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Questia Media, Inc., Reveals Surprising Results of College Procrastination Study
Houston (March 13, 2001) -A new study released by Questia Media, Inc., reveals that the age-old tendency of students to procrastinate may not be as detrimental to academic success as long believed. This finding and other surprising results comes as students across the country head into midterms and another season of procrastination with many excuses, including spring break, spring fever and March Madness.
Students' study and paper-writing habits are of particular interest to Questia, which provides a way to write better research papers faster and easier. In January, Questia unveiled its online full-text library, now providing access to more than 40,000 books, as well as powerful search and writing tools. The Questia service offers a solution to procrastination by enabling students to research and write their papers from the comfort of their home or dorm room, eliminating the frustration of checked-out books and the hassle and expense of photocopying. Powerful writing tools allow subscribers to automatically create footnotes and bibliographies; provide instant access to an online dictionary and thesaurus; personalize text with highlighter and margin notes and; save papers online for easy access from virtually anywhere, at anytime.
The Procrastination Study survey, conducted online by a leading international marketing research firm, Decision Analyst, Inc., polled 300 college students enrolled full-time at two- and four-year campuses. All survey participants were confessed procrastinators -- the common denominator for this survey -- and dreaded writing research papers. Following are some of the highlights:
- Surprisingly, 224 of the 300 procrastinators polled carry a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
- Twenty-three procrastinators polled carry a 4.0 GPA.
- Forty-seven percent of participants would rather donate blood than write a paper; almost one third would rather visit the dentist. Twenty-two percent would prefer picking up trash on campus rather than picking up a pen to start writing their paper.
- Fifty-five of the students polled admit to being "serial procrastinators" - that is they never catch up from putting off projects and are continually working against the clock to finish their papers.
- When they know they should be writing a paper, study participants most often (76%) choose to surf the Internet instead. Watching television came in second for 70% of procrastinators.
- Fifty-one percent of women will go shopping instead of writing their paper; 47% of men will play computer video games.
- Drudgery, such as doing laundry (59%), beat out spending time with a significant other (53%) and exercising (33%), as an activity of choice while procrastinating.
- When assigned a research paper, many procrastinators start out with the best of intentions: 47% start immediately brainstorming for topics. However, an almost equal number (41%) simply determine when they need to begin then forget about the paper until the last minute.
- Anxiety is the most common emotion experienced during "crunch time," when participants know they have procrastinated (48%). The women polled were more likely to experience guilt (35%) than the men (19%).
- Sweets are the snack of choice while writing a paper, with salty foods coming in a close second place.
- Bed is the most frequently favored writing spot (36%).
- More than half of the students surveyed (56%) drink coffee or other caffeinated beverages while writing a paper.
- Participants average 6.7 hours per sleep per night.
- Almost half of our procrastinators pull at least one "all-nighter" each semester. Nine students pulled all-nighters ten or more times last semester!
- Business/marketing majors represented the largest percentage of the survey pool (23.3%). Twenty three percent of this group also say that procrastinating actually helps grades.
- Philosophy majors seem to procrastinate least; only one of the admitted procrastinators majored in that field.
- Freshman procrastinators are much more confident than upper division students in their ability to procrastinate and still pull off a good grade. Twenty percent say they never question whether they would have gotten a higher grade had they started sooner; while only 8% of seniors felt the same way.
- Seventy-nine percent of students claim they will most likely procrastinate their next assignment - even though 72% of them agree that procrastinating does not help their grade.
- Perhaps most surprising of all, only 11 study participants procrastinated in filling out this survey. Perhaps the cure for procrastination is the incentive we provided our survey pool - cold, hard cash.
In light of these findings, Questia is searching for the MVP -- Most Valuable Procrastinator. Students logging on to the site (www.questia.com) for a free, week-long trial offer, will be able to submit their best stories of paper-writing procrastination and academic anxiety. The most unusual tales will be published on the Questia site.
Founded in 1998, Questia Media, Inc., launched its revolutionary online library with powerful search and writing tools created specifically to help students write better papers faster in January 2001. Questia provides unlimited access to the full-text of an extensive collection of books, as well as a wide range of tools including highlighter, markup, automatic footnote and bibliography builder. For millions of college students and researchers, the QuestiaSM service will enable them to efficiently research and compose papers at any time, from virtually every connected corner of the world. Based in Houston with approximately 300 employees, and offices in New York and Los Angeles, Questia is delivering on the true promise of the Internet by providing access to a wealth of human knowledge. Visit www.questia.com for more information.
Procrastination Study participants were equally represented by male and female full-time students at two-and four-year U.S. colleges. Participants spanned ages 18-35. By classification, freshman accounted for 18% of students polled, sophomores weighed in at 29%, juniors made up 24% and seniors represented 29%. For more survey data or a copy of the topline results, please contact Alyssa Graf at 214-891-2971 or (214) 891-2971 alyssa_graf@richards.com.
About Questia
Founded in 1998, Questia Media, Inc., launched its revolutionary online library with powerful search and writing tools created specifically to help students write better papers faster in January 2001. Questia is designed to provide unlimited access to the full-text of an extensive collection of books, as well as a wide range of tools including highlighter, markup, automatic footnote and bibliography builder. For millions of college students and researchers, the Questia(SM) service will enable them to efficiently research and compose papers at any time, from virtually every connected corner of the world. Based in Houston with approximately 300 employees, and offices in New York and Los Angeles, Questia is delivering on the true promise of the Internet by providing access to a wealth of human knowledge. Visit www.questia.com for more information.
Contacts
Ann Brimberry
Questia Media, Inc.
(713) 358-2704
abrimberry@questia.com
Alyssa Graf
Richards/Gravelle Public Relations
(214) 891-2971
alyssa_graf@richards.com
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