Sleep and Grade Point Average (GPA)

Materials:

• We did not require lots of materials for this experiment. The only materials needed to conduct this experiment was about 30 Dalton State College students, and a survey with the questions.

Methods:

Part-time students have less classes than a full-time student. It would make sense that they sleep more than a full-time student.

• The females surveyed slept more on average by 0.27 hours.

Result:

• 29 Dalton State College students were surveyed.
• 13 Males
• 16 Females
• The average age of the students was 20 years old.
• The average hours of sleep before a test was 5.69 hours.
• The average hours of sleep during the week was 44.64 hours.
• The average hours of sleep the student slept the night before answering the survey was 6.48.
• 21 out of 29 students had a GPA in the range from 3.1-4.0.
• 8 out of the 29 students had a GPA in the range from 2.6-3.0.
• None of the students surveyed had a GPA lower than 2.6.

Hypothesis:

The less sleep a college student gets the lower his or her GPA will be.

• From this bar graph, one can see that the students with the less average hours of sleep have higher GPAs than those students who had a higher average of hours slept.
• It appears opposite when it comes to the average hours of sleep before a test.

SLEEP & GRADE POING AVERAGE (GPA)

Conclusion

Discussion

What could have been done better:

• The hypothesis was rejected.
• From the data that was collected there was no correlation between GPA and sleep deprivation.
• Students with the less average hours of sleep have higher GPAs than those students who had a higher average of hours slept.
• The data collected showed that college students on average only slept 5.69 hours before a test. 21 students fell in the GPA range of 3.1-3.5, which is considerably good for the lack of sleep.

• We lost a survey.
• There was a typo in the survey in the GPA ranges. It went up by an increment of 5 until the last range where it went up of 10.
• The questions could have more specific.

Introduction:

Further work of the experiment that was conducted could of had a different outcome on the results collected from the surveys. 29 students is not a true representation of the students at Dalton State College.

One of the biggest problems for college students is getting enough sleep.

• Sleep deprivation or not getting enough sleep can lead to multiple issues within the body.
• Reduced cognitive function due to lack in sleep affects memory as well as reasoning.

Does fewer hours of sleep affect GPA?

Background:

• A students GPA is not just an indication of learning, but instead involves a complex interaction between the student and their environment. Intelligence, motivation, work ethic, personality, socioeconomic status, health problems, current and past school systems, course load, academic program, and test taking abilities all may influence GPA.
• The results were a somewhat scattered. In some case sleep was related to GPA, in others it was not.

Marissa Fraire

900084459

Seth Shropshire

900095310

Alex Chavez

900094972

Instructor:

Dr. Smitherman

Email:

mfraire4@daltonstate.edu

sshropshire@daltonstate.edu

achavez@daltonstate.edu

• According to a study 50% of college students report daytime sleepiness and 70% say they do not get enough sleep
• According to the same study 70% of college students report they get less then 8 hours of sleep in a night.
• College students on average have a 1-3 hour sleep deficit on school nights
• Consequences of sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness are a problem for college students and can possibly result in lower grade point averages.

• It is still not clear how much sleep a young adult needs. It is thought to be 8 hours.
• 70.6% of students reported obtaining less than 8 hours of sleep.
• 82% of college students believe that their inadequate sleep impacts their school performance.
• There is existing evidence about an association between GPA and sleep.
• According to a recent study, students who obtained more than 9 hours of sleep had higher GPAs than those who did not get enough sleep.

Future Work:

• The experiment was conducted from November 3rd through the 7th.
• The results would have been different if there were more time allotted, and if a greater number of students were surveyed.
• The results that were collected are an inaccurate representation of students GPA affected by sleep deprivation. Plus there was not a huge range in age.
• Most of the students that conducted the survey were 18 years of age.

• A more specific survey could be done with more specific questions on certain aspects of sleep like sleepiness throughout the day, pulling all-nighters, etc.
• Other potential surveys could be passed around with the intent to find out what is the main factor on a decreasing GPA.

References:

• Hershner, S. D., & Chervin, R. D. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature & Science Of Sleep, 673-84. doi:10.2147/NSS.S62907

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to the students who participated in the survey. Also, to Dalton State Foundation for funding this research project.

...and remember

Sleep and Grade Point Average (GPA)