Survey on University Students’ Use of their Spare Time

Fieldwork Report Submitted

By

English Majors 2011

Class 4

Dong Yifan（董一帆）， No. 01

Liu Huan（刘欢）， No. 02

Liu Meizi（刘美自）， No. 10

Liu Wei（刘伟）， No. 12

Wang Qingqing（王晴晴)， No.22

Wu Yanxin (吴延新)， No. 26

Zhao Jinyuan（赵金媛）No. 30

To

Qinggong College

Hebei United University

Tutor: Liu Ying

Date: May 17, 2013

CONTENTS

1.      Introduction ……………………………………………………………………....1

1.1 Purpose……………………………………………………………………....1 

1.2 Subjects………………………………………………………………………1 

1.3 Time and Place………………………………………………………………1

1.4 Instrument…………………………………………………………………...1

2. Data Collection and Analysis..................................................................................2

2.1 Time Analysis…………………….………………………………………….2

2.2 Objective Analysis…………………………..……………………………….3

2.2.1 Analysis of Study Aspect ….…………..…..……………………………3

2.2.2 Analysis of Life Aspect...…………………………………………….….4

2.2.3 Analysis of Physical Activity Frequency…………….…………….…….5

2.3 Subjective Analysis……………………………………………....................6

2.4 Satisfaction of Arranging Spare Time…………….. …………………….….7

3.  Conclusions……………………………………………………………………......8

4.  Suggestions…………………………………………………………………….......8

5.  Limitations………………………………………………………………………....8

6.  References………………………………………………………………………….9

7.  Appendices……………………………………………………………………….....9

    Questionnaire in English………………………………………………………….10

    Questionnaire in Chinese…………………………………………………………12

1. Introduction

College life is not only colorful but also an important period of our whole life. In recent years, more and more spare time are given on campus. So, how to make the most use of our spare time is of great value. For that purpose, the present survey is made.

1.1 Purpose

 The survey sets its goal at investigating how do college students use their spare time. And after analyzing and summarizing the current phenomenon, we can strive for the construction of harmonious campus.

1.2 Subjects

 In order to make the survey more persuasive, we did the research among students in our university. 130 copies of questionnaires in total were handed out and 110 were collected back which are effective. Interviewees are from different majors, different grades. 30 of them are freshmen, 50 are sophomore, 30 are junior students, 20 are senior students. In addition, 70 of them are girls and 60 are boys.

1.3 Time and Place

Time: The survey takes about one week, from May 11^th to November 17^th, 2013. The questionnaires were distributed on May 11^th and collected back on May 13^th.

Place: Qinggong College, Hebei United University

1.4 Instrument

Questionnaires are used to collect data. Considering the questionnaire in English may bring some trouble to the interviewees with different English levels, we adopt the Chinese version instead of the English one. And we survey from different majors and different grades.

             The interviewees are selected at random to make the data more reliable. For instance, the questionnaires are given to the students studying in classrooms and to those staying in dormitories. What’s more, students from all grades are made sure to participate in this investigation.

2. Data Collection and Analysis

    On 11^th May, we investigated 130 students, among whom 110 returned their questionnaires. The rest did not return or finish for some reasons.

    To ensure the validity of the survey, the seven members in our team were divided into three groups of different tasks. Some hand out the questionnaires, go to different places and investigate different students. Some are responsible for the analysis. Others take charge of the writing. Most of the interviewees were willingly to help us with the survey. They finished the questionnaires carefully. Also, among the questionnaires returned, some questions were not answered, and some were answered casually, which brought us some trouble when we did the data collection.

   In general, most of the information we collected was useful and accurate.

2.1 Time Analysis

  According to Questions 2 and 4, we get a result as follows (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

 

Result:

As it can be seen from Figure 1, most students have lots of spare time. Most of them have 6-8 hours for one day. The freshman and sophomore even have more. And junior students have less.

Reasons:

1) The freshmen have more spare time because they have less subjects and more students often pay more attention to the games and part-time jobs, instead of study.

2) The sophomore have not begun to have their professional courses and their courses are less.

3) The junior students need a lot of time for their courses. Moreover, most of them want spending more time studying .

2.2 Objective Analysis

 Questions 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 are designed to know the college students’ views and choices on spare time.

2.2.1 Study Aspect Analysis

According to Questions 10 and 13, we get a result as follows

Figure 2

Result:

There are 25% of the students who always keep studying, their learning time take on more than 80% of their spare time. Because they think learning is always important.

There are 55% of the students whose learning time take on about 50%~80% of their spare time. They think learning is important, but the other aspects are also important, for example, entertainment and part-time jobs.

There are 16% of the students whose learning time take on about 20%~50% of their spare time. This kind of students think learning is not very important. So they don’t spend more time in studying.

There are only 4% of the students who do little studying, their learning time take on merely less than 12% of their spare time. In their view, learning is not important at all. They don’t think they can get knowledge in the university. So they spend time in making money or amusement.

2.2.2 Life Aspect Analysis

The students have different arrangements in their spare time. We can gain the following Figure which is based on the questions 12 and 14.

Figure3Result:

    Students spend about 25% of their time in sleeping, about 22% in surfing the internet, almost 21% in studying, about 12% in dating, about 10% in exercising, and only 5% in activities.

Reasons:

    In students’ daily life, sleeping occupies most of the time, playing computers also takes on a big part, but proportion of studying is not more than the first two. Because in their opinions, university’ life is boring. They don’t have pressure like in high school. They also think it’s not necessary to get knowledge in university, so they spend most time in sleeping and playing computers. Only 10% of the students keep exercising, so the way of some students’ life in university is lazy and unhealthy.

2.2.3 Physical Activity Frequency Analysis

Question 12 is designed to know about the college students’ frequency of physical activity in a week.

Figure 4

Result:

About 59% of the students have exercises once or twice a week. About 20% of the students have exercises 2-5 times a week. Students who hardly have exercises occupy about 15% in university. Only 6% of the students keep exercises more 5 times a week.

Reasons:

  Only a small part of students have exercise regularly, and most of the students don’t have exercise habits, people who choose to stay in dormitory are growing.

2.3 Subjective Analysis

Based on Question 15 and 16, we get Figure 5 below.

Figure 5

Result:

    About 35% of the students have academic lectures in their spare time, about 52% of the students have fun games, and only about 13% of the students have recreational activities in their spare time.

Reasons: 

Generally speaking, students are not willing to communicate with strangers. Different people have different advantages, so students should take activities based on their interest. We hope students can learn something useful in spare time, and promote various social skills and practical ability.

2.4 Satisfaction of Arranging Spare Time

According to the statistics based on Questions 17 and 18, we can learn their satisfaction of arranging spare time.

 Figure 6

Result:

 There are 25% of the students feel very satisfied. In their opinions, they should learn to improve themselves.

There are 33.3% of the students feel more satisfied. According to their plans and arrangement work, they can exercise their ability of various aspects.

There are 33.2% of the students don’t feel satisfied .They think they should participate in practice activities, so they can gain some kind of ability from it.

There are 8.5% of the students feel hardly satisfied. As far as they are concerned, they have no motivation, no clear goals, and they are confused about their future.

3.     Conclusions

Through the survey, we are happy to know that most of the college students have the desire to make their college life to be colorful and meaningful. Sometimes they just don’t know how to realize it. On the other hand, there are still a majority of students surfing the Internet for killing time. And the time they use for exercising and activities is less now. Aimed at solving these problems, we give some suggestions in Part 4.

4.     Suggestions

Planning and being conscious about how you spend your free time allows you to accomplish more even when you're on vacation. If you find yourself with some free time in your hands, here are some ideas on how to make the most out of it. Be active. Sports and exercise may be considered recreational, but they are very important because they help you be energized so that you may be able to accomplish more activities.

List your daily objectives. With a list of the tasks you want to complete each day you will be less likely to spend idle time surfing the Internet or watching television. Give yourself a certain amount of time to complete each task. Cross tasks out as they are completed, as this gives you a sense of accomplishment, solidify your determination to remaining focused.

5. Limitations

Our survey is limited in terms of place, which is confined only in our university. It cannot indicate the thorough conditions in all universities. So our analyses are not sweeping enough. In addition, our survey is limited in our polytechnic university. That means, 60% of the respondents are science and engineering students, and only 3.3% of the students are from the college of humanities and law. Therefore, the depth and width of the questions are limited.

6. References

田伟根，李雪枫.大学生希望怎样度过双休日[J].山西大学学报（哲学社会科学版），1996，（3）.

杜松涛.安徽师范大学学生双休日时间安排研究[J].安徽师范大学教育科学学院.张文鸯.实施大学生闲暇教育的方法与策略[J].当代教育科学，2008，（5）.

宁小菊.大学生休闲生活调查研究[J].广东青年干部学院学报，2006，（11）.

7. Appendices

       Questionnaire in English

       Questionnaire in Chinese

A Questionnaire on College Students’ Use of Spare Time

Hello, my dear friends, in order to know about how students use their spare time, and have a better analysis, please fill in it carefully. Thanks for your cooperation.  (Please tick your answer before the options.) 

1 what’s your gender?

 A. Male      B. Female

2. Your grade?

A. Freshman   B. Sophomore   C. Junior   D. Senior

3. Your major?

A. literature and history   B. science and technology   C. arts   D. others (please specify it)

4. How much spare time do you have every day except the weekends? 

A. 1-2 hours   B. 3-5 hours   C. 6-8 hours   D. over 8 hours

5. How often do you go to the library?

A. Never B. Almost every day C. Two or three days D. Once a week

6. What’s the aim of your reading extracurricular books?

A. just for killing time B. self-learning C. for relevant information D. others

7. How many extracurricular books do you read for one month?

A. less than three B. three to five books C. over five books

8. What kind of extracurricular books do you choose generally?

A. the newspaper periodicals B. magazine C. lectures and fiction D. expertise book

E. others

9. What do you usually do on the Internet?

A. searching for some learning materials B. to know about some news C. chatting

D. entertainment E. others

10. Do you think there is enough spare time?

A. very sufficient B. sufficient C. just ok D. not enough

11. How much time do you do exercise every month?

A. 1-2 times B. 2-5 times C. over 5 times D. Almost have no time

12. How do you spend your spare time? (multiple choices)

A. self-study B. surfing the Internet C. doing exercise D. participating in activities

E. sleeping F. doing a part-time job G. dating H. shopping

13. What’s the proportion of studying in your extracurricular activities?

A. 0--20%     B. 20%--50%     C. 50%--80%     D. 80% or more  

14. What do you usually do in your spare time?

A. learning from books B. entertainment C. Earning money D. making friends

E. learning social experience and skills F. others

15. What do you get most in your extracurricular time?

A. sufficient for rest B. a wealthy of knowledge C. variety of social skills D. practical ability E. others

16. What do you think schools should do to help students to make the best use of our spare time?

A. Organize more academic lectures B. Organize academic competitions

C. Organize social practical activities D. Others

17. Are you satisfied with your spare time?

A. very satisfied B. satisfied C. just- so-so D. not satisfied

18. Do you have any suggestions on how to arrange your spare time?

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                         Thanks for your cooperation again!

关于大学生课余时间利用情况调查问卷

   好，为了更好地了解我校大学生当前课余时间利用情况，便于更好地分析与研究。在此占用您一些宝贵的时间，希望您认真填写，真心感谢您的合作。（可直接将您的答案在选项前打勾）

1.您的性别？(     )

A.男      B.女

2.您的年级？(     )

A.大一    B.大二     C.大三     D.大四

3.您的专业类别？(    )

A.文史类     B.理工类     C.艺术类      D.其他             (请注明)

4. 除了双休日，您每天大概拥有多少课余时间？(    )

A. 1-2小时     B. 3-5小时    C.6-8小时     D. 8小时以上

5.你多久去一次图书馆?（     ）

A.从没去过     B. 几乎每天都去     C.两三天一次       D.一周一次

6.你课外看书的目的是：（     ）

A.打发时间        B.自我学习     C.相关资料查阅         D.其他

7.你平均每月会看几本课外读物？（      ）

A.3本以下    B.3——5本       C.5本以上      

8.你一般会选择什么类型的课外读物?（      ）

A.报纸期刊类   B.杂志类   C.文学、小说类   D.各种专业知识类    E.其他

9.你上网通常在（    ）

A. 查学习资料    B. 看新闻资讯      C. 聊天     D.娱乐        E.其他

10.你认为你的课余时间充裕吗？(    )

A.很充裕     B.充裕     C.还可以     D.课余时间不够

11.您平均每周参加体育运动锻炼多少次？（   ）

A．1-2次           B. 2-5次         C. 5次以上        D. 几乎没有

12.你的业余时间怎样度过呢？（可多选）(                        )

A.上自习  B.上网 C.锻炼   D.参加活动  E.睡觉  F.做兼职  G.约会H.逛街   

13.在您的课余活动中，课业学习会占用多少比重？(    )

A.0--20%     B.20%--50%     C.50%--80%     D.80%以上  

14.您认为课余时间最应该用来做什么？(           )

A.学习书本知识B.娱乐 C.赚钱D.交友E.学习社会经验和技能F.其他                        

15.您在您现在的课余生活中得到最多的东西是什么？(          )

A.充分的休息时间  B.丰富的知识  C.各种社交技巧  D.实践动手能力E.其他                    

16.您希望学校如何促进我们的课余生活？（可多选）(                 )

A.组织多种学术讲座 B.组织文体学术竞赛活动 C.组织社会实践活动D.其他                        

17.您对您的课余时间利用满意度如何？（   ）

A. 很满意           B.满意           C.一般          D.不满意

18.您对如何合理安排课余时间有何建议？

 

                                                        再次感谢合作！