Presenter(s)

Allison J. Kucera, Olivia F. Ryncarz, Olivia G. Scally, Grace Margaret Udelhofen, Sophia G. Wahib

Comments

Presentation: 10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Kennedy Union Ballroom

This project reflects research conducted as part of a course project designed to give students experience in the research process.

Course: HSS 428

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Description

The purpose of this study is to further examine the relationship between female college student weight gain and the major that they are enrolled in, along with their associated workload. In particular, this study will include current female junior and senior students of varying majors at the University of Dayton. The aims of this study are to record their major and course load as well as measure their physical activity levels and dietary practices. It will then be determined if these factors have any correlation to weight gain throughout their college years. The participants of the study will be recruited by email and will be asked to take a survey. The responses of the survey will be anonymous, which will be specified in the email potential participants will receive. Additionally, the email will include a space in which each participant will be asked to consent to participating in the experiment before they take the survey. The participants of the study will be junior and senior females, aged 19 to 22, at the University of Dayton; all of which must be full time students of different majors to ensure a variety of responses. Potential participants will be recruited by the researchers performing this study. There will be approximately 80 participants asked to take the survey. The participants will be given a week to submit their responses. It is anticipated that around 30-50 will complete the survey, resulting in substantial data collection. For this study, a mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative instruments to measure each variable will be used. Most of the questions in the survey will be asking to give a quantitative answer that includes how many credit hours they are in or number of hours they work out in one week. There will also be qualitative questions which include asking the participants what their field of study is in including their major and minors. In the survey, validity will be ensured by gearing the questions specifically to what information is to be collected from the participants. Both the qualitative and quantitative questions in the survey will be kept short, focused, and mostly closed ended to ensure accuracy. Validity will be ensured by comparing results gathered from this experiment to other general published studies to see if there is a similar correlation in the research that was found between the variables. Reliability will be present within the study in that a large sample size will be used. Having the survey responses be kept anonymous, which encourages honesty in the participants' answers, will also encourage reliability. The participants that will be involved in the study will also be known by the researchers in some way, which encourages honesty and reliability in the participants knowing that they can trust that their answers will be kept anonymous. Proper measurement of the data that is collected will be conducted by carefully placing it into an Excel sheet and putting it into various graphs to analyze and compare to determine any trend or correlation. Since this is an online survey being sent out, there are also limitations in research that can occur. The participant’s accurate depiction of their answers or the amount of participants that actually fill out our survey cannot be controlled. Data collection and results are forthcoming.

Publication Date

4-20-2022

Project Designation

Course Project

Primary Advisor

Claire Victoria Wilt

Primary Advisor's Department

Health and Sport Science

Keywords

Stander Symposium project, School of Education and Health Sciences

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being

Is the Workload of a Student's Major Related to Weight Gain in Female Upperclassmen College Students?

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