Research Proposal

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Research Background and Problem

The current lecture format at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public

Administration (GIMPA) is an inefficient use of time and energy. Most professors fail to

use the entire allotted time to teach. Significant amounts of class time are lost to various

things. For starters, precious class time is lost to the tardiness of students and professors

alike. Next, most professors release their students before the designated time for lectures

to end. In addition, students spend time talking to each other or on their phones which

slows down the pace of the class and causes minutes to be lost through the professors

attempts to bring order back to the class. Though there is an allotted 15-minute break

during the lecture, most of the time this break extends far beyond 15 minutes. All this lost

class time makes one wonder if it is necessary to have 3-hour lectures in the first place

and would it be better suited to all stakeholders to have a shorter lecture period. Previous

research has looked at the attention span of students as well as the retention rates of

students as a function of the length of lectures. However, these studies used lectures in

Western countries where lectures typically lasted less than an hour as opposed to the 3-

hour lectures at GIMPA.

1.1.2 Research Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of 3-hour lectures at

GIMPA on the student’s ability to grasps concepts and on the professor’s ability to

disseminate the knowledge required for the course. The findings of the research will be

used to recommend changing the lecture duration if the research shows that 3-hour
 lectures are not having the desired impact, otherwise, lectures at GIMPA will proceed as

usual.

1.2 Research Objectives

The specific objectives of the proposed study are:

1. Find out why GIMPA administration decided to implement 3-hour lectures.

2. Understand the feelings of students and lectures regarding 3-hour lectures.

3. Understand the impact of long lectures on professor’s ability to teach.

4. Understand the impact of long lectures on the student’s ability to grasp the material
taught.

5. Make recommendations to administration on whether to adjust the length of lectures

or not.

1.3 Research Questions

Aligning with the objectives stated above, the following questions are posed:

1. Why does GIMPA have 3-hour lectures instead of a shorter lecture period?

2. How do students and professors feel about having 3-hour lectures?

3. What impact does long lectures have on the professor’s ability to teach effectively?

4. What impact does long lectures have on student’s ability to process and understand the
information taught?

5. What adjustments can administration make to ensure the optimal performance of

professors and students regarding lecture duration?

1.4 Significance of the Research

This research holds much significance for the stakeholders involved. If research

shows that the current 3-hour lecture format is ineffective then changes can be made to

the duration of lectures at GIMPA. Changing lecture duration would require a complete
overhaul of the current GIMPA schedule. By reason, the administration would have to

really make efforts to plan for such sweeping changes. Administration may need to

increase the number of lecture periods to accommodate for the shorter lecture duration.

This may spill over into hiring more professors or at the very least, restructuring the

contracts with current professors and lecturers. More lectures would require logistical

changes to ensure a smooth transition.

Professors and lecturers would also be impacted by the results, conclusions, and

recommendations that are conceived from this study. If the research shows that a shorter

lecture period is recommended, then professors would have to alter their teaching

methods to ensure that the students are receiving the needed knowledge in the allotted

time. Professors may also be required to modify their personal schedules to accommodate

any changes made.

Students will also be impacted by the findings of the research. If the findings

show that 3-hour lectures are effective, then the impact would be minimal, and students

will proceed as usual. If the findings show that there may need to be some modification

to lecture duration, then the students will have to adjust their personal schedules

accordingly. Any potential policy changes would ultimately be for the academic benefit

of the students.

The findings of this applied research can also be used beyond GIMPA at other

tertiary institutions across Ghana and throughout the world. This research will add to

current knowledge regarding the optimal class time for student achievement.
1.5 Literature Review

The prevailing theory in academia is that the attention span of most students is a mere 10-

15 minutes. Academic literature is full of articles supporting the theory that most students

have a 10 -15-minute attention span. Several authors have written that student attention

during lectures tends to wane after approximately 10 to 15 minutes (Davis, 1993, p. 113;

Goss Lucas & Bernstein, 2005, p. 63; Wankat, 2002, p. 68). These authors similarly all refer

to the 1978 study conducted by Hartley and Davies on student note-taking, where they stated

that the attention of students typically increases from the beginning of the lecture until 10

minutes into the lecture where it then decreases.

An additional study by Stuart and Rutherford (1978), suggested that the optimal length of

a lecture may be 30 minutes instead of an hour based on the analysis of 1353 questionnaires

from 12 different lectures. The questionnaires also showed that student concentration rose

sharply in the first 10-15 minutes and then steadily declined thereafter lending additional

support to the 10 -15-minute student attention theory.

In 2010 researchers Bunce, Flens, and Neiles conducted a study aimed at addressing the

attention of students. Students were given clickers and asked to self-report any lapses in

attention using three methods: press the first button for lapses that lasted less than a minute,

press button 2 for lapses lasting 2-3 minutes, or press button 3 for lapses lasting more than 5

minutes. Upon analysis of the data, the researchers found that the most reported attention

lapse were of those that lasted less than 1 minute and that attention lapses occurred much

more frequently than previously thought. As detailed above, the prevailing theory was that

student’s attention lasted between 10-15 minutes; however, this study showed that an
attention span of 10-15 minutes was an overstatement as attention lapses occurred as

frequently as every two minutes as the lectures went on. For the purposes of this study, a

study looking at the effectiveness of 3-hour lectures at GIMPA, the findings of Bunce, et al.

suggest that in a 3 - hour lecture students would have as many as ninety attention lapses

within that time frame.

Based on previous research on the attention span of students, a reasonable conclusion can

be drawn that the attention span of students is relatively low. Though pundits have varying

opinion on the exact attention span, it is also reasonable to conclude, based on all the

research and evidence of previous authors, that this attention span is significantly lower than

the 3-hour lectures that GIMPA subjects its students to.

When it comes to the retention of material presented in a lecture, studies show that an inverse

relationship exists between lecture length and retention. "McLeish (1968) discussed the work of

Trenaman, who found that as the length of a lecture increased, the proportion of material

remembered by students decreased" (Wilson & Korn, 2007). Trenaman had students listen to a 45-

minute lecture followed by a recall test on the material from the lecture. Trenaman found that

students listening to only the first 15 minutes of a lecture retained approximately 41% of the

material, while students listening to 30 minutes retained 25% of the material, and those listening to

40 minutes retained only 20% of the material (Wilson & Korn, 2007). The longer the lecture, the less

of the material students can remember.

Traditional lecturing methods have been under attack as recent studies suggest that the

traditional lecture is an ineffective way of teaching. A study in 2014 found that the average

examination scores of undergraduate students improved by about 6% in active learning sections,

and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were

students in classes with active learning (Freeman et al., 2014). After examining the attention span of
 students, Briggs (2014) advocates for active learning and suggests that it would be "…effective to

“break-up” lectures with periods of active learning, not only because of increased attention during

such activities, but also because of the indirect boost in attention that can occur during lecture

periods immediately following such activities." There is a push towards a more active learning

lecture approach to help improve the performance and learning of students.

1.6 Proposed Research Methodology

1.6.1 Research Design

This study will use a mixed study approach to gather as much information as

possible to make appropriate recommendations to administration. Qualitative research

methods will be used to gain an understanding of the problems and quantitative methods

will be used as a means of confirming the information from the qualitative methods. The

research will take an inductive approach. The empirical findings of this study will be

used to draw a conclusion on the optimal lecture duration for the stakeholders of GIMPA.

This conclusion may then form the basis of a theory that further research can then

investigate. The research purpose if also causal in nature. This study is aimed at

identifying the relationship between lecture time and student performance.

1.6.2 Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis will be the lecturers, students, and administration of GIMPA.

1.6.3 Research Strategy

Qualitative research will be conducted first as a form of exploratory research to

gain a better understanding of the situation in GIMPA classrooms. A random number of

professors and lecturers will be interviewed to get a sense of their general attitude. In
 addition, unstructured, covert observation and ethnographic research will be conducted to

understand the classroom experience without any influence from the observer.

The data gained from the qualitative exploratory research will be used to create

questionnaires that can then be administered to as many students and professors as

possible. This is the quantitative part of the mixed study approach. Google forms will be

used to administer the questionnaires. Google forms make the administration much easier

because it is self-administered, easy to complete, and easy to disseminate. Analysis of the

questionnaire responses will allow for recommendations to be made to administration

based on statistical evidence. The survey’s will also seek to confirm the information

gathered from the observations and interviews.

1.7 Research Limitations

The implementation of this research will face several limitations. For starters, the

cooperation of the administration, lecturers, and students will be paramount to the success

of the study. Administration may be hesitant to provide the information needed to achieve

the first objective. Another limitation is that research on the effects of class time on

students’ achievements is inherently difficult because there are so many additional factors

that affect learning. These factors range from the teaching approach and effectiveness of

the professors to the educational resources available to students. Finally, the study may

be limited by the ability to reach an adequate number of students and professors to

provide the data needed for analysis and interpretation.

1.8 Project Schedule

Activities needed:

Activities Time Completion

Required Time

Conduct observational study of three lectures: morning 1 week November 19,

lecture, afternoon lecture, and evening lecture. 2018
Conduct initial interviews of professors and students 1 week November 26,
2018
Analyze qualitative data 1 week December 3,
2018
Develop questionnaire to administer to GIMPA 1 week December 10,
administration 2018
Develop questionnaires for students 1 week December 10,
2018
Develop questionnaire for professors 1 week December 10,
2018
Obtain questionnaire approval 2 weeks December 24,
2018
Code questionnaire into Google Forms 1 week January 7,
2019
Administer questionnaires to all stakeholders 3 weeks February 28,
2019
Analyze data and draw conclusions 2 weeks March 14,
2019
Finalize and submit report 3 weeks April 6, 2019
 References

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Briggs, S. (2014, June 28). The Science of Attention: How To Capture And Hold The Attention of

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Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M.

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