Methods Section: How Work Affects GPA

To assess the influence of employment on the grade point average of students who are either part time or full time employed, the researcher prepared a questionnaire with open and closed ended questions.  The open ended questions were meant to provide greater insight into the subject.  Responses to such questions that the researcher considered worthy of note were recorded in the Discussions section of the study.  The closed ended questions, on the other hand, provided the researcher with quantitative data.  An analysis of the answers to the closed ended questions utilized descriptive statistics, the most important of which was the mean value of the variable in question (See Questionnaire in the Appendix).

The researcher identified fifteen students who were engaged in full time employment, plus fifteen more who were employed part time.  Participants in each of the groups were selected out of the student population based on the researcher’s discretion rather than random selection.  The selected participants in the study had first of all to sign an “Informed Consent” form to declare that they understand that they are participating in a research study to understand the influence of employment on the grade point average.

Also on the “Informed Consent” form was a signed statement of the researcher, claiming that the data collected through the questionnaire as well as the results of the research would not identify the participant’s name.  In other words, all information gathered through this research is confidential with respect to the names of the participants in the study (See Informed Consent form in the Appendix).

Following the agreement of the students to participate in the study – as indicated on the “informed consent” forms that each individual subject was required to sign – the participants, divided into two groups based on the above mentioned criteria, received the questionnaire designed by the researcher.  The verbal instructions given the participants were simply to answer all questions honestly, and to turn in their completed questionnaires by the end of the week during which the questionnaires were handed out.  The participants, upon being handed out the questionnaires, were also asked to feel free to contact the researcher at any time in order to pose any questions that would emerge in the process of the completion of the questionnaire.

Once the participants had submitted their questionnaires on time to the researcher, the latter began qualitative and quantitative analysis on the collected data.