ENGLISH PROJECT (QUESTIONNAIRE)

Factors affecting student’s career choices

NAME:
CLASS:
ROLL NO:
SCHOOL:
Index
1. Certificate of completion
2. Aim of project
3. Questionnaire
4. Analysis/Report
5. Bibliography
Certificate of completion
This is to certify that xxx, a student of xxx has
successfully completed the project on 23rd
September 2022 under the guidance of xxx.

Signature
Aim of the project
This questionnaire based survey conducted as a part of our
school project brings to light the various factors that directly or
indirectly affect student’s career choices. Making a career
choice is a defining phase in every student's life. Students have
to consider several factors before arriving at a decision. Career
choices are of utmost importance as they would define the
future of the student as well as affect the development of our
country for the students are the country’s future.

Career selection is an important stage in a student’s life. It

influences a number of decisions that he/she takes based on
their career choices. Choice of a subject, a university, an
institution, a company, a job profile depends on the career one
chooses to pursue.
Nowadays it is quite certain to find students confused or
unaware of their career path and don’t have a clear vision of
what they want to do.

Students who face exam anxiety and fail to perform up to their

standard in the classroom tests are left out in the race. They are
treated as a non-performer or a below-average student.
Similarly, there are few who manage to excel just by rote
learning. Some depend on their families to make the right call;
well, some choose to follow the crowd. There is no clarity of
one’s self-interest. This is the first wrong step that can lead
them to the wrong path.

A wrong career may lead to the student regretting it later or

even completely losing interest in studies. The wrong choice can
also increase the investment cost of a student in his/her
education. Every time when a student’s career vision oscillates
it calls for unnecessary expenditure.

Thus this survey’s aim is to bring forward the factors that

influence the career choices of students so as to find a solution
to brighten the student’s future by giving them the opportunity
to make the right decision.
Questionnaire
A survey form was made as the questionnaire consisting of the
following questions and was filled by 20 students aging from 17-
19 years of age.

 Gender (Just for analysis purpose)

 What made you decide what stream/ career you have chosen
currently or will choose in future?
 Are you happy with what you chose?
 Were you ever forced by your parents at any point of time
irrespective of what decision you made in the end?
 Are you following after your parents' footstep in some family
business/occupation?
 Did gender stereotype make some careers unapproachable?
 Were you ever influenced by the media (movies/talk shows
etc) for the career you chose?
 Do you think passion should be made into career?
 Are you following your passion?
 Has gender ever played a role in your career decision?
 Had you considered your financial stability while choosing your
career
 Were you ever denied from some career choices due to lack of
facilities?
 Were you ever unable to approach some careers due to
location and placement issues?
 Have you ever felt tricked because of false glamourous
appearance of your career which is opposite to the reality by all
means?
 Do you think you will do well in life now?
 Do you ever regret your decision?
Analysis/ Report

Analysing the responses, we see that 70% of the students chose

what the subjects they liked or were good at which indicates
towards better understanding among students regarding their
life choices. Past performance is one of the best choices out
there but one faces a major problem here as well. In India, we
are not only churned in an old education system of rote learning
but we believe in the numbers to prove our caliber. This
practice of determining one’s interest field based on one time
exam performance has often led to a wrong career decision.
Thus rather than looking at previous performances, one should
try to find where their potential lies.
Peer pressure is one of the easiest ways of getting away from
taking self-decision. Most of the students want to follow the
crowd to get to their destination. ‘Follow your friends’ is the
trend followed by many. Majority choice is considered the best
choice.

Around 75% students were reported to have pursued their

passion as their career making it an important factor.

In all if we take a look, 20% of the students are unhappy with

their choices, displaying the need to be more thorough in the
career choosing process with them.

In general, choosing a career just to live up to the parents

expectation is the one of the most common decision taking by
students at an early stage, which they tend to regret
later. Other times, students may also be dictated to make
certain choices they dont want. For this, we look at the
responses for the second question.
The visual representation clearly brings forward that parents
have major involvement involving the career choosing decision
for some students to the point that 5% of the students were
reported to have been forced by their parents. Such decisions
often make the life of the students decline, causing them to
suffer greatly.

Another trend seen since early times has been children

following in their parents’ footsteps. It is only natural that such
an ancient culture is still prevalent as 20% students were
reported to have been following their parents’ occupation. This
trend is fruitful only until the fact that the child isn’t forced into
their family business. Unwillingness to pursue a career and
forced involvement may be distressing for the child’s future.

Next we look at another major factor: gender stereotype.

As clearly shown in the pie chart, 40% of the students have

been reported to face gender stereotypes showing how gender
disparity still affects our population regardless of reservations
and talks of feminism and equal rights. It is perhaps not the
laws responsible but the mindset of the people, which is indeed
difficult to change.

A factor that has been brought up is the prominent effect of

media on today’s youth, influencing their choices immensely.
75% students were reported to have been directly or indirectly
influenced by media like movies, talkshows etc.

Other factors include financial stability, lack of facilities in

certain regions, falsely glamorous appearance of various careers
and industries etc.

The most alarming issue right now is the uncertainity of future

among students as brought forward by the following statistic
records.
This certainly reminds us that it is high time that students are
properly educated about the importance of their choices and
how they can make the right decision, for it is the most
prominent problem among youth today. 40% of the students
reported to have regretted their decision at a point of time.

The future of the students is fragile like ice and one wrong step
might shatter the floor of their world. Thus we come to a
conclusion to the report regarding the factors affecting
student’s career choices now with the need to attend to their
uncertainity and decisiveness regarding their life choices
immediately.
Bibliography
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
325987918_Factors_Affecting_Students'_Career_Choice