality Mixture of students as myself nationalities 2 1 5

Don't care

Total 3

11

18.2%

9.1%

45.5%

27.3%

100.0%

0

1

5

1

7

0.0%

14.3%

71.4%

14.3%

100.0%

2

2

10

4

18

11.1%

11.1%

55.6%

22.2%

100.0%



Further to this we investigated whether within the international grouping their was a difference in the preference of EU students compared with Non-EU students to which type of group composition was preferred.



Interestingly 0% of Non-EU students wanted to work in a group that consisted of only British students which suggests a lack of confidence to work in a group that doesn't include others who's first language is not English.



Contrastingly 18.2% of EU students wanted to work with British students only suggesting they are more confident to work with domestic students than Non-EU students.



However both EU and Non-EU students pre-dominantly prefer to work in mixed nationality groups with 45.5% and 71.4% respectively.

Differences Between Genders on Attitude Towards the Statement "I Prefer to Work With Group Members of the Same Nationality as Myself" 

12 10



8 6 4



Male

2

Female

0

We also looked at whether willingness to work in a multi-cultural group was affected by gender. We asked students to state how far they agreed with the statement “I prefer to work with group members of the same nationality as myself” and tested to see if gender had a significant affect on the results.

The result showed that females were much more willing to work with other nationalities than males. This could be seen in the stem and leaf diagram which shows that females had a higher median score of four on the scale compared to males who were less willing with a median score of two on the scale.

Test Statistics

Mann-Whitney U

PREF_SME_N AT 232.500

Wilcoxon W

“…I never seen so many people who think that they are better just because they are British. I think this is really affecting people’s lives and making the experience at University very unpleasant. If you will have a look at groups of people during the breaks, it’s hard to see any international students involved in conversations (…) I would understand if there would be just a few people who would be left alone but unfortunately it’s a majority of international students left alone. So I am assuming that there is a problem not with international students but with British students who don't want to get on with people from other countries. I just would like domestic students to imagine that they decided to study in another country in order to improve language skills and gain new experience. Can you imagine how hard it is speak in other language, not English, leave all your family and friends away and get these horrible attitudes from local students. I can't express how immature and disrespectful it is.”

508.500

Z

-2.209

A Mann Whitney Test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between male and female students willingness to work with other nationalities.

Asymp. Sig. (2tailed)

The difference was significant U= 232.5, p ( 0.0135) < 0.05. Therefore we could reject the null hypothesis and we can assume there is a significant difference between male and female students willingness to work in multi-cultural groups. Willingness to work in a multicultural group is influenced by gender with females more open to working with members of other nationalities.

a. Grouping Variable: GENDER

.027

Issues Faced and Changes We Would Make

Students Attitudes Towards the Differences Between EU and Non-EU Students' Confidence to Contribute in Small Groups

14





12 10



8 Domestic

6

Another area of multi-cultural group work that we wanted to investigate was whether students perceived differences between working with EU and Non-EU students. One aspect that we examined was differences in confidence to contribute to small group discussions.

Our results suggested that all groups of students agreed that there was a difference between EU and Non-EU students confidence to contribute within small group activities which can be seen in the bar chart of responses. This follows the background research that East Asian students, particularly Chinese students, are often be perceived as quiet and unconfident. Research suggests that they lack confidence in conversing in English and have a contrasting learning style resulting in the perception of a lack of confidence.

Test Statistics

Mann-Whitney U



One of the issues we faced was that our results concerning students attitudes about multi-cultural groups on their average grade both varied from the background research and produced inconclusive results. The problem this presents is that we couldn't decisively analyse the findings to suggest whether this was an issue or not and what could be done to improve the resulting situation. If we were to repeat our research we would attempt to gather a larger sample size as we feel this could be a large factor in the resulting divided figures.



The final number of respondents of our survey which was a total of 56 (38 domestic, 11 EU internationals and 7 Non-EU internationals) was disappointing as we expected a higher count. This is a small sample of the total number of students in the SEMAL department making it harder to draw conclusions from such a small group. This becomes harder when the sample is then split between international and domestic students resulting in two smaller samples. As a result, if we were to repeat our research we would do two things. Firstly, we would attempt to launch our survey at a time when little or no research was being carried out which could result in a higher number of responses. Our method of data collection was via e-mail, although this has many benefits one downfall is that it is easy to ignore. Therefore the second thing is that we would also vary the data collection methods in a bid to increase responses.



One technical aspect of our survey that we would change is how we constructed our rating system. This caused potential issues because some questions used 1 as negative and 6 as positive and others used the opposite creating inconsistency. This could potentially mean that certain respondents may have answered incorrectly if they were not paying attention as they assumed the scales were the same. As a consequence, in future research we would ensure that all ratings have one end of the scale as positive and the other as negative to avoid potential mistakes.



When analysing qualitative data we discovered certain issues that were raised which can’t be attained by observing other results. This suggests that we were not prepared for the range of issues that are associated with internationalisation and that the topic of our research was far broader than we had anticipated. This was difficult to fully predict as each respondent had a variety of factors that contribute to their individual opinion, therefore making it hard to foresee. The issues we investigated were far more in depth than we could go into in order to understand peoples perceptions and reasoning. Therefore, we would suggest that next time we would focus on one aspect only (such as cultural differences of students) but in far greater depth in order to gain better understanding of the causes and how to resolve these.

Q20_b 265.000

Wilcoxon W

418.000

Z

-.950

A Mann Whitney Test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between international and domestic students’ perception of EU and Non-EU students confidence when contributing in small groups.

Asymp. Sig. (2tailed)

There was no significant difference U= 265 p ( 0.342) > 0.05. Therefore we have to accept the null hypothesis and assume that there is no difference between international and domestic students’ perception of EU and Non-EU students confidence when contributing in small groups.

a. Grouping Variable: INTvDOM

.342

EU Internationals Non-EU Internationals

4 2 0

Very Significant

2

3

4

5

Not significant at all

“It normally goes well; the only thing that hinders the group is the language barrier. The fact that there are different levels of education and educational background is actually quite beneficial to the learning progress”

International Students Own Perception of Their Level of English

Test Statistics



9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0



EU Internationals



Non-EU Internations

It was suggested in the background research that a factor that contributes to a lack of contribution is poor confidence to converse in English. For this reason we wanted to see if there were differences in international students own perception of their level of English as this could be a contributing factor to the results above.

Wilcoxon W

75.000

The results were what we expected, EU students rated their level of English much higher than Non-EU students. This suggests that there is a link between self-perceived ability to speak English and the level of confidence to contribute in small group discussions.

Z

-2.875

A Mann Whitney Test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between EU and Non-EU students self perceived level of English.

Exact Sig. [2* (1-tailed Sig.)]

The difference was significant U= 9.0, p ( 0.002) < 0.05. Therefore we could reject the null hypothesis and we can assume there is a signify can’t difference in international students self perceived level of English with EU students being more confident in their ability.

a. Grouping Variable: EUvNonEU

Asymp. Sig. (2tailed)

.004

Students' Perception About Whether Language Barriers Were the Biggest Issue During Multi-Cultural Group Assessment  25

20

15

Domestic 10



International

5



0 Strongly Agree

2

3

4

5

Strongly Disagree

The background research supported out results , saying that early issues can arise in multi-cultural groups from communication barriers and difficulties in self expression and that time often has to be taken to overcome problems that language differences present. It also says that the greatest barrier to interaction perceived by UK students appeared to be poor English language ability of international students.

A Mann Whitney Test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between international and domestic students’ perception of language barriers being an issue.

There was no significant difference U= 302 p ( 0.561) > 0.05. Therefore we have to accept the null hypothesis and assume that there is no difference between international and domestic students’ perception of language barriers being an issue.

Comments Captured by: Daria Pawlik, Max Jordan and Rahin Ibrahim SEMAL Students

Summary of Findings Overall, our results led us to come to three conclusions about multi-cultural group work and assessments: 

Firstly, domestic students seem to be either unsure or divided about how they feel about working in multi-cultural groups. There doesn’t seem to be a general consensus on the issue with individual opinions vary depending on the subtopic being discussed, with students feeling strongly negative about some aspects and completely happy with others.



When looking at international students, it is important to consider students are perceived differently depending on their place of origin and cannot normally be grouped into "all international students". This means that when asking domestic students a question about European students you can get completely different response to when you ask it about Asian or African students. Similarly, students of different backgrounds gave varying responses in answer to questions about multi-cultural groups. This is expected due to large cultural differences in the background of international students, resulting in varying levels of English, learning styles and social interactions. This was reflected in our own results which showed large variation in the answers from/about EU students compared to Non-EU students.



A recurring theme and issue that arose, regardless of cultural background, age, gender or nationality, was the appearance of language barriers being a significant obstacle to harmonious multi-cultural group work. This was because it causes a whole range of issues such as creating difficulties in expression, damaging confidence of international students and creating misunderstanding and frustration in groups. As a result, we can observe that language difficulties are a significant influence on the extent to which students are willing and enthusiastic about working in multi-cultural groups and interacting outside of a work based context.

“Before studying at University I was very confident expressing my opinion, giving suggestions etc. But now every time I need to discuss something with domestic students I can't think of anything, I just stay quiet.

Especially when you can see very clearly that some people are very unhappy to work in the same group with you.”

“I enjoy working with other cultures and I also encounter similar problems with people of my own nationality so it isn't just non-EU students etc. However, it is just more pronounced in these students.”

Following looking at international students self assessment of the level of English we decided to investigate whether students perceived language barriers as a significant issue during multi-cultural group work. To do this we asked students how far they agreed with the statement “language barriers are the biggest issue when working in multicultural group assessments”.

Our results showed that both domestic and international students generally agreed that language barriers were the biggest issue faced during multi-cultural group assessment. This can be seen from the fact that the median ranking for both groups was two on a scale of one to six. This suggests that many of the issues encountered during multi-cultural group work could be linked to language communication issues.

“I think the barrier for domestic students is bigger to get socialising with non-UK students. But non-UK students get a lot out of the multicultural groups and different views and practices. I wish domestic students would engage more in multicultural group work and think about what they can get from their interaction rather than slack around and wait for the lecture to finish.”

.006b

b. Not corrected for ties.



Project by: Student No. 1106616, 1006483, 1207391

Q29 9.000

Mann-Whitney U

Test Statistics

Mann-Whitney U Wilcoxon W Z Asymp. Sig. (2tailed)

LNG_BARR_IS SUES 302.000

“Not really, I think because all international students did their English test before they came here. So, they must at a standard level on either written/speaking in English”

Suggestions for Future Action 

Further research should be conducted specifically about language barriers and how best to combat the associated issues that are caused by language issues. This should investigate the specific problems that language barriers cause, what students suggest would prevent these and the extent to which students feel that issues are a major concern. We would suggest that this could have a significant impact on the extent to which students resist working in multi-cultural groups.



A scheme could be implemented by the university that couples domestic and international students in a “buddy” programme. Domestic students could be offered incentives to join the programme such as an “international ambassador award” that could be included on their CV or discounted muliti-cultural student accommodation that aims to integrate international students into the UK university culture. This would help to improve the levels of spoken English of international students, create social groupings that are diverse in nationality, create a foundation of cultural understanding and respect and help to develop the confidence of international students.

473.000 -.581 .561

a. Grouping Variable: INTvDOM

“Sometimes I find it difficult because some of them don't understand so I have to say twice. It depends a lot on the personality of an international student. The group work will not be adversely affected if an international student will be keen to participate and won't be shy of expressing their ideas. It only becomes a problem when international students feel shy to talk because of the language barrier and in that case do not contribute towards the group work. Besides, they are sometimes shy to speak loudly.

On the other hand, their level of contribution is not similar.”

IQ Alliance: Music Piracy

Introduction 

Illegal music downloads have rose considerably in the last decade.



This has had a profound impact on the music industry and has led to a decrease in the industry size.



One of the root causes for this is the extraordinary quantity of music piracy, which in 2007 saw 95% of music downloads were measured to be illegal (IFPI, 2009). Since this report was written a current report has established that there has been an annual loss of retail sales, which is now estimated to have a value of £500 million (R. Budden, 2012).

Purpose The purpose of our research project into music piracy is to investigate the impact of music downloading from unlicensed resources.



We aim to gain a greater understanding of consumer behaviour patterns into downloading music and analyse what factors influence copyright infringement when acquiring music.



1102302 1107474 1105141 1000492 1104761

Literature Overview Pre-survey, background research was undertaken to ascertain a high level of knowledge on the chosen topic via previous studies’ research and findings. This allowed us to generate a survey to see if it was able to contradict or support the literature that had been analysed Key literature points 





Having read literature concerning the subject we have analysed their studies and incorporated their findings, conceptualising them alongside our own ideas to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the topic.





Research Methodology 

We carried out convenience sampling



This was completed via posting our questionnaire onto social media sites for answering.



Based upon the sampling framework we received 163 responses to our online survey; from which we analysed and categorised our data.

UK Music’s (2009) study found that a majority of young people have illegally downloaded ‘61% of 14 – 24 year olds have illegally downloaded’.

Cenite et al (2009) study of ‘motivations of peer-to-peer file sharers’ concluded that individuals peer to peer share and illegally download because ‘downloading is convenient and free’.

Gruk’s (2011) study, ‘detailed analysis of methods and attitudes of illegal music downloading and copy right infringement’, found that ‘57% of attitudes of people who downloaded music are driven by factors other than price, factors like: convenience, fast and easy access’. Furthermore, Gruk identified that ‘57% of individuals do not know the legal implications associated with the music file sharing’.

Andersen and Frenz (2007) study of ‘the impact of music downloads and P2P sharing on the purchase of music’, found that there was ‘no significant relationship between the level of income and whether the individual decides to purchase music’.



Levin et al (2007) found in their study ‘stronger threat appeals were found to be more effective than weaker threat appeals in reducing illegal downloading’.



Kampmann (2010) study found ‘Price affect could however not be confirmed as a significant predictor of consumer behaviour’.



Coyle et al (2009) found that men are more likely to commit music piracy than women.

Does the employment status, either part or full time employment affect the decision to illegally download music and commit copyright infringement?

Does the status of a student affect an individual’s value of willingness to pay for unlimited music downloads per month?

Descriptive statistics identified that the average value a student is willing to pay is actually higher than that of someone who is not a student. For a student the average price they would pay is £11.48, as opposed to £9.84 for a non-student. This is interesting statistics as you would expect non students be more willing to pay more, however even with a trimmed mean students are prepared to pay more.

Upon conducting descriptive statistics, it established that there was a greater quantity of individuals that illegally downloaded that were in part time employment as opposed to full time employment.

53 part time and 16 full time, you could infer from this that income does affect the decision to illegally download.

The data for students is positively skewed to the left and for non students the data is negatively skewed to the right.

Due to this the distribution curves for the both sets of data are in different directions so you would expect there to be a significant difference.

Null Hypothesis:

Null Hypothesis:

There is no significant difference in the employment status, either part or full time and the decision to illegally download music free of charge.





Alternative Hypothesis (Two Tailed)

Alternative Hypothesis:

There is a significant difference in employment status, either part time or full time and the decision to illegally download music free of charge.





The majority of the sample is situated in the south east, with a high concentration originating from Portsmouth, Chichester and Bognor Regis



A chi square analysis was conducted after establishing that 78% of illegal music downloaders were in part-time employment. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference was established after applying the continuity correction factor a p value at a 95% confidence rate was calculated at 0.121, which is >0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted and it is assumed that the results obtained from descriptive statistics happened within the sample by chance, and there is no significant difference between employment type and the decision to illegally download.

Female - Red

There is a significant difference in the student status and the value of which an individual is prepared to pay for unlimited music downloads monthly.

After conducting descriptive statistics analysing the possibility of student status affecting the value of an individual’s willingness to pay for unlimited music downloads per month, it was decided to conduct a Student T Test. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established. A P value at a 95% confidence rate was confirmed at 0.335, which is >0.05. Based upon this, the null hypothesis is accepted, and therefore assumed that the results have occurred by chance.

Male - Blue



There is no significant difference in student status and the value of which the individual is prepared to pay for unlimited music downloads monthly.

Does the status of being a student influence your knowledge base to the understanding of what methods of obtaining music are legal or illegal?

Knowledge of Illegal Downloaders

Initial Sample Observation

Ripping copyrighted songs from YouTube and converting them to MP3

Importing brought CD’s into your ITunes library

Employment Status for each Age Category

Sample Age Distribution

The descriptive analysis established that 96.9% of students were able to identify that using YouTube to obtain music is illegal. 97.4% of students that use YouTube to download music stated they understand that using that software is illegal.

It is possible to assume that these students are being ignorant as they aware of the illegality of their actions, yet they continue to use YouTube to obtain music online.

Null Hypothesis 

There is no significant difference with the status of being a student and the knowledge of which methods of music download are an illegal method.

Alternative Hypothesis (Two Tailed) 

There is a significant difference with the status of being a student and the knowledge of which methods of music download are an illegal method.

n = 163 n = 162 

The average age is 21 for the sample.



The graph shows the responses are positively skewed to the left, with a skewness value of 3.625.

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Ripping songs from ITunes onto CD for your own entertainment

At least 70% of each age category of the sample are employed



What is your opinion on the price of music 

The deviation of the data is primarily around 19 years of age.

Research Results Do you Illegally Download Music?

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

n = 93

n = 155

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As expected none of the respondents stated the price was too low.

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Kampmann’s (2010) study found ‘Price affect could however not be confirmed as a significant predictor of consumer behaviour’.



The findings reject Kampmann’s study. You would infer from the results that price has an influencing factor.

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Moreover, the literature is rejected by the results from the graph, ‘Motive for Illegally Downloading Music’.

How many males illegally download

The Pie Charts identify that over 90% of the sample had sufficient knowledge, which infers that it is their attitude that influences their decision to illegally download rather than being unaware their method means they are committing copyright infringement Gruk’s study (2011) of ‘detailed analysis of methods and attitudes of illegal music downloading and copy right infringement’ found from his qualitative research that ‘57% of individuals do not know the legal implications associated with the music file sharing’ The findings reject this literature as on the knowledge questions over 90% of the responses were correct so it opposes that a majority do not have the knowledge.

A Chi square test was conducted to ascertain if this had occurred in the sample through chance. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and alternative hypothesis of a significant difference was established. After applying the continuity correction a p value at a 95% confidence rate was confirmed at 0.010, which is <0.05. As a results it is assumed that the results did not occur by chance and the null hypothesis is rejected.

Conclusion From the descriptive analysis, identification of the main reasons why consumers of music decide to illegally download, as opposed to purchasing music, can be established. One of the key factors included the price to purchase the music hard copy in store or purchasing online. This opposes Kampmann (2010) study, which found ‘Price affect could not be confirmed as a significant predictor of consumer behaviour’.

Another key factor was the ease at which music can be accessed online free of charge. In addition the convenience of obtaining the music without leaving your own property. This was identified throughout Gruk’s (2011) study, ‘detailed analysis of methods and attitudes of illegal music downloading and copy right infringement’. The study found that ‘57% of attitudes of people who downloaded music are driven by factors other than price, factors like: convenience, fast and easy access’.

Another factor that influences the decision to illegally download is the quantity of individuals who were employed that illegally download music.

How many females illegally download

The findings identified that 78% of those who were employed and illegally download are employed part time, with 22% of full time employed workers illegally downloading.

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Higher percentage of the younger age groups illegally download more

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18 and below 60% illegally download and 19 – 22 67% illegally download

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UK Music (2009) found in their study that a majority of young people have illegally downloaded ‘61% of 14 – 24 year olds have illegally downloaded’

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The Results from the chart above support the findings from UK Music’s study

Andersen and Frenz study (2007) of ‘the impact of music downloads and P2P sharing on the purchase of music’, found that there was ‘no significant relationship between the level of income and whether the individual decides to purchase music’.

The findings from the bar chart would reject the Andersen and Frenz study. The chart suggests that part time employed individuals are the larger quantity of individuals that make up the total illegal downloaders. You can infer from this that because there income is of a lower value, inferring they would have less disposable income as it is only part time, income would directly affect the decision to commit music piracy.

Motive for Illegally Downloading Music

n = 82

n = 72

Blackburn. D Online piracy and record music sales (2004) 

The Graph above identifies, over a eleven year period, that the cost of CD’s has continuously declined. However, 66% of responses to the survey feel the price of music is still too high.



Coyle et al (2009) found that men are more likely to commit music piracy than women.

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The findings oppose this literature, as it shows there is a greater value of females that illegally download in comparison to males.



n =143

62% of females and 57% of males illegally download, rejecting the literature.



High level of response

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Majority of responses completed the survey to 100%

Limitations to Primary data research



Able to create vast amount of graphs and charts to represent our findings

Survey Bias



In conjunction with the literature, it was possible to conceptualise and enhance knowledge of the subject

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The project induced a high level of competency with Bristol online survey and SPSS



Due to the nature of some of the questions we asked some participants gave favourable answers, which gave an unrealistic finding to some questions.

Size of Sample 







After establishing which age categories in the sample illegally downloaded the most, the two age categories were compared against their reasons for illegally downloading.



We received 163 responses to our survey.



However, due to the relatively small response we obtained our data may misrepresent the wider population and their attitudes towards music copyright infringement.

Convenience Sampling

This identified that mainly they commit music piracy due to the cost of purchasing, the easy accessibility and convenience.

Positives from this study.



Convenience sampling was deployed; this presented the researchers with the opportunity to select participants due to their convenient accessibility in order to achieve a quick reply.

However, should the researchers have selected random sampling this may have carried greater weighting to the research as it would have generated a response with greater accuracy.

Cenite et al (2009) study the ‘motivations of peer-to-peer file sharers’ concluded that individuals peer to peer share and illegally download because ‘downloading is convenient and free’.



The sample were asked to describe their attitudes towards illegal downloading, the responses to the question are portrayed above.

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The findings above support the literature.

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The most common responses are illustrated by the magnitude of the word.

Time

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As apparent in the image, amongst the most frequent responses are ‘Easy, Cheap and Convenient’.





This qualitative data supports the quantitative data shown in graph opposite.

The size of our sample was small, with one reason being due to the time restrictions placed upon us as a consequence of deadline implementation.

What would be changed given a second opportunity to undertake this project 

Change the format of the survey to enable a variety of data types in the responses.



Include more questions to ascertain a greater understanding . An example of this would be to include questions on levels of income to support or juxtapose the literature.



Employment status was included as it was felt that this would be suffice in order to gain an understanding on whether the individuals had some form of income.



There was uncertainty as to whether a specific income questions was ethically correct, therefore possibly jeopardising the response rate received as a result.

Student Numbers:

Do You Trust the Police

1106614, 1106594, 1102406, 1103341

The literature showed there was a lack of trust in the police. Therefore this was an important question to ask, of the respondents: 

Just In Time Consultancy (JIT) are a group of second year University Students studying Business.

The aim of this assignment is to determine the general public attitudes towards the UK Police Force and their views on equipping the police with firearms.

This poster demonstrates where the initial questions came from, the responses received and how they compare to previous literature as well as some in depth analysis of the 195 completed surveys collected.

THE LITERATURE Secondary research looks at previous qualitative and quantitative questions that formed the basis of the survey.

This graph was adapted from survey responses from Cleveland Police and the results of their survey shows that people in the Cleveland area have a high level of confidence in their local police. 84% of those surveyed either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘tended to agree’ with the following statement; “taking everything into account I have confidence in the police in this area.”

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



-Traffic Police -Special Detectives and Forensic Officers -Territorial Support Officer (Riot Police) Graph redone by Just In Time, data from; http://www.cleveland.police.uk/

In order to gain a greater understanding of the general publics views of the police, the Police Public Contact Survey link of the literature asked questions about various times the public had encountered the police force and whether they were treated fairly.

From the literature, the following questions were asked: Question 11: Have you had any contact with the police in the last 12months? and Question 12, how satisfied were you with the way you were dealt with? This helped to develop a greater understanding on whether the public believe the police to be doing a good job.

Following on from this a series of questions were asked about firearms based on literature gathered from the BBC website which questioned the government on “why British police don’t have guns”. The results established from the BBC website showed that 82% of officers did not want to be armed. Another survey showed that 79% were against police being armed.

Based on these questions and results the next question asked was “Should the UK police force carry firearms routinely”. The aim of this was to get the public’s opinion on when it is appropriate to use firearms in the following situations such as assaults, robberies, street fights and domestic disturbances. Based on the literature from the home office statistics 2010-2011, different situations were addressed where the public perception is to think that the police should be armed.

71% of females trust the police compared to only 63% males.

Due to the difference in trust towards the police between males and females, this analysis splits the confidence towards police officers by gender to see if there is also a noticeable difference in confidence levels. The graph shows similar results:

-Police Constable (Including officers on the beat)

-Police Community Support Officers (PCSO)

67.4% Trusted the Police and 32.6% did not.

When analysing the data collected, comparisons from the literature and the 195 responses collected showed the following: 

47.7% of respondents were Male and 52.3% Female.



80% of respondents were White British however 39 people were able to be surveyed from other ethnic backgrounds.

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

38% of those who think the recession has had an effect only see the police patrolling once a month

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Respondents over 45 are hugely against the police being routinely armed.

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There were no respondents between 34 and 45.

The second section of the survey tried to determine respondents views towards equipping the police with firearms.

Females are more confident in the police with 50% confident or very confident.

Do you think the Police should carry Firearms

22.6% of males are apprehensive about the police officers ability to carry out their day to day tasks as opposed to only 10.8% of females.

The opening Question in this section was to find out peoples initial thoughts on whether they thought the UK Police force should carry guns.

The results were used to try and see which factors are influencing the attitudes towards the police.

Ethnicity Groups views on Police Treating People Fairly no Matter who they are This aim was to see if different ethnicity groups had different opinions of the statement that ‘the police treat everyone fairly no matter who they are’.

This was of interest because although there is a lot in the news about police discrimination, previous results of a similar question were not available.

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44.6% thought they should

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54.4% were against the idea

Publics opinions on main advantages for arming the police 

For the police officers own protection and self defence

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Public Safety



Deterrent for Criminals

KEY POINTS 

The public are satisfied with the police as 69% of 195 who filled out the survey said they were satisfied when asked “In general are you satisfied with the job the police are doing?”



130 respondents out of 195 trust the police (67%)



A key part of the survey was based on the publics opinion of whether or not the police should routinely carry firearms. There was nearly a 50/50 split to this question with 45% of people saying ‘Yes’ they should routinely carry firearms, and the remaining 55% disagreeing and saying ‘No’ to this question.



The next question asked was ; would you feel safer if the police carried firearms? The response for this question was that 42% would feel safer and 58% would not. This is a very similar result to the question ‘should the police routinely carry firearms.’ It is interesting that this figure is 3% lower for ‘yes’ as it makes one think, if the police having firearms does not make one feel safer, then why would you recommend the police to routinely carry firearms.

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47% of our respondents felt either confident or very confident in police officers ability to carry out their day to day tasks. While only 16% of respondents felt either ‘apprehensive’ or ‘very apprehensive’.



A Mann Whitney test was run to see if there is a difference between those that trust the police and those that don’t and their opinion as to whether the police treat people fairly. The initial thoughts were that there would be no significant difference between those that trust the police and those that don’t and their opinion of whether or not the police treat the public fairly. The parametric test output showed that the initial thoughts were wrong and the null hypothesis needed to be rejected with the alternative accepted. The assumption for this is because those that don’t trust the police feel that the police treat people unfairly.

Public opinions on main disadvantages for arming the police

80% of people who put themselves as ‘Mixed race’ either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. In comparison 0% of ‘White Other’ disagreed with the statement in anyway.

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Encourages Criminals to use weapons

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Cost

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Mistaken Identity and death of Innocent Civilians

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Public Endangerment

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Rise in gun crime

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Police not sufficiently trained

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Sense of fear throughout community

Would YOU feel Safer if the Police Carried Firearms

0% of Mixed race, Asian, Asian Black, Black or Black British respondents strongly agreed with the statement.

YOUFeelSafer

Valid

It was only White respondents who answered ‘don’t know’, showing that all UK ethnic minorities have an opinion on the subject

Missing

Frequency 81

Valid PerPercent cent 41.5 41.8

113

57.9

58.2

194

99.5

100.0

1

.5

195

100.0

Against stereotype as more females believed the police should be armed then males

Three Words to Describe the Police

Cumulative Percent 41.8 100.0

Mann Whitney Test

Respondents Profile



Respondents under 35 years old are split almost 50/50 on whether they think police should carry firearms routinely.

The first section determined that in general the public were satisfied with the job the police are doing and are confident with their ability to carry out their daily tasks successfully.

Total





Gender and opinion on equipping the Police with Firearms

FACTORS INFLUENCING ATTITUDES TOWARDS POLICE



The survey was distributed via university email, social networking and by asking friends and family to fill in. The main aim was to get an even distribution of male and female respondents from a range of ethnic backgrounds and with a broad range of ages and professions.

Those who said the recession had impacted the UK Police force see the police a lot less often than those who said the recession has had no impact.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS EQUIPPING THE POLICE WITH FIREARMS

The graph clearly shows that the media is correct to pin point the police for discrimination:

OUR SURVEY RESPONDENTS AND THEIR GENERAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE UK POLICE



Confidence Level in UK Police Officers Split by Gender

From this literature, Question 9 was developed; How much confidence do you have in the police ability to provide day to day policing for all the people in the UK in the following areas?

The Guardian reported that the number of police officers has fallen by 5,000 this past year (Guardian, 2012).

Breaking this down further it is possible to see if this was different for males and females. The pie charts show:

To achieve these aims a survey was produced, distributed and analysed. The survey was based predominately on questions taken from previous literature and carried out in both the UK and abroad. The police themselves as well as public bodies gave inspiration to the questions.

FACTORS INFLUENCING ATTITUDES TOWARDS EQUPPING THE POLICE WITH FIREARMS

Impact of the Recession on number of times Police seen Patrolling

65% of the respondents were students, 14% worked as professionals, 10% in skilled roles, 4.6% Un-Skilled and 2% unemployed. Professionals surveyed included everything from Pilots, Teachers, Police Officers, Business Managers and Legal Advisors. People who had listed themselves as working in Skilled and Un-Skilled labour positions included Forklift Operator, Factory Worker, Chefs and Waiting Staff.

56% Lived in rented accommodation, 21% owned their own home and 28% lived with their parents The average age of the respondents was 22.4 years old which links in with the number of students who completed the survey. However there was a range between the youngest and the oldest respondents was 48 years. The youngest respondent was aged 16 and the oldest was 64. The mode age was 20.

Initial analysis focused on understanding the respondents general attitude towards the police.

The literature showed that 84% of people in the Cleveland Area were confident in their local police force. The expected results were predicted to be slightly lower due to the questions being more focused on the UK Police force as a whole and the negative press they are regularly the focus of.

The aim of this analysis is to see if there is a difference between those that trust the police, those that do not and their opinion of whether or not they treat people fairly.

Hypotheses



Null: There is no significant difference between those that trust the police and those that don’t and there opinion of whether the police treat people fairly.

Alternative: There is a significant difference between those that trust the police and those that don’t and there opinion of whether the police treat people fairly. Those that trust the police will also think that the police treat people fairly.

58.2% of respondents would feel safer it the police carried firearms even though only 44.6% think that they should

Parametric Test Output The Mann Whitney test was conducted to see if there is a difference between those that trust the police and those that don’t and their opinion of whether or not they treat people fairly.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Should Police use Firearms in the following Situations

U=1694, P(<0.005)<0.05

In conclusion the general UK public are satisfied with the job the UK police are doing. The Police are a highly trusted authority and the public are confident in there ability to carry out their day to day task successfully.

Shootings

The Null hypothesis can be rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. It can be assumed that one of the reasons of those people who do not trust the police is because they believe they do not treat all people equally and fairly Looking further into ethnicity factors, this graph looked at those people whom have had contact with the police and their satisfaction.

People who have had Police contact and their general Satisfaction with the Police



In addition to the analysis that supports this the survey asked a question to determine what the one thing the respondents would like to stay the same about the force. The overwhelming response was that people would like to see more officers on the beat, with less paperwork to do and therefore more time to spend on high quality training.

86.7% of respondents agree that firearms should be used in the case of shootings

However the analysis has showed there is still clear levels of discrimination within the force towards ethnic minorities and minors.

Due to previous literature and media reports over ethnic discrimination and the results from previous analysis and tests the next set of analysis was undertaken. This was looking at the satisfaction of ethnic minorities that have had police contact in the last 12months.

From the analysed results there are recommendations that can be made: 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to review police training to ensure further eradication of any discrimination towards youths and ethnic minorities. This will ensure that public trust and confidence stays high.



The Police NOT to be routinely armed but for a highly trained firearms response team to be maintained for certain situations to ensure the public continue to feel safe.



The recession has impacted the force already and measures must be taken to eradicate further cuts that will effect ability to Police effectively.

How Confident are you in Police Officers ability to carry out their day to day tasks Suicide Threat  





44.6% of respondents felt confident or very confident in Police Officers ability to carry out their day to day tasks Only 16.1% felt apprehensive or very apprehensive about their ability 29.2% had no opinion and 9.7% or did not know

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100% of mixed race, Asian and Asian Black who have had police contact believe the UK police force is unsatisfactory.

59% and 75% of white British and white other who have had police contact believe the UK Police force is satisfactory.



In comparison 71.3% of respondents believed firearms should not be used in cases of suicide threat

To have established a broader and more accurate public view the survey would have had: 

Of a wider range of ages. No respondents were aged between 34 and 45 and the average age was very young.



A greater number of people from ethnic minorities completing the survey. 80% of the respondents were white British.



Postcode would have been included in the survey to enable further in depth analysis by area.

What motivates people to attend music festivals?

1108645, 1106949, 1108803, 1105680

Introduction The focus of this research project was to explore ‘what motivates people to attend festivals?’

The Questionnaire Replies to questionnaire: 105

Before designing our questionnaires we consulted relevant secondary research to provide an insight into what has already been done, what there is that still needs to be looked into, and currently accepted ideas within this subject. Having looked at these one model stood out as being interesting and provided room for exploration as well as highlighting a potential area for improvement originally designed and created by Getz and Cheyne 2002 (cited by Ryan, C 2002) this questionnaire was based around this concept and model as seen below, diagram 1.

This model identifies three key areas that motivate people to attend special events; Generic leisure/travel motives, Extrinsic motives and Event-specific motives. As such we then designed the questionnaire in a way that allowed us to relate back to these three areas and allow more in depth analysis.

The questionnaire asked what were the three words people most associated with music festivals. This Wordle shows the responses with the most common word being FUN .

Descriptives Fact Box!

It was also noted that much of the previous research on attendance at music festivals has concentrated on the economic impacts of festivals and the expenditure of attendees, as noted by Pegg and Patterson (2010, p86). Therefore it was felt that more research into the motives of attendees would be useful to give a broader picture of the music festival scene as a whole.

Gender : 64% women, 36% men Age range: 18 – 63 Median age: 20, mode age: 19 Students: 68% - 53% at Chichester University Did not attend music festivals – 40% The majority of people heard about festivals through word of mouth: 74 respondents

Many tests were run on the received raw data from the questionnaires filled out and this poster will highlight four key areas we found interesting, again relating back to the model.

Respondents went for the following reasons:  because their friends were going: 78%  because they were a fan of the artists appearing: 86%  to gain new experiences: 70%  to be with family: 20%  the good atmosphere of festival: 74%  an opportunity to hear live music: 83%  to broader their musical outlook: 57%  Respondents who thought ticket prices too high but went anyway: 50%

Tests and Results Generic leisure/travel motives Getz and Cheyne define generic leisure/travel motives as something that is “freely chosen for its intrinsic rewards”. They go on to define is as having a number of dimensions that can clearly be realized at events such as “lessening on the focus on the self”, “feelings of freedom or lack of constraint” and “decreased awareness of the passage of time”

The high importance of other factors was rated as follows: Facilities: 64%; Safety: 70%; Environmental Impact: 44%; Reputation of Festival: 79%; Distance to travel: 65%; Transport facilities: 60%

For this area it was decided to look into escapism and how much of a motivator it would be for people to attend. This was incorporated into the questionnaire as a Likhert question asking their opinion for the heading ‘I like to escape from routine’ with a range of answers listed 1-5.

Most popular festivals – Reading 21, Glastonbury 8, V Festival 7 attendees

After gathering the data this was split into those that attended and those that did not attend. These two groups were then compared with their answers given for the escape question to search for a significant difference.

Hypothesis

Diagram 1

A One-Tailed Mann Whitney test was conducted to determine if a significant difference of opinions about attending festivals to escape routine existed between attendees and non-attendees. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

What this identifies is that escapism is a motivator for people to attend festivals, as those that have attended responded that they did attend festivals to escape from routine significantly more than those that did not (53% of all attendees agreed). This in turn demonstrates generic leisure as a motivator and supports the model the research is based on.

The difference was significant U =931, p 0.004 <0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference of opinions about attending festivals to escape routine existed between attendees and non-attendees. Opinions on escapism are influenced by attendance or non-attendance and attendees regard escapism more of a motivator than non-attendees.

Event-specific motives Getz and Cheyne define benefits obtained through participation in events as involving the event-goer, such as “social and cultural processes that might be invisible and subtle, such as community-building and reinforcement of values all of which might be ‘belonging and sharing’.” (Ryan, 2002, p139).

Extrinsic Motives Getz and Cheyne define extrinsic motives as those that are unrelated to any specific appeal of the event itself. (Ryan, 153). I.e. obligation or incentives such as cheaper ticket prices. It was decided to look further into the latter to see if cheaper prices had an influence on motivation; would people attend if they were lowered.

From the data there were 40% non-attendees and 60% attendees. Initially it was observed that a large amount of people in the non-attendee group had said they would go to music festivals if ticket prices were cheaper (52%) as illustrated in the pie chart below.

Considering this it was decided to look further into ticket prices and run a test that included both attendees and non-attendees with the variable being their response to the question to try and establish a significant difference with the expectation of non-attendees having a much larger percent of ‘yes’ answers.

Hypothesis A Mann Whitney test was conducted to determine if a significant difference of opinions about attending festivals if the price of tickets was cheaper existed between attendees and non-attendees. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

The difference was significant U =934, p 0.002<0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference of opinions about attending festivals if the price of tickets was cheaper between attendees and non-attendees, and that opinions on ticket prices are influenced by attendance or non-attendance.

Overall though in spite of this it did still help justify the idea that cheaper prices would act as an extrinsic motivator to attend music festivals as seen from the non-attendee group in addition to the attendee group through a large response of agreement which in turn supports the model the questionnaire is based around.

For this research social influences were looked into from the questionnaire through questions such as asking whether respondents had attended the events within a group. This was then used to look at responses to other questions such as their importance on factors like facilities or safety. Initially when the data was looked at by itself it looks as if people that attend festivals placed a high importance on facilities.

Conclusion

Upon further inspection, it was discovered that actually in contrast to what was expected; people that did attend were even more likely to attend more festivals if the ticket prices were cheaper, something that was intriguing and surprising.

However when this was explored further by separating those that had attended with groups there was a dramatic change in figures. As it turned out when people attended with groups their opinions on the importance of factors such as facilities dropped hugely, the majority of them answering that they either strongly disagreed or disagreed with the notion that they placed a high importance on facilities. This is illustrated in the bar chart below.

However on reflection wording the questions differently would have enabled more information to be found and would have avoided what could have been a lot of confusion with participants and their answers. The question was worded in a way that was ambiguous for those that had attended and did not specify whether they would still merely attend festivals if ticket prices were reduced or if they would attend more festivals with a cheaper ticket price. This therefore could have had a significant effect on the responses.

This survey was undertaken to find out what motivates people to attend music festivals.

By looking at the framework models of Getz and Cheyne and Kim the survey found that various factors both motivate and constrain attendees at music festivals. The survey confirmed the findings of previous research and identified that more research is needed both into motivators and de-motivators to attendance.

From this research, it has been shown that there are many motivations for people to attend music festivals. As was noted by Pegg and Paterson (2010, p97) visitors to festivals are not a homogenous group and there are many points of differentiation. This can be used by festival organisers to target their audiences more specifically and create niche markets within the whole event to attract a wide range of audiences.

Next Time...

The questionnaire started off with questions to determine the demographics of the respondents. From this it was determined that the median age was 20 which was excepted as a high proportion of the respondents where students at the University of Chichester.

The questionnaire then looked at the respondents motivation in attending a music

Mediating Factors In addition to these three key areas highlighted by the model being essential, we recognised through use of other literature that there was a weakness in this model; that it did not take into account mediating factors and therefore what constrained or de-motivated people from attending events. This is important as this has the effect of stopping people attending and had these issues been dealt with could potentially then motivate them in the future.

A new model was then found that conformed to our updated ideas as seen below in diagram 2.

In recognition of this, additional questions were added that would provide data to then be analysed and see if there were in fact reasons that would cause people not to attend a music festival, which consequently we then formed into a test. In this case safety was chosen and whether it had a difference in the opinions of males and females.

Hypothesis Several Two-Tailed Mann Whitney tests were conducted to determine if a significant difference of opinions about the importance of constraints existed between males and females. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

In the case of Safety, Facilities and Environment the differences were significant. Taking safety as an example U =882, p=0.006<0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference of opinions about the importance between males and females, and that opinions on constraints are influenced by gender.

From this it can be see that in fact certain factors such as facilities, safety or environment do have a huge impact on peoples motivation to attend, with females placing a much higher importance on factors such as facilities (which are notoriously bad at festivals) than males, additionally supported by the Mann Whitney test. If these constraints were looked at in more depth and changed by festival managers they could potentially see an increase in attendance. This highlights a key area where more research is needed.

festival.

Having identified this it was decided to run a test on this to see if there was a significant difference.

Hypothesis A Mann Whitney test was conducted to determine if a significant difference of opinions about the importance of facilities existed between those that attended with a group and those that did not. A null hypothesis of no significant difference and an alternative hypothesis of a significant difference were established and a 95% confidence level was assumed.

The difference was significant U =178.5, p 0.038<0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference of opinions about the importance of facilities between people that attended festivals as a group and those that did not, and that opinions on the importance of facilities are influenced by groups/social belonging.

Firstly gender was separated to look specifically at their answers.

The results were put onto a bar chart.

What this shows is that social groups and belonging can have a very significant effect on motivation to attend events and countering constraints that may have otherwise caused them not to attend. By attending as a group factors such as facilities became very unimportant to them, maybe due to sharing the same situation with others making it more endurable or simply by being in a group they did not care so much about negative impacts due to having a better atmosphere and so on.

The questionnaire was originally written to see what motivated people to attend festivals.

However as 40% of respondents did not attend festivals more questions could have been written specifically targeting the reasons they did not attend. This could be an area requiring further investigation in future surveys.

It would also have been useful to have questioned those who have attended, but would not be interested in attending again. This would give further indication of the demotivators to attendance.

Some of the questions in the survey were worded quite generally and therefore the results were not as clear as they could have been. In future it would be helpful to structure questions more carefully as reported in the extrinsic motives section.

There were not many ratio questions in the survey which restricted the tests we were able to carry out and the information we were able to gather. It would have been useful to have included questions such as ‘how much would you be prepared to spend on a ticket?’ and ‘for how many years have you been attending festivals?’

On reflection, it was decided not use the postcode mapping as the questionnaire did not capture the relevant information. It was not specified in the question whether this was to be term time or home postcode and therefore no conclusion could be drawn as to whether people attended local music festivals or otherwise.

Diagram 2

However, as it was noted in the questionnaire results that 65% of people placed ‘distance to travel’ as either important or very important, it would have been an interesting question to have had more information on, and could have been very relevant for postcode mapping.

DATA ANALYSIS FOR RESEARCH Assignment for BML224 completed by student numbers: 1104160, 1106197, 1108247, 0901390 and, 1103682

Which Gender is More Comfortable Continued

Peer Assessment Benefits: A Study Comparison

Introduction The Investigation



100 responses from students in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of university as well as Post-Graduates were obtained.



A series of statistical tests were run using SPSS software, to investigate whether or not there were any similarities/differences that could be further explored or examined.

A small case study, from the University of Loughborough, revealed contradictions between student’s attitudes on how beneficial they believe peer assessment to be.

Aim The aim of this study was to look for patterns within students perceptions of peer assessment of group work. It draws on various studies and compares the findings with them. Its main purpose was to explore the reasons why students have the perceptions they do regarding group work, and the peer assessment of group work in particular.

Method 

A series of questions were asked using Bristol Online Surveys, and promoted via word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail as well as the Chichester university Intranet.



The survey only asked for students or post-graduates to respond.

Respondent Breakdown and Key Comments Male: 46%



Female: 54% How Much Do You Agree With The Following: Using Peer Assessment Can Help Develop Clearer Assessment Criteria

Third Year 16%

50

The mean age is: 22.27

45 40

Frequency

The median age is: 20



35

Second Year 51%

The mode age is: 19



30

20



10 5

Below is a list of key comments found within a group work & peer assessment study conducted by Indiana University (Martinez R. et. al, 2002) on their graduates, juxtaposed with key findings from our own respondents.

“Difficulties arise due to cultural differences between international and domestic students.”





“Group work in *University+ is not representative of group work in the real world.”



“Group work can result in greater learning and creativity.”



“I don't feel that peer assessment is always fair.”



“I believe it should be used but not to grade work.”

Group Work Data Breakdown

Leader 23%

30

45 40 35

20

Frequency

30

0

Percentage of students

Disagree

Neither Disagree or Agree

Agree

20

Disagree

Neither Disagree or Agree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Is Comfort Within a Group Influenced By Gender?

The 2011 Belbin study concluded that there was no gender bias toward any team role.

While the attitude towards group work remained mostly positive before and after attending university, with little change (55% and 54% respectively), the number of respondents who felt unsure dropped from 20% to 10%, whilst those with a negative view of group work rose from 25% to 36%.



A study by Martinez, R et al. (2002) highlighted the findings of Gatfield (1999) that stated that group work attitude differences did not seem to be affected by gender. The report by Martinez goes on to find no significant link between gender and attitude in it’s own study.

Posivie Effect, 28% 

No Effect, 51%



Negative Effect, 21%

52% had no experience prior to university.

Since attending university 69% of respondents have experienced peer assessment.

70%

Post-Uni

60% Pre-Uni 50%

This report now looks into what students perceived their group role to be, to identify if group roles had any effect on their perception of group work. The study examines if there was a substantial amount of students who perceived themselves as leaders and whether leaders were more comfortable with group work.

After identifying the overall group roles, it was down to identifying if gender had an effect:

Percentage of Genders in Each Role

Chichester

90% 80%

70%

Roles

Leeds

60%

Leader

Male

Female 28.3

Chichester

40% 20% 0%

Peer assessment contribution should Peer assessment contribution should be less than 40% be less than 10%

Pre-Uni



Pre-Uni

20%

10%

Post-Uni

When your work is judged by your peers, providing that they constructively criticize your work, it can be very helpful in improving the piece.

I do not think students should mark other students work seeing as they are not the ones who are teaching the degree and still learning themselves so how have they got the knowledge to take someone else’s degree into their own hands?



Females may feel more comfortable working in solitary conditions, and more reserved or shy around new people, although more data would be required to back this theory.

Thinker

15.2

20.4

Researcher

17.4

16.7

Implementer

13.0

24.1

Team Worker

26.1

20.4

Conclusion to The Study Findings

25.0



The study drew up an interesting similarity to that of the University of Loughborough. The vast majority of their participants agreed that peer assessment is beneficial for learners, however, when asked later if their own experience of peer assessment was beneficial, there was a significantly reduced number of positive responses. They concluded that the reason for this was that when it came down to something as important as grades, the benefits are overshadowed by concerns regarding fairness and that they would prefer a teacher or lecturers input. The Chichester report set out to try and reveal whether the same response would apply to its own sample group. The results were strikingly similar, with both studies finding that whilst students appeared to be aware of the benefits, they were less than happy with having their overall grade attributed to Peer Assessment.



When this report explored gender influence on team roles and group comfort there was a surprising difference between the results and that of previous studies into gender influence. Belbin looked extensively at gender influence, but concluded that although some small studies revealed a possible link between gender and preferred team roles, there was no significant influence of gender on team roles. The Chichester study however, revealed that males were much more likely to prefer the role of a leader within a group. It was concluded that a possible reason for this contrast could be due to sample size or individual differences of the participants, for example, all of our participants are past or present students.



Further to this, the report conducted on this page found a link between gender and comfort with working in groups, which again contradicted several findings within the research literature the survey was originally drawn from. Again this could have been due to the smaller sample size and individual reasons causing the contrasting result.



Further research could also be carried out if there had been more variation in nationality and ages within the sample collected. With a larger sample of international students and a greater range of respondents’ ages, tests could have been carried out to reveal whether the study would have found similar answers or contradicted the reports that already exist. With more data an exploration into whether the course being studied could influence the team roles, comfort and preference to peer assessment.

Male

15.0

Female

10.0

Thinker

Researcher

Implementer

Team Worker



It was clear that there was a lower percentage of women that considered themselves to be leaders—only 18.5% of females considered themselves to be leaders compared to 28.3% of males.



These findings were a surprise contradiction to the research conducted by Belbin (2011) which found “there is no significant gender bias for any team role.”

Percentage of Genders Who Are Comfortable/ Uncomfortable Male

Female

Comfortable

71.7

Uncomfortable

23.9

46.3

4.3

9.3

Neither

The findings revealed some interesting, if not conclusive statistics. The majority of students can understand and agree with the benefits peer assessment has, but the largest concern for students regarding peer assessment is the risk of being unfairly graded due to a peer’s lack of experience in assessing.

20.0

Which Gender is More Comfortable Working in a Group?

Level of Comfort

 30.0

A University of Leeds study found that “a significant majority of students (70%) felt that peer assessment should not contribute more than 40% of the total marks allo- The study then investigated whether gender had an effect on how comfortable a student is with working in a group. There was a difference in results: Men appear comfortable in cated, with half of these feeling of the opinion that the contribution should be less groups as 71.7% of males said that they felt comfortable in a group and only 23.9% felt uncomfortable. This is in comparison with females whose data was quite evenly spread than 10%.” (Wilkinson, N, 2009) with 44.4% stating they felt comfortable working within a group and 46.3% feeling uncomfortable. The difference can be seen clearly when presented in a bar chart.

In comparison the study undertaken in this report found similar negative results, although a little more extreme, with 92% of respondents feeling that peer assessWhich Gender Is More Comfortable With Group Work?

80.0 ment should not contribute more than 40% of the total marks allocated, with 41%



The preference for males to be a team leader more than females ensures they gain a dominant position within a group (although this only applies to the Chichester study respondents), and therefore have more control over the groups’ decisions and outcomes.

0.0

Leeds

30%



Portrayed Roles Within Groups vs. Gender

Leader

50%

Post-Uni

30%

Another chi-squared test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between self-perceived group roles and how comfortable students are with group work. The difference was not significant (P=0.563). Therefore the alternative hypothesis should be rejected and the report can assume that there is no significance between self-perceived groups and comfort levels. The null hypothesis is now accepted for this data.

The fact male’s feel more comfortable working in groups could be attributed to the following points:

5.0

18.5

Key points raised by respondents on peer assessment:

40%



The alternative theory is that all of the respondents to this study are or were students, and that there is a possibility this influenced the increase in males who deemed themselves as part of the Leader role, although no data exists to support this.

Which Roles Within a Group, Applied to Each Gender?

100%

10%

31% have not had experience since attending university.

Comparison of Students Confidence Levels Toward Peer Assessment Before and Since Attending University

From this research it is expected that we will accept the null hypothesis and that gender will have no influence on how comfortable a student feels working within a group.

44.4

References Bain, J. (2009). 'Attitudes toward Peer Assessment in Initial Teacher Education Students: An Exploratory Case Study'. In: D&T – A Platform for Success: Education and International Research Conference 2009. University of Loughborough, United Kingdom

Belbin, M. (2011). Does Gender-Balance Matter?. Available: http://teamrolesbelbin.wordpress.com/. Last accessed 8th Dec 2012

70.0

Percentage Of Students Who Are Comfortable/Uncomfortable



Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between how comfortable students are within a group and self-perceived group roles—How comfortable a student feels within a group will influence which role they perceive themselves to play within a group.

Conclusion to Gender Influence Theory

The research by Wolfe, A (2008) had similar findings, with only two exceptions, one of which was mentioned in the Group Work Data Breakdown section of this report.

Comparison Between Student Perceptions of Peer Assessment Contribution Toward Overall Grade

Percentage of Students

Overall How Has Peer Assessment Affected Your Overall Grades?



Although Belbin's study contrasts with the Chichester study on team roles, it did not go into depth on comfort, where the Chichester study is challenged less, and the significant difference found here can be deemed as an important and noteworthy find.

Percentage of Students in Each Role

Neither Comfortable Uncomfortable Nor Comfortable Comfortable Level



ed themselves with, however Leader and Team Worker gained the highest percentage of respondents (23%)

48% of respondents had experienced peer assessment prior to university.

Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between how comfortable students are with group work and, self-perceived group roles.

This report reveals a surprise contradiction to previous studies, possibly influenced by individual differences based on the sample size. Belbin (2011) found that although gender affected team roles in a smaller sample group, when the same study was conducted on over 20,000 respondents, there was no significant difference between male and female respondents.

Belbin M, (2011) examined all male and all female groups and found there to be a macho-competitiveness attitude within all male groups. This study will examine if gender has any effect on group roles within a team, and then see if this has an effect on the students’ level of comfort with group work.

Peer Assessment Data Breakdown 



Strongly Agree

To conclude, findings from the University of Loughborough regarding individuals perceived benefits of peer assessment were similar to those gathered in the Chichester report. Though both reveal that generally, participants agree that peer assessment is beneficial to learners, there are concerns that their grades may be negatively affected as a result due to inexperience or bias. This has resulted, in both cases, that participants perceptions of the benefits of peer assessment has been clouded by the importance of receiving, what they believe to be, an accurate or fair grade.



20%

A study into student attitudes toward team projects (Wolfe, A, 2008) revealed the following The Chichester study found the following within its study into group work: key findings:  57% of respondents are either quite or very confident with group work  Students have confidence in themselves but less confidence in the team  There was no significant difference between the group roles students associat-

As this graph shows the majority of university students (51%) believe peer assessment has not had an effect on their overall grades.

A chi-squared test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between gender and self-perceived group roles. The difference was not significant (P=0.502). Therefore the alternative hypothesis should be rejected and the report can assume that there is no significance between gender and self-perceived groups. The null hypothesis is now accepted for this data.

Level of Agreeance







5

25

30%

Before Since Students Perception of Group Work Before and After University

67% of respondents experienced projects where one or more team members often or sometimes failed to produce results expected from them.

Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between gender and self-perceived group roles—Gender will have an influence on what role students perceive they play within a group. (2tailed)

10

Level of Agreeance

Strongly Disagree

Uncomfortable





15

0

0%

A smaller percentage of males (38.6%) than females had concern about unproductive team members within their group.

Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between gender and self-perceived group roles.

25

5

10%





30

10

0

Percentage of Students

50

40

40%

Unsure

academic.”

Other Connections Explored

35

Unsure

10

insight.”

A chi squared test was conducted to determine if there is a significant difference between gender and how comfortable students are to work as part of a group the difference was significant (p=0.035) therefore the alternative hypothesis is accepted and the study can assume how comfortable students are with group work is affected by gender.

How Much Do You Agree With The Following: Using Peer Assessment May Lead to Improvements In Your Other Assessment Practices

Negative

20

whether sport or

Is Comfort Within a Group Influenced By Gender?



Strongly Disagree

50 Negative

others so gives you

Strongly Agree

15

Positive

being part of teams

Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between gender and how comfortable students feel in a group—gender will influence how comfortable a student is within a group. (2-tailed).

45

50%

Graph to Show the Change in Attitudes of Students on Groupwork Both Before and After Attending University Positive

Agree

How Much Do You Agree With The Following: Peer Assessment Is a Good Way to Generate Timely Feedback

How comfortable respondents felt toward working in a group

Researcher 17%

40

Neither disagree or agree

50

Thinker 18%

60

Disagree

This shows that although participants agreed that peer assessment is beneficial to learners, this can be overshadowed by their concerns regarding the grade they are going to receive.



60%

Implementer 19%

ways of working with

Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between gender and how comfortable students are in groups.

However, when asked the question ‘What percentage of your final grade for a group work module do you believe should be peer assessed?’ the majority (92%) of participants in the Chichester study agreed that they feel that less than 40% should be marked through peer assessment, with 38% being happy with less than 10% being marked by peers.

When asked to explain their responses to this, it was revealed that the most common themes were that students were concerned with fairness and peers ability to grade work as accurately as teachers or lecturers, which is illustrated in the following comment: “Peers should give their views as they have been working closely with you, so it provides a real picture of what went on, but the grades given are from amateurs. Lecturers should be the ones taking responsibility.”

The team role descriptions used in this study are based on the nine effective team roles created by Belbin (2011), which have been compacted into 5 roles to simplify the survey for respondents.

Respondents Group Role Preference Team Worker 23%

Strongly disagree



“Too much politics with smaller class groups.”

people.”

was a positive experience.”

“Always enjoyed

Yes, 82%

In the Chichester report, when participants were asked to rate a set of potential benefits of peer assessment, the majority (52%-58%) agreed or strongly agreed with the following: ‘Using peer assessment can help develop clearer assessment criteria’, ‘Peer assessment is a good way to generate timely feedback’ and ‘Using peer assessment may lead to improvements in your other assessment practices.’ This is similar to the findings of the Loughborough study in that the majority of participants in their study also agreed that peer assessment, generally, is beneficial to learners.

Level of Agreeance



some group work and it

“Different ideas and

0

Key comments from our respondents:

Key comments from Indiana University respondents:

groups and got on with

25

15

The respondents Nationality: 88% British, 12% International

“Always worked well in

“In the past I have done

Hypothesis

This shows that although participants felt that peer assessment was beneficial, the importance of grades and teacher input can overshadow them.



First Year 18%



The respondents age (years): 

No , 12%

Breakdown of Students By Year of Study Post-Graduate 15%



Don't Know, 6%

They identified that “those (42%) who responded positively to Q1 (Is peer assessment beneficial to learning?) and negatively to Q15 (Was your peer assessment experience beneficial to your learning?) provided some interesting if apparently contradictory answers. Despite indicating in Q2 that peer feedback was of great benefit to learners it appears, that when grades were at stake, this feedback was of little interest. Participant I-5 Response: It was badly timed, when I was focused on improving my grade and needed feedback from my tutor on how to do that.”



The respondents gender:

Is Peer Assessment Beneficial For Learners

They found that 82% of participants, who all had experience of peer assessment, agreed that peer assessment is beneficial for learners. This was contradictory to their response to the later question: ‘Was your peer assessment experience beneficial to your learning?’ where only 58% responded positively.



Frequency



Percentage of Students

Below are Quotations taken from males answering the question “Before university how negative/positive was your experience of group work?” back-up the results above:

This section of the report is focusing on a direct comparison between the findings of The University of Loughborough and the Chichester study. It aims to explore how participants, at both Universities, perceive the benefits of peer assessment by comparing their attitudes towards peer assessment to how much of their final grade This study uses the definition of group assessment as stated by Race, P (2001) to describe peer assessment within group work: “the assessment of the product by students they would be happy being marked by peer assessment. from other groups (inter-peer assessment), or the assessment of the product of group work by students within a group (intra-peer assessment)”.

A survey was created focusing on students attitudes/perceptions towards peer assessment and group work.



Belbin, M. (2011). Method, Reliability and Validity, Statistics & Research: A Comprehensive Review of Belbin’s Team Roles. Available: http://www.belbin.com/content/page/5596/A%20Comprehensive%20Review.pdf. Last Accessed 8 th Dec 2012 60.0

Loddington, S. (2008). Peer Assessment of Group Work: A Review of the Literature. Faculty of Engineering, Loughborough University.

50.0

40.0

Male Female

30.0

Martinez, R., Cheng, A. S., Smith, K., Smith, M., & Yoon, S. (2002). Indiana University Instructional Systems Technology (IST) graduate student attitudes towards group work. Y520: Strategies for educational inquiry Section 5982, Fall 2002 Group Project Reports. Available: http://www.indiana.edu/~educy520/sec5982/week_15/rmacksmssy.pdf. Last Accessed 7th Dec 2012

Race, P. (2001). A Briefing On Self, Peer and Group Assessment. Available: http://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/eia-resource-database-search.aspx?letter=A. Last accessed 7th Dec 2012.

20.0

10.0

0% Apprehensive

Neither

Wilkinson, N. (2009). Student's Attitudes Towards Peer Assessment of Group Work. Available: http://webpaproject.lboro.ac.uk/?q=node%2F559. Last accessed 7th Dec 2012.

Confident 0.0 Comfortable

Uncomfortable Levels Of Comfort

Neither

Wolfe, A. (2008). Student Attitudes Towards Team Projects. Available: http://alisonwolfe.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Student_Attitudes_Team_Projects2.pdf. Last Accessed 10th Dec 2012