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Abstract

Stress is one of the widely discussed topics not only inside universities or in the human resource department of an organization but also in general. Various research studies have shown that no matter what is the actual cause of stress, it has significant impact on human behavior, work life and social life. There are different factors that cause stress among people. Our research team is interested in exploring the potential causes of stress among students. The research team analyzed that there are different categories of factors behind stress among students. The categories include personal, academic specific environmental factors, cultural factors etc. Our research team has assumed, stressed could be studied in isolation. Hence, it has decided to study academic specific environmental factors assuming all other categories of factors are constant. The team would conduct a survey that would allow respondents to rate statements on a scale of 0 to 3. The data collected would be analyzed using statistical formulas like Mean, Standard Deviation, Coefficient of Variance, and Correlation Coefficient and based on the answers conclusions would be drawn. The research would also be conducting an experiment to identify the behavioral characteristics of stressed students. The documentation would be shown to a psychiatrist to obtain his view on the concerned matter.

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Chapter I: Introduction

1.1 Introduction
In todays world education plays a vital role in the growth and development of an individual and society. Since the day humans have realized the importance of education, they started developing formal educational institutions where students learn and acquire new skills or specific skills that could be utilized in different professions. An uninvited enemy called stress came along the formalization of education system. There have been many cases all over the world where students get sick, disturbed, considering themselves broke attempted suicides etc. Many factors are responsible like home sickness when students go to other cities, states and countries for education, social problems, personality and family background, culture and some environmental factors like teaching methodology, workload etc. It has been observed by many studies that such students that are facing stress demonstrate specific behavioral characteristics. Certain factors contribute to stress among students. A study of such factors would be helpful in solving student problems and will help students to better direct their energies towards their career objectives. In our research, we have chosen to study only the academic specific environmental factors (refer to Assumption section).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Workload, teaching methodology, fear of failure, lower grades and institutional facilities are creating stress among students. These factors may have an interrelationship. Stress is a phenomenon caused by variety of factors including personal, social, and environmental. Personal and social factors vary from person to person as each individual has a unique personality, and family background and social circles. However, it is very interesting to find out the academic specific environmental factors causing stress among different people that work and live in similar environments and to answer the question whether these factors have interrelationship. In case of students that study in different educational institutions, the environmental factors that have a tendency to be possible factors of stress are workload, teaching methodology, fear of failure, lower grades and institutional facilities. These five factors are generated by the environment and could be studied BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 2

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in isolation. Besides, these factors are those with whom students interact almost on daily basis. These factors are considered to be the part of every educational institution. It will be interesting to find out how much and how many of these factors move in parallel. Also we are looking forward to explore the behavioral characteristics of stress among students that face the causes of objective one. We want to create an artificial situation where certain students subjects of the study would face the cause or causes mentioned in objective one. We will explore the behavior of students when they actually faced the situation.

1.3 Objectives
The goal of this study is to: 1. To explore the environmental factors causing stress among students. 2. To find out the interrelationship among these factors. 3. To explore the behavioral characteristics/symptoms of stressed students.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This research might be helpful to researchers who would try to find out solution or cure of stress among students. This research will be helpful for professionals of educational institutions to identify the symptoms of stress among students. This research might help teachers and other concerned professionals to understand the interrelationship among these factors. Once the interrelationship is known, it would be easy to eliminate stress causing factors by increasing or decreasing one or few factors.

1.5 Hypothesis
H1: Workload is the major cause of stress. Alternative HA: Workload is either minor cause or no cause at all. H2: Teaching methodology is not the cause of stress. Alternative BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 3

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HA: Teaching methodology is the cause of stress. H3: Fear of failure is the minor cause of stress. Alternative HA: Fear of failure is either the major cause or no cause at all. H4: Facilities at the institution is a minor cause of stress. Alternative HA: Facilities at the institution is either a major cause or no cause at all. H5: There is a strong positive relationship between fear of failure and workload. Alternative HA: There is either a weak positive relationship or negative relationship between fear of failure and workload. H6: There is a weak positive relationship between workload and facilities. Alternative HA: There is either a strong positive relationship or negative relationship between workload and facilities.

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Chapter II: Literature Review

2.1 Literature Review
Literature review is an important source for our research team to study, understand and get detailed insight of the various concepts associated with stress. For this research proposal, our team has decided to provide an outline of concepts that the team will be studying for the final report which will include research reports, journals and articles on stress. Following are the potential sources of information that our research team will be using to get the literature. Concept Stress Potential Sources of Information http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/stress/STR_whatis.html http://www.mtstcil.org/skills/stress-definition-1.html Psychology Book Encarta Encyclopedia 2009 Symptoms of http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/stress/STR_whatis.html Stress http://www.stressfocus.com/stress_focus_article/symptoms-ofstress.htm http://www.medicinenet.com/stress/article.htm Causes of http://changingminds.org/explanations/stress/stress_causes.ht Stress in m general http://www.articlealley.com/article_572572_23.html Causes of stress http://www.essayforum.com/essays-term-papers-1/essayin college causes-stress-college-students-634/ students http://www.stressreductionbasics.com/stressandcollegestudent s.html http://ezinearticles.com/?Common-Causes-Of-Stress-AmongCollege-Students&id=495139 Google Books: http://books.google.com.pk/books? id=3mJ4p9wYfR8C&dq=causes+of+stress+in+college+student s&cd=10 American Journal of Health Studies 2000: http://ajhs.tamu.edu/16-1/3.pdf Journal of American College 2005: http://heldrefpublications.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp? referrer=parent&backto=issue,3,9;journal,28,76;linkingpublicat ionresults,1:119928,1 Brief history of http://www.medicinenet.com/stress/page2.htm#tocb stress Stress among J Ayub Medical College Abottabad: Pakistani http://www.ayubmed.edu.pk/JAMC/PAST/14-1/Faiyaz.htm students Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences: http://www.pjms.com.pk/issues/janmar08/article/article2.html BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 6

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Types of stress

http://www.thehealthcenter.info/adult-stress/types-ofstress.htm http://www.stressfocus.com/stress_focus_article/types-ofstress.htm Human behavior By Dr. C J Brookes and stress http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/AG/RTO-AG-HFM152///AG-HFM-152-06.pdf Dr. Dewey: http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch09_motivation/stressinduced_behavior.html Other Rsearch Journal of Independent Studies and Research _MSSE, Volume 7, Reports Number 1 Journal of Management and Social Sciences, Vol, 3, No. 2, (Fall 2007)

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Chapter III: Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Research Design

This research type would be an exploratory research in which the team would collect qualitative data that will be weighted (refer to Data Coding Method) and converted to quantitative data that will aid the research team in analysis and interpret the findings. The research design type iscross sectional conclusive research design as the research team would collect the data from the subjects (respondents) once. The conclusion or findings would be based on this one time collected data.

3.2 Population and Sampling

S.No 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 University/Institutes Est: Total Sample Students Size 150 15 College 600 60 150 300 15 Sample % 10 10 10

SZABIST (campus) Chandka Medical (CMC) Quaid-e-Awam (LRK Campus) Commerce College Shah Abdul Latif University Virtual University Allama Iqbal Open University Degree College Larkana Girls Degree College Larkana

450 350

The research team will select three universities (SZBIST, CMC and Quaid-e-Awam) from the above given list based on judgmental or purposive sampling (a research study in which researchers primary consideration is the judgment that who can provide the best information to achieve the objectives of the study) [1]. Based on the fact that the relevant information could be obtained from these universities where students regularly attend classes and participate in practical work. On the other hand, in other universities classes are not conducted on regular basis even though they have regular class schedule, nor they have practical work insight.

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Moreover, our team will select students randomly from these universities. Each universitys sample size will be 10%.

3.3 Instrumentation
The research team will conduct a survey for objective number one. The tool will be a questionnaire that will be provided to students to explore the causes of stress. Once the causes are explored, correlation analysis will be done to find out the interrelationship among them. However, for the third objective the research team will conduct an experiment at SZABIST. The objective and related hypothesis will be tested based on the observation from the experiment. The observation will be non participant observation method as the chances of Hawthorne effect (when a change in the behavior of a person or groups is attributed to the being observed) [1]. Besides, the team will show the recorded experiment to a psychiatrist to get s/he view. Detail of the Experiment The team would request a faculty member from SZABIST to call any three students from junior batch (BBA II) after second hourly. The faculty member will appreciate the performance of subject A (first student) and will criticize the performance of the other two subjects B and C (second and third students). Meanwhile, our research team would be documenting (recording) the whole experiment.

3.4 Variables
Independent Variables Fear of failure = tension that I might fail, sleepless nights, having nightmares about failure etc Workload = assignments, practical work etc Facilities = library, computer lab, laboratory etc Teaching methodology = teachers way of teaching, unable understand courses, unable to grasp concepts etc Lower grades = having low grades in exam, tension of having low CGPA, tension of probation, tension that I wont be getting a job etc

Dependent variable BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 9

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Stress = tension, nervousness, getting bored, sadness etc

Independent Variables for the Experiment (Symptoms of Stress) Facial expression Body language Getting sweat Bad ideas coming into mind Shouting or misbehavior Abusive language

3.5 Time Frame

Week Week 6 Week 7 Week Week Week Week Week Week Week 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Activity Submission and presentation of research proposal Literature Review and Design and formulation of questionnaire Experiment Psychiatrists view on experiment Survey Data Analysis Preparation of Report Submission Preparation of Presentation Date 13th March, 2010 20th March, 2010 27th 03rd 10th 17th 24th 30th 06th March, 2010 April, 2010 April, 2010 April, 2010 April, 2010 April, 2010 May, 2010

3.6 Analysis Plan

The research team would be performing three types of analysis on the data collected. The first analysis would be coefficient of variance analysis to find out what are the causes of stress among students. That will be done by summarizing the data collected from the survey into an excel sheet. The format is given below.
Coefficient of Variance Analysis Number Questions Asked of Total Score Mea n Standard Deviation Coefficient Variance of

Variable Workload

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Fear of Failure Facilities Teaching Methodology Lower Grades

Formulas

[5]

[5]

The second analysis would be correlation coefficient analysis. This analysis would be done on the same data collected by the survey. The purpose of this analysis would be to find out the interrelationship among the variables of stress whether they move in parallel (positive relation) or they move in opposite directions (negative relationship). The format of is given below.
Correlation Coefficient Analysis Worklo ad Workload Fear of Failure Fear Failure of Faciliti es Lower Grades Teaching Methodology

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Facilities Lower Grades Teaching Methodology

Formulas

[5]

Where R (i, j) = Correlation Coefficient Cov (i, j) = Co Variance of variable I and J i = standard deviation of variable i j = standard deviation of variable j

[5]

Where Ri = Total Score of Variable i = Average Score of all variables Rj = Total score of Variable j Cov (i, j) = Co-variance of Variables I and j

The third type of analysis would be a descriptive analysis based on research teams own observation noted down from the experiment including psychiatrists view.

3.7 Data Coding Method

The research team has decided to provide four options for each question that will be asked from respondents in the questionnaire. Each of these options would be given a weight starting from 0 to 3. The total score for each variable would be calculated as described in the following example. BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 12

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Weight 1 2

Questi on 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0

Total Score 1 2

The above sheet would be used to data collected and to find out the total scores for analysis. After calculating the total scores, total scores for variables would be calculated as shown in the following table.

Variable Workload

Total Questions Question 1 Question 2 Question 3

Scores 0 to 3 (chosen 3) 0 to 3 (chosen 2) 0 to 3 (chosen 3)

Total Score 3+2+3 = 8

3.8 Validity and Reliability

3.8.1 Face validity The survey would be conducted from students of undergraduate and post graduate programs that are mature enough to understand the questions provided to them. The language of questionnaire would be simple. Most of the questions would be, in reality, not questions but statements. The research team is confident that approximately 95% of statements would not be misunderstood or misinterpreted by the respondents. 3.8.2 Content Validity The research team aims to conduct the survey for the first objective that includes five independent and one dependent variable. Each statement would include only BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 13

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two variables one independent and one dependent. Due to this fact, the research team believes, the questionnaire would be comprehensive enough to cover the topic adequately. 3.8.3 Construct Validity It refers to whether the instrument chosen for the research study measures the theorized concept or not [2]. The research team will design the questionnaire keeping in view all the variables and symptoms of stress to ensure coherence and correlation of questionnaire with the concept. As far as the experiment is concerned, research team would create an artificial situation (refer to Instrument section) that will test the theorized symptoms of stress. 3.8.4 Reliability Reliability refers to whether an instrument would provide same or similar results when tested. [3] Our research team has decided to use Cronbachs Alpha method to test the how much the variables are reliable. The formula for Cronbachs Alpha method is given below.

[4]

Where = reliability K = items tested = Variance of total Score = Variance of component i

3.9 Assumptions
Sample might not represent the entire population due to different mental approach of students and curricula of institutions. Therefore, the team has chosen judgmental or purposive method to acquire relevant data. In the experiment, there could be a difference in the teams observation and psychiatrists view. BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 14

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Environmental factors are studied in isolation, considering all personal and cultural factors to be constant. Questionnaire would contain statements rather than questions, assuming it would minimize biasness and personality factors.

3.10 Scope and Limitations

Scope

The research is conducted on academic specific factors that are almost common everywhere that increases its scope, however, as the research is conducted in isolation, its scope is limited. The reason is that cultural diversity and personal factors also contribute to stress among students.

Limitations

Our research team does not have sufficient statistical skills or expertise to analyze the data with statistical tools. Limited Time The team lacks the expertise in coding and interpreting the data at this level.

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3.11 Software and Equipment

The team would be using the following software for this research study. MS Word MS Excel MS PowerPoint

The team would be using a handy Cam to record the experiment. Expertises Assistance The team would consult a psychiatrists assistance to get his view on the recorded experiment to know whether the subjects of the study (students) demonstrate the symptoms of stress.

3.12 Reference System

Our research team would be using the Harvard Referencing System, as it is commonly used worldwide and provides each reference a number that enables the reader to clearly read and understand the sources of information.

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Chapter IV: Interpretation of Results

4.1 Coefficient of Variance

The findings of coefficient of variance would be interpreted as lower the value of coefficient of variance in percentage, stronger the relationship of variable with stress.

4.2 Correlation Coefficient

The findings of correlation coefficient show the interrelationship among variables. Its values range from +1 to -1. Higher positive value means the variables move in parallel. Meanwhile, negative value means the variables move in opposite direction. These values will help the research team to interpret which variables out of five (refer to variables section) occur together and which variables occur in absence of the other.

4.3 Experiment
The experiment would be interpreted based on observation of research team and psychiatrists view.

4.4 Decision Level

Coefficient of Variance Moderate Cause 36 to 70

Weak Cause > 71

Strong Cause
< 35

Weak Relationship -1 to 0

Correlation Coefficient Moderate Relationship 0 to 0.4

Strong Relationship 0.4 to 1

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References
Books

1. Kumar, Ranjit., 1999. Research Methodology: A step by step Guide for beginners. 2nd Edition. Sage Publications. 2. Frank K. Reilly and Keith C. Brown,.2006. Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management. 8th Edition. Cengage Learning India Private Limited.

Web links 1. Wikipedia. 2010. Construct Validity. [Online]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construct_validity [Accessed 12 April 2010]. 2. Wikipedia. 2010. Reliability (statistics). [Online]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_(statistics) [Accessed 12 April 2010]. 3. Wikipedia. 2010. Cronbachs Alpha. [Online]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronbach%27s_alpha [Accessed 12 April 2010].

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Table of Contents

Abstract...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: Introduction................................................................................................2 1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Statement of the Problem.................................................................................2 1.3 Objectives .........................................................................................................3 1.4 Significance of the Study...................................................................................3 1.5 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................3 Chapter II: Literature Review......................................................................................6 2.1 Literature Review..............................................................................................6 Chapter III: Research Design and Methodology..........................................................8 3.1 Research Design................................................................................................8 3.2 Population and Sampling...................................................................................8 3.3 Instrumentation.................................................................................................9 3.4 Variables...........................................................................................................9 3.5 Time Frame.....................................................................................................10 3.6 Analysis Plan...................................................................................................10 3.7 Data Coding Method........................................................................................12 3.8 Validity and Reliability.....................................................................................13 3.8.1 Face validity..............................................................................................13 3.8.2 Content Validity.........................................................................................13 3.8.3 Construct Validity......................................................................................14 3.8.4 Reliability..................................................................................................14 3.9 Assumptions....................................................................................................14 3.10 Scope and Limitations...................................................................................15 3.11 Software and Equipment ..............................................................................16 3.12 Reference System.........................................................................................16 Chapter IV: Interpretation of Results........................................................................17 BBA VIII Group C | Abstract 20

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4.1 Coefficient of Variance....................................................................................17 4.2 Correlation Coefficient.....................................................................................17 4.3 Experiment......................................................................................................17 4.4 Decision Level.................................................................................................17 References................................................................................................................18 Table of Contents..................................................................................................... 20

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