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NAME- SHRUTI MORE

MA PART 1
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
STUDY OF COMPLETION ANXIETY
AMITA KENDURKAR
S. P. N. DOSHI WOMEN’S COLLEGE (PSYCHOLOGY)
22ND OCTOBER, 2022
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Abstract
One of the most prevalent disorders is Generalised anxiety disorder. The symptoms of

generalised anxiety disorder include fear, concern, and a persistent sense of impossibility.

Consistent, excessive, and irrational concern about daily living is what defines it. Completion

anxiety is a concept that states that people struggle to complete their tasks, jobs, and

assignments. Although adequate mental health services often fail to examine the distress faced

by students as a result of academic coercion which may include multiple assignment

submissions, tests, projects and so forth. The students are supposed to perform well to meet the

target date. The goal of this research is to determine the causes of completion anxiety in

students and how can we overcome the obstacles faced as a result of completion anxiety. The

methodology used in this study is Exploratory research.

Introduction

Anxiety is a state of mind that includes feelings of dread about impending events and an

unpleasant inner conflict. It frequently occurs along with tense behaviours such pacing back

and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination. Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry,

usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively

seen as menacing. It is often accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue, inability

to catch one's breath, tightness in the abdominal region, nausea, and problems in concentration.

Anxiety is closely related to fear, which is a response to a real or perceived

immediate threat (fight or flight response); anxiety involves the expectation of future threat

including dread. People facing anxiety may withdraw from situations which have provoked

anxiety in the past. Though anxiety is a typical human response, when excessive or persisting

beyond developmentally appropriate periods it may be diagnosed as an anxiety disorder. There

are multiple forms of anxiety disorder (such as generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive
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compulsive disorder) with specific clinical definitions. Part of the definition of an anxiety

disorder, which distinguishes it from everyday anxiety, is that it is persistent, typically lasting

6 months or more, although the criterion for duration is intended as a general guide with

allowance for some degree of flexibility and is sometimes of shorter duration in children.

Anxiety can be experienced with long, drawn-out daily symptoms that reduce quality of life,

known as chronic (or generalized) anxiety, or it can be experienced in short spurts with sporadic,

stressful panic attacks, known as acute anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety can range in number,

intensity, and frequency, depending on the person. While almost everyone has experienced

anxiety at some point in their lives, most do not develop long-term problems with anxiety.

Anxiety may cause psychiatric and physiological symptoms. Anxiety. (2022, October 20).

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically

an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about

events or activities. Worry often interferes with daily functioning, and individuals with GAD

are often overly concerned about everyday matters such as health, finances, death, family,

relationship concerns, or work difficulties. Symptoms may include excessive worry,

restlessness, trouble sleeping, exhaustion, irritability, sweating, and trembling.

GAD is believed to have a hereditary or genetic basis (e.g., first-degree relatives of an

individual who has GAD are themselves more likely to have GAD but the exact nature of this

relationship is not fully appreciated. Genetic studies of individuals who have anxiety disorders

(including GAD) suggest that the hereditary contribution to developing anxiety disorders is

only approximately 30-40%, which suggests that environmental factors may be more important

to determining whether an individual develops GAD. There is a strong overlapping relationship

between GAD and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with 72% of those with a lifelong

diagnosis of GAD also being diagnosis with MDD at some point in their life. Generalized

anxiety disorder. (2022, October 21).

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As according Dr. Nathan Brandon, a certified psychologist in San Francisco, completion

anxiety is the fear that one won't be able to finish a task or the concern that you won't perform

effectively enough to fulfil the criteria established by others. You're not the only one if you

tend to put things off. Dr. Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor, found that roughly 20% of

people in the US had a recurrent tendency to procrastinate.

Causes that interfere with completing tasks

Low Self Esteem- Childhood is frequently the beginning of low self-esteem. We receive

signals about ourselves from our parents, teachers, friends, siblings, and even the media, which

can be both positive and negative. The message that you are not good enough is the one that

sticks with you, for some reason. It might have been challenging for you to live up to your own

or other people's expectations of you. Self-esteem can be negatively impacted by stress and

challenging life circumstances, such as a serious illness or a loss. Personality may also be

important. Some people simply think more negatively, while others have unrealistic

expectations of themselves.

Fear of Failure- Atychiphobia, a term used to describe the dread of failing, is an unreasonable

and enduring fear of failing. Sometimes, this fear may manifest in response to a particular

circumstance. In other circumstances, it may be connected to a different mental health issue,

including anxiety or depression. Being a perfectionist could be related to having a fear of failing.

Perfectionists may have a persistent worry that they won't meet their often unrealizably high

standards since they have such high expectations for how things should turn out. According to

researchers in a 2017 study, worrying might cause procrastination and prevent you from

completing your duties and goals. According to Drake, if your supervisor tells you that your

work isn't good enough despite your best efforts, this just serves to increase your fear.

Mental exhaustion- Extreme fatigue, also known as psychological depletion, is accompanied

by additional emotions including indifference, cynicism, and impatience. If you've lately

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experienced prolonged stress, find it hard to concentrate, or lack interest in the things you often

find enjoyable, you may be mentally weary. Like physical overuse injuries, mental weariness

frequently results from misuse. Consider repetitive stress disorders like carpal tunnel syndrome

or tennis elbow. Instead of overstressing a muscular part, mental and emotional tiredness

simply results from overstressing your mind.

Mental health conditions- Some mental health issues, such as avoidant personality disorder,

which affects people who are so afraid of rejection that they might avoid situations or tasks

involving interpersonal interactions at all costs, could also prevent people from finishing

projects. It can be a deadline or a time-sensitive task at work.

Due to executive function impairments in the brain associated with ADHD, people may

experience difficulty with any or all stages of tasks, which frequently results in anxiety and

overwhelm.

A typical sign of manic episodes in bipolar illness is: quick burst of inspiration, frequently

starting multiple projects or undertakings but failing to complete them. Some people might not

notice the incompleteness, but others might experience severe anxiety due to the incomplete

task.

Review of Literature

According to Dr. Nathan Brandon, a licensed psychologist in San Francisco, Completion

anxiety is the fear that you will not be able to complete a task or the worry that you will not

perform well enough to meet the standards set by others. In a study that happened in 2017, Ellie

Borden, a psychotherapist in Toronto, suggests low esteem interferes with completing a task.

Another reason you may avoid completing tasks is a fear of failure. At some point in your life,

you may have received the message that you weren’t good enough or capable enough,

says Jason Drake, a licensed clinical social worker in Katy, Texas. Worrying can lead to
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procrastination and keep you from accomplishing your tasks and goals, say experts in a 2017

study.

Aim and Purpose

1. To determine the cause of Completion anxiety.

2. Ways to overcome Completion anxiety.

Research Methodology

Qualitative Research method is used. Qualitative research produces holistic understandings of

rich, contextual, and generally unstructured, non-numeric data (Mason, 2002) by engaging in

conversations with the research participants in a natural setting (Creswell, 2009). The defining

feature of case study research is its focus on ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions (Myers, 2009) and for

this reason is appropriate for descriptive and exploratory studies (Mouton, 2001). A case study

can focus on describing process(es), individual or group behavior in its total setting, and/or the

sequence of events in which the behavior occurs (Stake, 2005). Determining the data collection

technique(s) and procedures One of the strengths of the case study method is its flexibility and

adaptability that allows single or multiple methods of data collection to be used to investigate

a research problem (Cavaye, 1996). A wide variety of data collection methods can be used

including direct observation, participant observation, interviews, focus groups, documentary

sources, archival records, and physical artifacts (Mouton, 2001, Myers, 2009). Using multiple

sources of data – and multiple participants (Maimbo & Pervan, 2005) – is preferable in order

to triangulate data (Yin, 2009) and to allow significant insights to emerge (Myers, 1997).

Whilst interpretivist research often relies on total immersion in a setting this is not necessarily

a requirement. A primary source of data in both qualitative research (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe,

& Lowe 1991; Myers & Newman, 2007) and in case studies (Yin, 2009, p. 106) is the interview.

Secondary data can be collected from various sources depending on the research focus, for

example, annual reports and financial statements, public records, newspapers and social media
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(Maimbo & Pervan, 2005), organization charts, and minutes of meetings (Myers, 2009). It is

important to keep in mind that interviewing does not, however, automatically guarantee the

collection of rich data and production of meaningful insights (Schulze & Avital, 2011).

In my research proposal, the objectives of data collection are to understand how the participant

deals and cope with completion anxiety in the history of academics and to obtain insight into

the use of different method. I opted for semi-structured interviews to keep the interviews

focused and facilitate cross-case research analysis conducted by psychology professor Dr.

Joseph Ferrari but also to provide room to explore new and relevant issues that can emerge

during the interview. The interview guides will be designed to capture the context, content, and

process with regard to completion anxiety and procrastination. Background information of the

participants will be gathered with their consent.

Participants

Qualitative researchers typically make sampling choices that enable them to achieve a deep

understanding of the phenomenon they are studying. In this section, we’ll examine the

techniques that qualitative researchers typically employ when sampling as well as the various

types of samples that qualitative researchers are most likely to use in their work. Nonprobability

sampling will be used. Nonprobability sampling refers to sampling techniques for which a

person’s likelihood of being selected for membership in the sample is unknown. Since we don’t

know the likelihood of selection, we don’t know whether a nonprobability sample is truly

representative of a larger population. That’s okay because generalizing to a larger population

is not the goal with nonprobability samples or qualitative research. Nonprobability sampling

technique used by qualitative researchers is convenience sampling. Where researcher just

gathers information from subjects or other pertinent factors that they can easily obtain in order
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to create a convenience sample. Convenience sampling, often referred to as availability

sampling, is most helpful in exploratory research.

Materials

Surveys/polls will be used to gather information from a predefined group of respondents and in

person interview which can give in-depth information on the subject being studied.

Conclusion
The use of the case research method has gained mainstream acceptance as a research method

that can be used to develop propositions, conceptual models, and theory that are novel. Using

qualitative research methodology enables the researcher to build descriptions of the context

within which case-enterprises used an emerging technology and provided the flexibility to

uncover and explore issues that emerged as interesting and potentially relevant to the research

problem during data collection. By conducting this research it will help to gain insight on how

completion anxiety is fuelled by sub conscious fear of failure, fear of failing to impress, fear

of setting the bar too high which eventually leads to disappointment. The purpose of presenting

this research is to study the completion anxiety and ways it can be controlled.
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Reference

Anxiety. (2022, October 20). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety

In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder

In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_anxiety_disorder

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fear-of-failure-5176202

https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/completion-anxiety

https://liamlawsoneth.medium.com/completion-anxiety-256b36973322

https://pressbooks.pub/scientificinquiryinsocialwork/chapter/10-2-sampling-in-qualitative-

research/

https://www.questionpro.com/blog/exploratory-research/