Procrastination at the conclusion of the master s thesis: results from a survey on computer science students in northeast argentina

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1 Procrastination at the conclusion of the master s thesis: results from a survey on computer science students in northeast argentina Emanuel Irrazábal eirrazabal@exa.unne.edu.ar Maximiliano A. Mascheroni mascheroni@exa.unne.edu.ar Cristina Greiner cgreiner@exa.unne.edu.ar Gladys Dapozo gndapozo@exa.unne.edu.ar Abstract It is straightforward to find ourselves avoiding tasks or situations every day, instead of making an effort to deal with them. This behavior is known as procrastination, and it is very common in industrial societies. In the educational context, one of the most likely procrastination situations is the development of a bachelor degree thesis or Master s thesis where the student is supposed to work on an original written work. This paper presents the findings of a survey on typical barriers of the thesis s development, carried out with 51 Computer Science Master s students. The survey measured participants procrastination using the General Procrastination Scale proposed by Lay and their current situation in the thesis s development. The findings of the survey show that the main barriers to begin the final thesis work are lack of time and motivation. Furthermore, general and descriptive information about the students current situation was obtained. Keywords Argentina, procrastination, survey, thesis. I. INTRODUCTION It is getting increasingly usual that people try to delay tasks or situations instead of making an effort to confront them. This behavior is known as procrastination and it is typical in industrial societies. According to Milgram, procrastination is a predisposition to postpone or delay a task or decision [1]. Solomon and Rothblum add that the choice to defer a task or decision is made unnecessarily [2]. Additionally, Lay affirms that the decision is irrational [3]. Procrastination is a common problem and it occurs without major consequences. Nevertheless, it can become a potentially dangerous habit for individuals who convert it into their lifestyle, reducing their performance [4]. The chronic procrastination effects might provoke difficulties in personal, professional and academic contexts. The latter type of procrastination, known as academic procrastination, is a growing problem. Diverse studies quantify that an average of 20% of students are chronic procrastinators [5-7]. The academic procrastination has been related to a considerable number of factors, especially with perfectionism, the fear of failure and the aversion to the development of activities [2, 8-11]. The academic procrastination can also be related to immediate gratifications. Ariely and Wertenbroch indicate that procrastination occurs when individuals choose tasks that give immediate gratification to them, instead of choosing activities which involve later gratification [12]. Similarly, Senécal and Guay focus procrastination from the satisfaction perspective: the tasks perceived as unpleasant are avoided compared to the tasks which produce higher levels of satisfaction [13]. On the other hand, there are surveys which demonstrate the relation between academic procrastination, lack of punctuality and difficulties in following instructions [14]. Other studies illustrate the relation between academic procrastination, and some demographic indicators such as age and gender. There are a considerable number of reports which have shown that procrastination decreases with age [4, 15-17]. Moreover, it was found that academic procrastination occurs predominantly in men rather than in women. However, there are works in which this hypothesis cannot be proved. The relationship between procrastination and academic performance has also been studied. In some cases, a significant relation was found [6, 14, 18, 19]. Nevertheless, there are other investigations where that relation is not found [20-22]. In the academic context, one of the most likely situations of procrastination is the preparation of a bachelor degree thesis or a Master s thesis where the student is supposed to work on an original written work. This task does not produce an immediate gratification, but it requires considerable and sustained effort from individuals who generally have their time assigned to other tasks (profession or family). Even though there are not official statistics in Argentina, Di Stefano [23] expresses that the rate of students who get their degree is between 7% and 20%. Carlino [24, 25] also mentions that there are difficulties at completing a bachelor degree thesis or a Master s thesis, especially during the writing process. The student changes from a known context (undergraduate degree) to a new one with major challenges. Furthermore, the choice of an appropriate topic is necessary; sometimes, the relationship between the student and his/her director is not close and motivated; it is an activity in which intermediate goals are not perceived, and it requires an important self-organization which is different from previous educational tasks. It also requires a change from a reader perspective to an author perspective /17/$ IEEE

2 According to Ochoa, students do not work on their thesis because of economic, social and affective spending [26]. This article presents a statistical analysis of a survey conducted with Master s students of Computer Science, from Northeast Argentina, who are in a state of everything except the thesis. The survey has measured the students procrastination, the academic procrastination levels and the current relation of these levels with some typical barriers of the thesis preparation. Furthermore, the collected data have helped to comprehend the relation between procrastination and demographic variables in Northeast Argentina. II. METHODOLOGY A survey about the typical psychological barriers on the preparation of a Master s thesis has been carried out with participants of a seminar about Common barriers to thesis completion held at National Northeast University (Argentina). It was designed by following the recommendations provided in [35]. All survey participants belong to the leading universities in the Northeast of Argentina. The participants were Master s students of Computer Science who have already finished the post-graduate courses but they have not completed the writing of their thesis yet. The survey was carried out through an online questionnaire with 54 answers. However, 3 of them were eliminated since they were incomplete. Consequently, in the analysis, 51 answers were included (27 men and 24 women). Fig. 1 details the distribution of age. The survey was divided into three sections. The first one is socialdemographic section which aims to deter-mine age, gender and the start year of Master in Computer Science. The second part is related to the current situation of the thesis development. Finally, the third section contains a procrastination test. A. Survey Description A multiple choice questionnaire was elaborated with the aim of finding out the current status of the students thesis development. In order to do that, we revised the conclusions of other case study articles and other similar interviews with students. In Table 1, we describe the main states which have been considered in the survey. TABLE I. SELECTION OF BARRIERS Ref Barriers / context Affirmations [24-26] [24, 26, 27] [24, 28, 29] Finding an interesting topic, with the group support generally. Students, sometimes, have not got the experience in investigation and the courses in Mater s do not encourage them. Problems related to Director. The lack of practice in thesis preparation causes students to lose their motivation. Moreover, learners experience a great feeling of guilt due to stagnation in work. They also feel loneliness because of lack of intermediate achievements. I have tried to work on it but I was not able to find the topic. I have tried to start it but I did not find an appropriate director. I have tried to start it. However, I do not feel a bit like working on it or I am not motivated. [24] Self-discipline and constancy are necessary. I am working on it. [24] It is not a definite challenge, but a first step. [26, 30, 33] Uncertainly about being or not able to finish the thesis I would like to conclude it and start a PhD. I don t know if I ll finish it [24] Fear of change from reader to author I did not try to start it Analyzing the participants context, the work has focused on these aspects because of their direct relationship with procrastination. However, it did not consider other aspects such as type of direction, support from the institution and lack of pair revision [25], since they are not related to the goals of the study. In the second column of Table 1, a summary of the barriers or the student s possible context can be observed. Furthermore, the first column lists the references of these barriers and the third column indicates the resultant affirmation that then is incorporated to the survey. As described by Sierra [26] the thesis preparation process has two critical moments: the beginning and the end. Fig. 2 summarizes the diverse conflicting states that a student can feel. The charts with crosses represent the affirmations which will be considered in the survey. Finally, the affirmations I have started it and I am working on the thesis have been included. Fig. 1. Age distribution of respondents. Fig. 2. Summary of the diverse states which a student can experience during the process of thesis preparation

3 TABLE II. SUMMARY OF THE PROCRASTINATION QUESTIONNAIRE S RESULTS. Gender PR. A PR. D APR. A. APR. D Male 57,1 8,7 56,3 9,8 Female 57,9 9,7 54,8 9,9 Total 57,5 9,1 55,6 9,8 The third section of the survey is composed of a procrastination test. There are different procrastination test approaches: the General Procrastination Scale (GPS) of Lay [3], the Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students (PASS) [2], the Aitken Procrastination Inventory (API) [34], the Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS) [35], among others. In order to choose the easiest and clearest questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test (N=6) among graduate students. The GPS questionnaire from Lay was chosen which includes the option of evaluating both general procrastination and academic procrastination. The questionnaire utilizes one-dimensional scale composed of 20 elements in where the interviewee is asked about typical procrastination situations (Lickert scale of five points asking how often those situations occur). The 20 answers are added and a global total of points are obtained. The higher the point is, the stronger the tendency to procrastination is. In previous investigations, the scale has presented an Alpha of Cronbach of.82 [3], and a reliability test-retest (one month) of.80. III. RESULTS In this section, the results of the two survey s parts are analyzed. On the one hand the detected procrastination level is considered. On the other hand the students current situation is contemplated. The GPS questionnaire provides us the possibility of getting two values of procrastination: general procrastination (PR) and academic procrastination (APR). Table 2 shows a summary of the results. The Lay questionnaire presents a rank from 100 to 20 points (100: maximum procrastination). Thus, the procrastination average of Master s students is in a rank from 55 to 60 points, with a standard deviation of 9 points. It is important to highlight the similarity of the average values (A) and dispersion (D) for both types of procrastination (general and academic ones). In Fig. 3 the distribution of the results can be seen. Although there are not high values of procrastination (80 or more), a normal distribution with a large percentage of people in the central values can be observed (50 to 70). In this case, a similarity between the values of PR and APR can also be seen. Furthermore, we have studied the relations between PR variables, APR variables and participants ages. Pearson correlation was utilized to study these relations. The correlation between the types of procrastination is good, which could be intuited due to the previously observed values. Regarding the age of the students, as it was indicated at the first section of this work, there was not uniqueness of criteria at relating this variable with procrastination. In this case, as it can be observed in Table 3, the correlation is weak for both men and women. To complete the analysis of the results we have carried out a study of Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) of the procrastination values related to the participants gender. This study tests the hypothesis which establishes that the mean of various samples are equals. We have proved that there are differences in the levels of PR and APR regarding gender, or conversely they are equals. For that reason we formulate the following hypotheses: H0 PR_HM = There are not differences in the general procrastination levels between men and women. H0 APR_HM = There are not differences in the academic procrastination levels between men and women. H1= Null hypothesis is not true. We utilized a significance level of 0,05 for errors of type I. To reject the null hypotheses, it is necessary to prove the ratio of variations among groups and within them (known as F) which has to be more than the critical value of F in accordance with the significance level. TABLE III. CORRELATION BETWEEN VARIABLES. Fig. 3. Results of procrastination s survey. General Procrastination(PR) and Academic Procrastination (APR).. Correlation Total Men Women PR and APR 0,78 0,81 0,77 Determinant 0,61 0,66 0,59 PR and AGE 0,16 0,31 0,01 Determinant 0,03 0,10 0,00 APR and AGE 0,14 0,16 0,09 Determinant 0,02 0,03 0,01

4 TABLE V. MOST REPEATED PAIRS OF AFFIRMATIONS Pairs of affirmations Rep. I have not tried to start it and I would like to finish it. 9 I have tried to start it but I have not had time and I must finish it 8 I am working on it and I must finish it 8 Fig. 4. Answers of the section which asked about the current context of students thesis work. The variance analysis of a factor has confirmed the null hypothesis showing no variation between men and women for both PR (F: 0, 09, P: 0,76, Critical value of F: 4,04) and APR (F: 0,28, P: 0,60, Critical value of F: 4,04). B. Current state of students thesis work As detailed below we analyze the answers of the section which asked about the current context of students thesis work. Table 4 describes the possible states and an identification value (ID) to develop the analysis. Fig. 4 illustrates the selection of students concerning the situation of their thesis work. Clearly, there is a maximum in option 10: I would like to finish, and three local maximums in options 5, 6 and 9: I am working on it, I have not tried to start it and I must finish it. The option which was the most commonly chosen among students denotes a context of hope. The use of the conditional verb in the phrase indicates that in spite of having an interest in finishing it, students have a type of barrier. The next step was to find the pair of statements with the highest number of repetitions in order to test the global state of participants. TABLE IV. IDENTIFICATION OF POSIBLE CONTEXTS Description ID I have tried to start it but I did not have time. 1 I have tried to start it but I did not find the topic. 2 I have tried to start it but I did not find an appropriate director. 3 I have tried to start it. However, I do not feel a bit like working on it or I am not motivated. 4 I am working on it. 5 I have not tried to start it. 6 I would like to finish it and begin a doctorate. 7 I would like to finish it and begin another one. 8 I must finish it. 9 I would like to finish it. 10 I do not know whether I am going to finish it. 11 Table 5 lists affirmations in pairs and the number of times they were repeated (Rep.). The most repeated pair of affirmations has had nine repetitions. Altough students have not started the thesis development yet, they would like to finish it. When we concluded the seminar, we were able to detect qualitatively that students do not feel well because they do have not started the thesis development, but they feel a sense of relief at the hope of finishing it. Nevertheless, they are not under the pressure to start it. Clearly, it is a blocking situation. On the other hand, 16% of people feel that they must finish their thesis and they have already started developing it or they have deemed to do it but they did not have time to work on it. This indicates a major commitment with the thesis. Furthermore, it determines that procrastination is one of the possible factors which provokes situation of barriers, experienced by these Master s students of Computer Science. Finally, we conducted a one-factor variance analysis of the differences in procrastination levels between groups of students. The groups were set according to the chosen context: one of the groups has students who chose states with barriers in the development of thesis (see Table 4); the other group has students who did not include those states with barriers. H0 PR= There is no difference in the procrastination levels between students who are in barrier states and students who are not in those states. H0 APR = There is no difference in the academic procrastination levels between students who are in barrier states and students who are not in those states. H1 = Null hypothesis is not true. The one-factor variance analysis has rejected the null hypothesis, showing a variation between the groups in PR (F: 9,83, P: 0,0021, Critical value of F: 3,918) and groups in APR (F: 5,169, P: 0,0247, Critical value of F: 3,918). It means that procrastination is one of the possible factors which provoke barrier situations in Master s students of Computer Science. C. Threats to validation From the beginning we have tried to reduce the possible threats using a unique survey. The choice of affirmations emerges from the qualitative analysis of others authors who have studied difficulties in the postgraduate thesis preparation in Argentina. We have attempted to avoid an arbitrary choice, but we have considered the context of the survey s possible participants. Then, we have selected the procrastination questionnaire using the same approach, considering that a questionnaire for contexts in Argentina does not exist yet. Thus, the choice of the questionnaire was based on previous experiences which gave the best results in the aforementioned pilot test with the students. The same strategy has been applied in the selection of the context s affirmations, determining the

5 level of clarity. Finally the results are limited to a unique survey: they are related to a seminar. IV. CONCLUSIONS With the aim of finding out the typical psychological barriers in Master s thesis development, we have conducted a survey with Master s students of Computer Science who have finished the postgraduate courses but have not completed their thesis. A set of multiple choice questions has been elaborated in order to find out the current context of the thesis preparation students. We revised the conclusions of other case study articles and interviews with students. They described the context of thesis s development and the main barriers. The procrastination average of Master s students is in the rank from 55 to 60 points (intermediate), with a standard deviation of 9 points. It is important to highlight the similarity of the average values (A) and dispersion (D) for both types of procrastination (general and academic). Differences between men and women were not demonstrated. Although high values of procrastination do not exist (80 or more), we can see a normal distribution with a large percentage of people in the central values (50 to 70). In this case, a similarity between the values of general and academic procrastination can also be seen. The correlation between the types of procrastination is good. The correlation between procrastination and age is weak. Consequently, we can affirm that age does not influence as a variable that produces procrastination in Master s students of Computer Science in Northeast Argentina. To complete the analysis of the results, we have carried out a study of variance analysis (ANOVA) of the procrastination values regarding the participants gender. The one-factor variance analysis has confirmed the null hypothesis, showing no variation between men and women for both procrastination and academic procrastination. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to thank to the Master s students who have participated of the seminar. 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