285+proposal1

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DISTRACTIONS EFFECTING STUDENTS GRADES
STUDENT NAME: Ryan Pugh
STUDENT NUMBER: 393881
COURSE NAME: Research Methods
DEPARTMENT: Psychology
SUPERVISOR: Matthew Christensen
DATE OF SUBMISSION: March 14, 2012

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Abstract
The purpose of this study will be to investigate the effects of students who bring extra
things not related to class work that could serve as a distraction affecting their attention and
grade levels in class. To be more specific, items such as: a backpack (with extra items such as
books from other classes notes, other books, etc.) cell phone, portable music devices, and laptops
or tablets. A study done has shown that students’ who try to multitask in class tend to score
lower on tests and spend more time out of class studying. In this study randomized students’ who
are taking basic level classes (UP classes) will be tested on new class material they have learned
that day. The questions will vary from material that is more basic (that the teacher had clearly
stated) to more in depth questions (which will make the students abstractly think about what they
have learned).

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INTRODUCTION
Problem Statement
In classrooms technology is something almost impossible to avoid and how distracting
and detrimental on students grades these things may be is what this intends to solve. The
hypotheses proposed for this test is as so: if an individual takes more than the necessities for
class (notes and a pencil or pen), they will become more distracted then those who bring the
minimal necessities needed for class. In this study the two variables being studied will be if the
distractions students may bring to class, which will be the dependent variable. The independent
variable is how distracted students become from the additive objects brought to class by students.
In this study the way it is testing for how distractive additive objects may be to students, will be
that students will be quizzed over that day’s material at the end of the class period. This study
will be experimental research, because it will be studying distractions students have in class and
the effect they have on students’ grades. This test will also partially be a naturalistic observation
because the independent variable isn’t being manipulated.
Literature Review
The reason I chose to do this research is because in a similar study done in the past by
Behnke, (1981) whose concept is about the amount of time students are engaged in meaningful
learning activities rather than having their time wasted by a lecture that doesn’t flow. This was
useful in trying to control for extraneous variables. Also it helped by answering questions to how
the students would become distracted because the lectures had no flow to them so they would
start to loose interest in the lecture. This research also brought rise to the idea that maybe it’s not

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actually the extra items brought to class, but an unorganized lecture that may cause lower grades
from being distracted.
Another paper somewhat similar to the first one done by author Felder, (2002) talks about
how students may have different learning styles then the way the teacher teaches the class which
may become distracting. This also could skew results for this test because there could be a
chance that the teacher’s teaching style doesn’t match that of the students learning styles. An
example being if someone were to study an entry level art class where there are some students in
the class because it is their major and tend to be more visual learners; while the rest of the class
are just taking the class for credit would not as keen to learning by visuals. Being an art class the
teacher would most likely teach their class in a very visual learning way. The students who aren’t
as visual would tend to then score lower than those who are visual learners and the distractions
they have in class wouldn’t play as much of a role on scores
There’s a study by Fried, (2006) studied how laptops cause students to multitask and can
be a distraction to the user and fellow students. They also found that laptop use caused low
understanding of course material and overall performance, which is quite significant to this study.
To be more specific, laptops are one of the things that will be asked in this study as a distraction
mechanism, and this study already demonstrated that laptops are shown to be a distraction.
Another study that gets more specific about computer usage by the author Sigala, (2009) talks
about how students now of days are becoming better at multitasking, such as using Facebook
while trying to take notes. However, in the article they state that students who try to do so tend to
show an increase in mistakes while processing information when students are trying to multitask.
This expresses that while students may be improving in such tasks that there is still a lot of error
in multitasking.

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An article which was done by University of Michigan Suggests the opposite of all the
research done protesting that laptops can actually increase student engagement, attentiveness,
participation and learning. The website isn’t arguing that laptops can be distracting and when it
becomes a distraction students will score lower, but that if laptops are part of the lecture plan
then students won’t be distracted. Teachers’ do have lectures online in which students fill in the
blanks of missing information when the teacher covers it. This however doesn’t mean that
students can’t open a new page on the internet and be distracted.
A study was done about cell phone distractions written by Campbell (2006). called. The
study supported the idea that cell phones could prove to be distracting to students and teachers
because of the ringer when it goes off. This would put a twist on the study for the fact that it
could be an extraneous variable that one wouldn’t be able to control for. To be specific having
students who may bring their phones can get distracted from other people’s cell phone ringer and
score lower on the test.
Another study done by Berque (2004) took a more up to date look at potential newer
technological distractions that can come from tablet PC’s. The paper was more focused on just
the use of tablets rather than how distractive they could be. However, they did find that students
do prefer to use tablets in Computer Science classrooms. Tablets are quite similar to laptops with
also many differences between the two, which may prove to be less distractive then a laptop
would be. One example is that a tablet PC may have an app or program that the student could run
simultaneously while taking notes that can give the student a visual aid or a diagram of the
lectured information.
A study was done by Rinne (1982) has instead taken a look at the types of distractions
that a teacher may have on the classroom. In the paper Rinne has an example that says, “Teacher

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X (giving an assignment to the class): "Now on page 26, you should do the problems. . . (notices
Johnny looking out the window). Johnny? You turn around and pay attention. Now every body
look at the graph, at the bottom of page 26, which shows that. ..." Teacher X is using
conventional class room control and would, by conventional wisdom, be considered "firm" or
"no nonsense." The problem is that Teacher X has distracted the attention of the entire class
away from the lesson content (some students will even wonder just what it was that Johnny was
looking at!); in addition, Teacher X has risked distracting Johnny's own attention” (Rinne, 1982,
p. 4). This is a perfect example of how students may not even need an object to distract them, but
instead a teacher.
Purpose
The reason for this study is because there are many things that students do in class that
aren’t related to what they are learning in class. Things that seem to distract students the most are
as follows: cell phone, computer, ipod & headphones, backpack (which for some students may
contain material from other classes). The reasons these objects may be distracting are as follows.
Cell phone: Texting, which can distract the individual and also distract friends around them,
because they may wonder who they are texting or feel they need to text too. An individual may
feel their cell phone vibrates and if the individual has not already have looked at it they will then
wonder what the text is about and lose focus. Also when the phone goes off it could disrupt the
teacher and have them loose focus and also distract the rest of the class.
Often students find themselves on Google searching things that may not pertain to class
or are on Facebook chatting with their friends. Others who are sitting behind you may also find
what you’re doing interesting and lose focus on the instructor. Furthermore, students have to turn
on their computer find their notes for the day and then turn it off and put it back away safe may

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be distracting. Not to say if students are running late then they will be even more behind a
student who just has to open their notebook to the right page. As well, when students are taking
notes on the computer how much of the information may actually stick compared to students
who actually writing out the notes on paper.
When students bring a backpack it usually comes with other objects in it that could be
cause for distraction. Extra objects in a students’ backpack such as other books or assignments
from other classes that could pull a students’ attention from the lecture can causing them to be
distracted. Their fact that a student has no real place to put their backpack during class seems to
be in their way which could be cause for distraction. Similarly, when having a backpack that
means students’ will have to pull things out of the back pack and put them back. In classrooms
students tend to pack up before class is dismissed and since not having their notes out to take
notes may miss things or just may not pay attention because once their backpack is packed they
have already checked out. However, with a backpack a student who brings a cellphone could put
their cell phone in there so they wouldn’t feel as though it’s as a part of them as if it was in their
pockets.
METHODS
Participants
Thirty undergraduate students (n= 30) from Central Michigan University will be needed
to participate in this study. Participants will be recruited randomly and the subjects of the classes
will also be random. The teachers will be asked beforehand if they would be willing to let their
class be part of the study and asked not to inform their class about the quiz until the end of class.
Class sizes will vary by the random classes that will be chosen to participate.
Procedure

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Participants and classes will be randomly assigned to the study and teachers will be asked
for participation days before the study so they can prepare a test around their unique lecture.
Teachers will be making their own tests over what they felt was the most important information
lectured on. However, there will be some guidelines of what the teachers’ put on the tests. That is
that teachers will be asked to have test questions on information in the lecture equally from the
beginning of the lecture to the end.
Measures
All students will be given the tests created by the teachers. Teachers will create the tests
before giving the lecture. The lecture material will try to be new material that students haven’t
already learned. The tests will consist of 15 questions ranging in difficulty. An illustration of
how the difficulty will differ is that some questions will have been statements that the teacher
clearly stated and lectured on for a majority of class. There will then be more in depth questions
that will make the students abstractly think about what they have learned. The questions will
equally cover all the material from the beginning of the lecture to the very end of it. The teacher
will also be giving the students extra credit points to students who receive scored above or equal
to a set percentage of correctness on the test portion.
The survey attached to the quiz will be a five-point Likert scale. The survey will consist
of 22-items. The survey will consist of questions asking the additive materials students bring to
class and the frequency as to how much they bring them to class over the semester.
Analysis
Problems in measurement can arise from students already having knowledge of the
material lectured and tested on. Students may also not be honest on the survey as to what they
bring to class. The questions generated by the teachers may not cover the full lecture from start

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to finish. Students who don’t bring any additive objects to class may still be getting distracted by
other students who do bring additive objects, skewing the results. Some students may also be
better at handling distractions then other students. There will also be a limitation of the schools,
classes, and types of classes studied. There also is no way of testing how frequently students
actually become distracted by objects, however, a video camera could be placed to tape the class
and have students’ further studied on how frequently they became distracted. There is also no
way of ensuring that the entire class will show up, therefore skewing the results because maybe
the students who get less distracted come to class.

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Reference Page
Behnke, G., Labovitz, E.M., Bennett, J., Chase, C., Day, J., Lazar, C., & Mittleholtz, D. (1981).
Coping with Classroom Distractions. Chicago Journals. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.
org/discover/10.2307/1001242?uid=3739728&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=476987
59817577.
Berque, D., Bonebright, T., & Whitesell, M. (March 2004). Using pen-based computers across
the computer science curriculum. ACM Digital Library, 36 (1). Retrieved from http://dl.a
cm.org/citation.cfm?id=971324&bnc=1.
Campbell, S.W. (2006). Perceptions of Mobile Phones in College Classrooms: Ringing, Cheating,
and Classroom Policies. Communication Education, 55 (3). Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03634520600748573?journalCode=rced20.
Felder, R.M. (June 2002). Learning and Teaching Styles In Engineering Education. Resources in
Science and Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/
users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf.
Fried, C.B. (September 24, 2006). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning.
Computer and Education. Retrieved from http://www.mcla.edu/Academics/uploads/text
Widget/3424.00018/documents/laptop_use_in_the_classroom.pdf.
Rinne, C.H. (1982). Low-Profile Classroom Controls. The Phi Delta Kappan, 64 (1). Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20386554?uid=3739728&uid=2&uid
=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698759935047
University of Michigan (2010, May 20). How laptops can enhance learning in college
classrooms. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05
/100520161950.htm.

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Sigala, Marianna (2009, June 30). Computers in Human Behaviour. Web 2.0 in travel and
tourism. Retrieved from http://www.elsevier.com/framework_products/promis_
misc/chbcallforpapers.pdf

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