So, my survey didn’t go as planned. First off, I didn’t get the number of responses I had hoped for. If I remember anything from high school stats, it’s that a good sample size for any survey is 30 respondents. I only received 27 responses which, even though this number is just shy of 30, makes it hard to summarize the data, especially since 21 of these respondents were freshmen. The rest consisted of 4 sophomores, 2 juniors and no seniors. Because of this, I could not make the statement that this survey accurately represented the science majors, and had to include the fact that almost all of my responses were first year students.
Of the 27 respondents, all were science majors except one. The majority of responses came from biology majors, followed by psychology majors, biochemistry majors, public health majors, environmental science majors, and lastly, political science, sociology, and theatre and dance majors. This was helpful to me as I was most interested in science majors’ responses, especially biology.
I found that all of the science majors that responded spent at least 2-3 hours in lab each week, with two of the most challenging majors (biology and biochemistry) reporting spending over 4 hours per week in the lab. As a bio major, I spend over 7 hours in lab each week which is a HUGE time commitment and definitely takes away from other classes in addition to my required major’s classes.
This graphic shows the number of individuals who reported their time spent in lab, whereas the previous graphic showed time spent in lab according to major.
The table below summarizes the level of rigor of the introductory science series (see previous blog post) that respondents reported. I took the 1-5 Likert scale (1 being the lowest level of rigor and 5 being the highest) and assigning each number a point value (5=5 points; 4=4 points etc.), then multiplying the points by the number of respondents who reported the score, then averaging that score by dividing by the number of respondents in the sample of each year in school.
These results show that the freshman in this survey find the intro science series much more rigorous than sophomores and juniors. However, in comparing the number of respondents in each class, I think these averages would have been much closer in number had there been more responses from upperclassmen.
In the end, I think I could have had stronger results had I received more responses. Though I sent this survey to my sorority Facebook group message, my rugby group chat, my Critical Thinking and Writing class in addition to the later session, my chemistry class and my biology class, I think in asking my teachers to forward the survey to their other sections I could have collected a more diversity in my responses. Oh well, maybe next time.
-FH