research project

Research Project: Work-Life Balance

Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………... page 3

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………. page 3

· Aim……………………………………… page 3

· Literature Review……………………. Page 3

Method………………………………………………………………………………………… page 4

· Participants…………………………… page 3

· Procedure………………………………. Page 3

· Materials……………………………... page 4

Results………………………………………………………………………………………. page 4

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………….... page 9

· Result comparison with studies mentioned…. page 9

· Strengths……………………………………………. Page 9

· Limitations…………………………………………. Page 9

· Modification………………………………………… Page 9

· Conclusion………………………………………….. Page 9

References………………………………………………………………………………… page 9

Appendices……………………………………….……………………………………… page 11

· Appendix 1 - consent form……………..page 11

· Appendix 2 - survey question…………page 11

· Appendix 3 - survey results……………page 14

Abstract :

This short study displays and highlights how well are international students managing their Work-Life balance after moving to a new country (the UK specifically), and are they able to adapt to this whole new lifestyle in which they have to almost fully rely on themselves. The results were carried out as an online questionnaire with a minor sample of 45 ONCAMPUS London students in which with consent they were asked questions related to the study. After receiving answers from people that came to the UK from all around the world, and despite the background diversity, we were able to conclude that most students find it hard to adapt with their new lifestyle.

Aim:

To investigate ONCAMPUS students’ ability to manage their Work-Life Balance, and how did this lifestyle change affected their lives.

Literature Review

Having a Work-Life balance is an increasingly important issue among everyone, Therefore it is important to study the work-life balance of foreign students and the issues they face with it; however, there are certain things to consider before starting the study, For instance, Work-Life balance is likely to be different depending on one's age and maturity level, a mature individual is more likely to have an effective Work-Life management than an immature individual. The authors of a study published in November 2016 attempted to answer whether a person's age affects their assessment of work-life balance, And Based on the study findings, those representing older age groups are more likely to maintain a healthy Work-Life balance (Kaźmierska/ Katarzyna,2016).

Another key factor that can be of great importance, is stress, Some research have hypothesised negative correlations between work-life balance and job stress, but these hypotheses have not been statistically tested . Stress appears to have an essential impact in the few research that have looked at correlational predictors of work-life balance and work-life conflict. Workplace stress has been connected to a decline in work-life balance and an increase in work-life conflict in a variety of industries (Wallace, 2005; Wong & Lin, 2007).

Method:

· Participants:

The survey received 45 replies, with all respondents being ONCAMPUS London students. The survey in question was answered by students mostly under the age of 21, and with a variety of nationalities, with Morocco being the most common one.

· Procedure:

· The questionnaire was designed in order to pinpoint precisely the areas that will help reach the aim of the study. Respondents were given 15 accurate questions to answer.

· Participants were asked for their consent and gave it. (Appendix 1)

· The form as distributed to ONCAMPUS students only, some of them had the time and kindness to answer the form, this was done via links shared in groupchats, Teams messages and face to face meetings. (Appendix 2)

· Students were asked to take their time while answering the questions, and to answer as many questions as possible.

· Materials:

-Appendix 1: informed consent form

-Appendix 2: copy of questionnaire

-Appendix 3: Questionnaire results

· Result analysis:

Question 1)

UFP students studying in ONCAMPUS represent more than 84% of the people that answered the questionnaire.

Question 2)

The diversity of the people that answered this form represents one of its strengths as no country covers more than 25% of the answers. Morocco being the most common one

Question 3)

38/45 are under the age of 21, so 84% of the respondents can be placed under the name of “young adults”

Question 4)

The respondents are mostly males as they represent 62%, but females do not cover a tiny substratum of the respondents, as they represent 29% of all respondents.

Question 5)

As expected, most respondents are familiar with the term in question, Yet the point of this question is to explain the term in case the person answering isn’t familiar with it.

Question 6)

The average answer to this question as written on the above is around 3.24, we can then presume that most students that answered this question think they have go Work-Life balance

Question 7)

Considering that worrying about work during leisure time isn’t healthy, 25% of respondents do in fact have this bad habit, while 62% of them do not have it as a habit, yet they sometimes do it, which is not unhealthy perhaps not healthy.

Question 8)

The majority of students spend a reasonable amount of time working independently, as 89% of them spend less than 12 hours doing so.

Question 9)

More than 48% of students prefer studying in the morning, which has been proven multiple times to be the perfect time to study.

Question10)

The majority of participants often or always give up sleep to focus on work, and Giving up sleep to focus on work is one of the worst habits to adopt, and it is also the biggest indicator of procrastination.

Question 11)

We can see that almost all students that answered this questionnaire find themselves procrastinating a lot, which can lead to what was mentioned in question 10, as it makes the person leave its dues until the last minute. This is considered as one of the most if not the most handicapping habit for a student.

Question 12)

-65% of the respondents are either satisfied with their current Work-Life balance.

-23% of them feel neutral about it

-on the other hand, even though they represent a minority, but 12% of the respondents are not satisfied by their Work-Life balance.

Question 13)

· We can see that more than 57% of students that participated in this questionnaire, felt an improvement in their WLB. This can be explained by plenty of reasons, such as the sudden gain of maturity that most young adults experience at that exact same age.

Question 14)

-75% percent of students answering this questionnaire are adapting quickly with their new life.

-18% of them do not adapt easily yet they do not feel totally helpless.

-7% do not find it easy to adapt at all.

- Discussion:

All in all, after analysing the results presented on the above, we can obviously notice some similarities with the researches mentioned earlier, as one of the researches mentioned that older people are more likely to have a better WLB(Kaźmierska/ Katarzyna,2016), this is what we also found by analysing the results of the survey, as 73% of participants often or always give up sleep to focus on work, and 88% often worry about work during leisure time. An unhealthy Work-Life balance happens in two cases:

-first case: people tend to think that the more a person studies the better his Work-Life balance is, perhaps, in some cases working too much can cause many health problems, According to a study published in 2017, one-third of more than 3,600 Belgian PhD students were at risk of acquiring mental-health disorders, particularly depression, as evaluated by having four or more clinical symptoms (K. Levecque,2017). Which can be linked to the study mentioned earlier (literature review) that proved that stress and over working is a factor and an indicator of a bad WLB (Wallace, 2005; Wong & Lin, 2007).

-second case, which is the most common, is that students often find themselves alone without their parents supervision, which in these case lead to the student not caring about his studies. As parental participation in a student's early education has repeatedly been linked to a student's academic achievement (Hara & Burke, 1998; Hill & Craft, 2003; Marcon, 1999; Stevenson & Baker, 1987).

· Reliability :

· strengths

The findings of my research can be backed by many researches done in the past, which is an indicator that the students that answered the questionnaire, took their time while doing it, and did not just rush it, which would’ve ruined the result’s accuracy. The variety of nationalities of students that participated in the forum makes the results are even more accurate and cover a lot of backgrounds.

· limitations

A few students brought to my attention a small problem in Q13), as two of the proposed answers meant the same thing, this was perhaps fixed, as I considered both of the answers that meant the same thing as if it was only one answer. Also, a larger sample size would’ve been more accurate, as only 45 people answered the questionnaire.

· modifications

In order to get more qualitative date, an interview would have been a better format, as each person can give personal reasons to explain his situation, which would’ve been more interesting to analyse.

· Conclusion:

The purpose and aim of this research was to investigate and compare ONCAMPUS London’s students Work-Life balances with researches done in the past to see if we can find some similarities, well I think that the aim of the research was achieved and its purpose fulfilled.

· References :

· Anita Richert-Kaźmierska Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics (2016) Available at: https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor2435 |accessed 15 February 2022|

· Gillespie, N. A., Walsh, M., Winfield, A. H., Dua, J., &Stough, C. (2001). Occupational stress in universities: staff perceptions of the causes, consequences, and moderators of stress. Work & Stress, 15(1), 53 – 72 |accessed 10 March 2022|

· J Prev Interv Community. Author ; PMC 2011 Jan 12.Published in final edited form as:J Prev Interv Community. 2010; 38(3): 183–197. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3020099/ > |Accessed 11 march 2022 |

· Powell, K. Work–life balance: Break or burn out. Nature 545, 375–377 (2017). Available at: < https://www.nature.com/articles/nj7654-375a > |accessed 10 March 2022|

· Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/iGypH06Pzq

· Appendices:

Appendix 1: consent form

Appendix 2: Questionnaire

Appendix 3: Results

Page | 2