Janaki Patel

IR-3/11 AP
5/04/18
DATA ANALYSIS - SLEEP SURVEY
Part 1:
- Topic: The topic is the Effect of Fatigue on Adolescent Executive Function, and I hope to
confirm that when teenagers get less hours of sleep, their minds and bodies don’t function
as well throughout the day. I also hope to confirm that school plays a huge toll on the
mental processes of teenagers through excessive homework and stress.
- Data Collection Method: I intend to use a survey method, as that will allow me to obtain
my data in the easiest and most efficient way possible. Surveys contain direct questions
and can be easily sent to the intended audience to complete.
- Surveys: I will be using a variety of vetted surveys from articles and previous
experiments. I will be deriving my questions from these different surveys, and gaining
ideas for the structure and wording of my questions.
- Citation:
Gallup, Inc. “Most Teens Associate School With Boredom, Fatigue.” Gallup.com, 8 June 2004.
Findlay, Sheri M. “The Tired Teen: A Review of the Assessment and Management of the
Adolescent with Sleepiness and Fatigue.” Paediatrics & Child Health, Pulsus Group Inc, Jan.
2008
American Psychological Association. “Stress in America™ Are Teens Adopting Adults’ Stress
Habits?” 11 Feb. 2014.
- Intended Audience: My intended audience consist of high schoolers grades nine through
twelve, and a variety of genders. I intend to collect around forty responses, so my data
can be accurate.
- Distribution Plan: The distribution plan is to send a link for the survey out to various
students, and collect data from around twenty girls and twenty boys of various ages.

Part 2:
The following questions have been derived from the following sources:
- Findlay, Sheri M. Paediatrics & Child Health, Pulsus Group Inc, Jan. 2008.
-“Are Teens Adopting Adults' Stress Habits?” American Psychological Association, American
Psychological Association, 11 Feb. 2014.
- Gallup, Inc. “Wake Up, Sleepy Teen.” Gallup.com, 25 Mar. 2003.
- Gallup, Inc. “Do Teens See School Stress as a Health Risk?” Gallup.com, 1 June 2004.
- Gallup, Inc. “What Are Teens Doing After School?” Gallup.com, 19 Apr. 2005.
- Thomas, Justin. “A Survey of Sleep Disorders in College Students: A Study of Prevalence and
Outcomes.” 2014.

Part 3:
 To gauge the toll of lack of sleep on high school students, a recent survey was sent out to
the high school student population of River Hill High School in Howard County, Maryland. This
form of data collection included voluntary participation regarding the effect of students’
cognitive abilities after the effects of lack of sleep.
The data was not difficult to obtain. I was able to get 109 responses, making the data
moderately accurate. The pluses of the data collection included that the data was relatively
evenly spread over the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The data represented my
hypothesis fairly well, and the results were represented well through the google forms. I was able
to see what the majority chose, and it included percentages, allowing me to avoid doing the
math. The drawback of this data was that I was not able to pose questions that directly had to do
with my topic, as I had to find vetted questions through surveys that were previously done or
through published papers.
Out of 109 students, 73.4% have fallen asleep in class, and 82.6% recall usually feeling
tired in school. Only 5.5% get the healthy 8+ hours of sleep per night, and 97.2% wish they
could get more sleep. In a typical day, 58.7% of participants do homework between school and
dinnertime, and 24.8% participate in sports. My survey results and research show a strong
correlation between the hours of sleep one receives and his or her grades, energy, mental illness,
and overall health. The discoveries show that the symptoms of the inability to meet the healthy
sleep requirements reflect an imbalance between the demands of education, sports,
extracurriculars, and the rapid change in growth and development of these adolescents.

Questions:
1. How do the preferences for what is most important impact the number of hours of sleep
one gets?
2. How do the hours spent napping affect the hours of sleep gotten at night?
3. How does sleepiness during the day affect schoolwork?
4. What effect do the feelings felt at school have on concentration?
5. What have the reactions of teachers been when students fall asleep during class?
6. What effect does gender have on hours of sleep?
7. Should the impact of lack of sleep be addressed in classes?
8. What changes should school systems make to accommodate student extracurriculars and
home life?
9. How can we amend the disconnect between school work and the students’ understanding
of the importance of sleep?
10. How has the student population been led to believe that school takes priority over sleep?

Conclusion:
 Based on the survey results, high school students believe that getting good grades takes
higher priority than getting enough sleep, which is portrayed through the less than adequate
amount of sleep that students receive. Many other aspects of life are missed out on due to the
focus on schoolwork, and the high school population generally feels the same about school in
comparison to other things.