How Much Do Students Procrastinate?

Cody King and Sofa Wang

March 21, 2014

Criticisms of the Data

The data we found was collected by some researchers whose main goal
was to uncover trends using data analytic techniques of procrastination in online exams that included task completion window and task completion time.
Along with these data, they also included demographics such as gender and
academic level. The method used by the researchers was to give online exams
to undergraduate students (same school) for five terms, and on average, students would take six online exams in each term. The courses were related to
information systems topics for sophomore, junior, and senior academic levels.
All courses were structured similarly by the same instructor, and the online
exams covered the material discussed in the course throughout the term.
As mentioned before, two time-related measures were extracted: task
completion window and task completion time. The task completion window
was measured by testing the students every week on the material they learned
in the previous week, and then recorded when each student completed the
task. The task completion time measured the time students took to complete
the test, and whether or not they exceeded the time limit.
Usually, procrastination-related studies are based on surveys where information was collected post-experience. This method is more reliable than a
survey because it is not subjective. In surveys, students would usually rank
their own procrastination level and how it aects their work, but they can be
biased on whether or not procrastinating aects their academic performance.
This method involves a second person to record the information as the term
goes by; in other words, this method is objective.
On the other hand, there are two potential places where bias can enter in
the data. First, students tend to procrastinate more while working on some
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topics and less when working on others (e.g. particularly the topics they like
less). In this study, the researchers measured the procrastination level in
online exams related to information systems. There is a big possibility that
a percentage of students are less interested in information systems compared
to other courses they are taking.
Second, online exams are dierent from paper exams, but each student
has their own preference. Some prefer for everything to be electronic, while
others like printed editions. Before starting any assignment, students usually
estimate how long it will take to complete the assignment, which leaves room
for error. If a student underestimates the time it will take to complete a
certain task, it leads to procrastination.
The data we found is trustworthy, but there is always room for improvement. A more diverse a sample is leads to more accuracy of data. In this
sample, the diversity was found in dierent academic levels but lacked to
find why students were procrastinating. We believe that a student can procrastinate on doing an assignment due to other more important homework.
This data could be more accurate if samples were included from dierent
schools, methods of assignments, variety of tests, or even researching the
procrastination in all classes from the students.
Like any other study, there is the need to deal with constraints. In this
case, practical constraints needed to be attended to. Since procrastination is
the tendency to postpone an activity under ones control to the last minute
or to not perform at all. This studys main factor was to measure the time
remaining for task completion before being due. It was a very good idea for
the researchers to choose the task completion window and the completion
time as the main measurements.
The researchers chose to evaluate procrastination in real time; the most
ecient way to collect this data was through online exams. Paper assignments do not work as well as electronic because it is impossible to keep track
of when a student started and finished the assignment without physically timing them. The only way to not have to follow the students around keeping
track individually of when an assignment was completed, is through selfreport. This is not a very accurate way to collect data because the responses
can vary greatly from the truth.

King & Wang

Results and Conclusions

The original question we had was how many students wait until the
night before an assignment is due to complete it, so we looked for data and
were able to answer a few dierent questions using the data we found. We
started with seeing if females procrastinate more than males and decided
to do a hypothesis test at a 95 percent confidence level to try to answer
this question. We defined p1 to be the proportion of females that did their
assignment on Sunday (for an assignment assigned Monday and that was
due the following Monday) and p2 to be the proportion of males who did
their assignment on Sunday. So, for our null and alternative hypotheses, H0
was p1 = p2 and Ha was p1 > p2 . After doing the calculations and looking
at the Z-score, we rejected the null hypothesis and accepted the alternative
hypothesis, that is, we concluded with 95 percent confidence that females do
procrastinate more than males. We were able to reject H0 and accept Ha
because the Z-score for Z = 4.06 was less than 0.05 (we compared to 0.05
because we wanted to be 95 percent confident). The Z-score was well below
0.05, so we have a lot of evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis that
females procrastinate more than males.
The next question we looked at was if sophomores, juniors, and seniors
procrastinate equally. For this question we used contingency tables and a
chi-squared test at a 95 percent confidence level. We defined p1 to be the
proportion of sophomores that did their assignment on Sunday, p2 to be
the proportion of juniors that did their assignment on Sunday, and p3 to be
the number of seniors that did their assignment on Sunday. Then, H0 was
p1 = p2 = p3 and Ha was that at least one pi is dierent. After finding
expected counts and calculating the value for chi-squared, we were able to
reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis, meaning we
are 95 percent confident that all three classes do not procrastinate the same
amount. The chi-squared value was pretty big, so we have a lot of evidence
to accept the alternative hypothesis.
We then wanted to compare the classes to see if procrastination is less
among older students. To start, we did a hypothesis test at a 95 percent
confidence level to see if sophomores procrastinate more than juniors. For
this question, p1 is the proportion of sophomores that did their assignment
on Sunday and p2 is the proportion of juniors who did their assignment on
Sunday, so H0 was p1 = p2 and Ha was p1 > p2 . After looking at the Zscore for Z = 4.98, we were able to reject the null hypothesis and accept

King & Wang

the alternative hypothesis, so we are 95 percent confident that sophomores

procrastinate less than juniors. Our Z-score was well below 0.05, so there is
a lot of evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis.
Lastly, we compared the procrastination levels of juniors and seniors. We
did another hypothesis test at a 95 percent confidence level to see if juniors
procrastinate more than seniors. So, p1 is the proportion of juniors that did
their assignment on Sunday and p2 is the proportion of seniors that did their
assignment on Sunday. Our H0 is p1 = p2 and Ha is p1 > p2 . For this test,
our Z-score was well above 0.05, so we do not have nearly enough evidence
to reject our null hypothesis and cannot accept alternative hypothesis with
95 percent confidence; we cannot conclude that juniors procrastinate more
than seniors.
We were able to be pretty confident that females procrastinate more than
males and that the three classes, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, do not
procrastinate equally. However, we were not able be confident that older
students procrastinate less than younger students. It appears that sophomores procrastinate more than juniors, so we thought that might mean older
students procrastinated less. We would not have been able to confirm this,
but after the test concluded we could not be confident in rejecting juniors
and seniors procrastinate the same, we were very unsure that there was a
relation between age and the amount of procrastination.

Statistical Calculations

Do females procrastinate more than males?

p1 = proportion of females that did their assignment on Sunday
p2 = proportion of males that did their assignment on Sunday
H0 : p1 = p2
Ha : p 1 > p 2
n1 = 861, n2 = 683
pb1 = 571
= 0.66, pb2 =
861
pb =

571+384
861+683

384
683

= 0.56

= 0.62, qb = 0.38

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Z=

(pb1 pb2 )(p1 p2 )

1
+ n1
n
1

(0.660.56)0
0.620.38

1
1
+ 683
861

= 4.06 > Z0.05

So, reject H0 and accept Ha , that is, conclude females procrastinate more
than males.

Do students procrastinate less as they get older?

Sophomores = p1
Juniors = p2
Seniors = p3
Do all three classes procrastinate the same amount?
Observed Counts
Day/Grade
So.
Jr.
Sr.
Totals

2(k1)(l1) =

Tue-Sat
102
381
88
589
l
k

i=1 j=1

E[nij ] =

Sun
302
512
141
955

Totals
422
893
229
1544

(nij E[nij ])2

E[nij ]

li kj
n

Expected Counts
Day/Grade
So.
Jr.
Sr.
Totals

Tue-Sat
160.98
340.66
87.36
589

2(21)(31) = 22 =
2

+ (512552.34)
+
552.34

Sun
261.02
552.34
141.64
955

(102160.98)2
160.98

(141141.64)2
141.64

Totals
422
893
229
1544
(381340.66)2
340.66

= 35.8 > 5.99

(8887.36)2
87.36

(302261.02)2
261.02

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So, reject H0 and accept Ha , that is, conclude that the three classes dont
all procrastinate the same amount.
Do sophomores procrastinate more than juniors?
H0 : p1 = p2
Ha : p 1 > p 2
n1 = 422, n2 = 893
pb1 = 302
= 0.72, pb2 =
422
pb =
Z=

302+512
422+893

512
893

= 0.57

= 0.62, qb = 0.38

(0.720.57)0
1 1

0.620.38 422
+ 893

= 4.98 > Z0.05

So, reject H0 and accept Ha , that is, conclude sophomores procrastinate

more than juniors.
Do juniors procrastinate more than seniors?
H0 : p2 = p3
Ha : p 2 > p 3
n1 = 893, n2 = 229
pb1 = 512
= 0.57, pb2 =
893
pb =
Z=

512+141
893+229

141
229

= 0.62

= 0.58, qb = 0.42

(0.570.62)0
1 1

0.580.42 893
+ 229

= 39.42 < Z0.05

So, there is not enough evidence to reject H0 , that is, we cannot conclude
juniors procrastinate more than seniors.

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The Raw Data

Day during week student completed assignment due Monday by gender

Day/Gender
Male
Female

Tue-Sat Sun
299
384
290
571

Day during week student completed assignment due Monday by grade level
Day/Grade
So.
Jr.
Sr.

Tue-Sat
102
381
88

Sun
302
512
141