Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

The Positive Effects of Study Rooms at Saline High School

Doreen Pang, Kelly Zielinski, Jason Lo, Sierra Hazard
Saline High School

Author's Notes
This paper was prepared for College Writing, taught by Ms. Madelyn Clark

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

Abstract
In this proposal, we examined the benefits of creating new study spaces for students. During this
expedition, we were able to analyze benefits that go alongside study rooms, including ease of
access, increased productivity, lack of distraction, and mental focus. Each member of the team
conducted careful research to find data to support our hypothesis. Additionally, our group
conducted a survey to over fifty Saline High School students. We were then able to scrutinize the
data. We determined that an overwhelming amount of students were for the study space. Our
data and research support the hypothesis.

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

The Positive Effects of Study Rooms at Saline High School

Introduction
We, the researchers, are four seniors in Ms. Clarks fifth hour College Writing class at
Saline High School. Our school is quite large compared to the schools around us. There are
approximately 1,800 students and about 90 teachers that make up our student body and
administration. Our school offers places where students can study, but many of these options
have many distractions and are not set up very well. Also, many students do not have a quiet,
distraction-free, helpful environment at home that they can effectively study in. Our purpose is to
create study rooms where students can work together in groups to improve their study methods
and overall improve their performance in school. We as researchers support the addition of study
rooms because personally, they would benefit our performance in school. As we gather
information, we question if building new study rooms prove to be beneficial for Saline High
School students, and will there be a better performance by students in school if study rooms were
implemented? And furthermore, our hypothesis is, students will benefit from additional study
rooms because it will provide them with more accessibility to a study space, increased
productivity, and an area to mentally focus. Throughout this paper, we wish to study these
questions and use our gathered research to show that study rooms will be beneficial at Saline
High School and that they will improve the student performance.
Statement of Problem
We believe that study rooms will be very influential to the academic success of the
students at Saline High School. For most students at Saline High School, the Saline District
Library is one of the key destinations for studying and group work. One of the biggest reasons

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

that the library is such an important attraction is the availability of study rooms that are open for
public use. These study rooms offer a convenient location with comfortable seating, a large table,
and accessible whiteboards. The implementation of these study rooms at the high school would
allow more students to access these creative workspaces that are in limited quantities at the
library. We believe that increasing the availability of study rooms will further improve student
success and performance in school.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to implement new study rooms at Saline High School. A
clean and organized study space will be an environment that enforces direct focus and attention
on school work. Not only is this a secluded setting apart from the rest of the school, but by
routinely studying in a quiet space, good study habits will be established, which will then be
carried with them into adulthood. The behavior of studying in a quiet area will rub off on other
students, resulting in mass amounts of determined minds that will learn to stay on track while
doing homework. The importance of this study is to reiterate proposals made by our very own
Saline High School students. For some time now, students have insisted on having more areas in
the school to flee to when in need of silent time, designated for strictly school work. As of the
present, there is not a place like this that exists at Saline High School. In order to collect data
from the student body, extensive research was done, an important part of this proposal. Our
research group conducted a self-report survey that contained a broad range of questions that
helped our team assess feedback from what real students wanted to see in their study space. By
doing this, us researchers were given an understanding of how high the demand was for

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

implementing quiet rooms. We used this data to design our ultimate vision: the perfect quiet zone
where students feel comfortable studying in an area that was strictly made for focus.
Research Questions/Hypothesis
1. Will building new study rooms prove to be beneficial for Saline High School?
2. Will there be a better performance in students if study rooms were implemented?
As part of this study, investigation included one research hypothesis:
1. In this study, students will benefit from additional study rooms because it will provide
them with more accessibility to a study space, increased productivity, and an area to
mentally focus.
Definition of Terms
1. Study Rooms A room [...] used for studying (Collins, 2016)
Literature Review
Ease of Access
One significant effect of constructing new study rooms at Saline High School would
increase ease of access to study spaces. The school should be able to provide all students with a
designated area that stimulates productivity. It is important to note that the majority of high
school students do not drive. In an assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(2015), it was reported that only 76% of teens, 16 and older, could drive. It is important to note,
as half of the Saline High School population is not yet 16 years of age. Therefore, it is very
difficult for some students to find a pliable area to study. A schools first and most important
goal should be to provide students with a safe environment that can stimulate success. Therefore,
providing an accessible study area for students is tremendously important. Additionally, the

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

convenience of the study room might also appeal to groups of students for group work. In itself,
group work has proven to be significantly more effective and efficient when compared to
working by oneself. Working in groups positively benefit students because, groups provide
students with a support group that deters them from distractions (SpeedyPrep, 2013). In fact,
according to Cengage Learning, over 34% of students visit libraries to work in a group setting
(Strang, 2015). Therefore, in a school where the library has an early closing time, it may prove to
be in the student's favor to build study rooms.
Increased Productivity
For many people, studying tends to be a very difficult task. In order for students to find
successful study habits, they need to experiment with several different styles until they find one
that is suitable for them. According to SpeedyPrep (2013), By joining a study group, you will
have an opportunity to observe a wide variety of study methods in action. The study habits
portrayed by a students peers can encourage a student to attempt their friends strategies or other
methods in order to fulfill the end goal, which can be an upcoming test or interesting
information. In addition, group work has several other positive influences which help with the
productivity and retention of information. By working in small groups, the environment
encourages students to collaborate and share ideas. It is proven that speaking to and listening to
others often improves recall ability (Fleming, 2015). Although some argue that the distractions
of group work are greater than that of individual studying, the ability for students to collaborate
and learn from the work of their peers drastically outweighs the occasional distractions that occur
from intelligent conversations. For most people, they have already established a specific area that
is their study space that they utilize whenever there are important tasks at hand. We want to

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

challenge the idea that one specific area should be the preferred location for studying. In a recent
study, it is seen that simply alternating the room where a person [study] improves retention
(Carey, 2010). This idea may seem counterintuitive at first due to the many new distractions that
can occur while at a new location. However, the change in the atmosphere allows students to
notice minute differences which can attribute to increased retention.
Lack of Distraction
When people study by themselves, they get very distracted. This generation grew up with
smart phones, computers, and many other distracting electronic devices. The moment a student
hears their cell phone ring, they stop whatever they are doing to go and look to see who texted
them. Not only do students check their phones often, but they also listen to music while the study
which is distracting them without them even noticing that it is. Although listening to faint
background music can be used to block out distractions, having earbuds in is more harmful than
helpful to the student and those around them (Western Governors University, 2012). In the
background of the study rooms, we plan to play music with no lyrics, being that lyrics are
distracting to a student studying, music without lyrics blocks out other surrounding noises that
could distract the students. We plan on making the study rooms distraction free because, this
place should be uncluttered and should provide few distractions to allow for maximum
concentration (University of Alabama). The fewer distractions in the study rooms, the more
successful the project will be. Furthermore, we would like to implement that any student that
uses the room is responsible for cleaning up after themselves because anything left behind could
be a distraction for the next group of students that come in. Lastly, these study rooms will be
blocked off from any busy areas in the school and will block out as much sound as possible so

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

the students can have a quiet place to study. Having almost no noise travel into the room means
less distraction because students will not want to know where different sounds came from and
can focus on just studying.
Mental Focus
A consensus has developed amongst Saline High School students that within a study
room, silent areas must maintain a level of noiselessness and continue to uphold its composure.
Mental focus can be hard to achieve when attempting to direct ones attention towards an
assignment, in an active working environment, where noise levels exceed boisterous limits.
Sustaining such status can be easily accomplished with the addition of essential office features
that will set an appropriate ambiance for students to stay on track. Many contributing factors in a
study room hold power to draw students eyes out of their reading books and instead, into their
surroundings. Students from Virginia Commonwealth University (2012) gave their input on what
they consider to be distractions that are triggered by their setting. The idea of ones eyes
straining while reading in dim lighting is troublesome for anyone who is trying to get quality
work done. Adequate and appropriate lighting is essential for students to maintain a strong
mental focus on their school material. Comfortable chairs and couches will be implemented into
the space to provide relaxation while at work. One unpleasant seat can lead straight to a sudden
change in ones focused mindset. That will just not do. Saline High School study rooms will
accommodate for all disturbances that are capable of disrupting any students focus on their
work. Typically, when students are studying in a noisy environment, they find themselves getting
off-course. This further results in binge Facebooking or constant fidgeting; the most common
form of procrastination. To prevent this behavior and keep students mental focus on their target,

Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STUDY ROOMS

two types of study rooms should be available. One will be used strictly for collaborative and
conversational work environments, a space designated for group work and loud noises. The other
type of study rooms provided for student access will contain no noise at all, complete silent
work. In both settings, cell phone conversations in the workplace will be limited in order to stay
on track, and rules for both settings will be enforced and respected. With the students mental
focus as a priority, study rooms will be suitable for anyones needs.
Methodology
Research Design
The proposed research design of this study will be a survey administered to students of
Saline High School. This design will be able to receive data from our students accurately. It will
tell us the true popular opinion amongst students. The survey was created and sent out to select
students at Saline High School. The survey is anonymous. The results of the survey are then
recorded and sent to our group to be analyzed. Theoretically, we are expecting the masses to be
supportive of our cause.
Sampling
We decided to survey our student population for our research because they will be the
people that are affected by the implication of the study rooms. The survey we created was
through Google using Google Forms, and we sent it via email to many students. We did not want
to choose just one grade to survey, so we surveyed all four. We chose the people to send the
survey to by each of us thinking of people to send it to that we knew. Mostly the results came
from the field hockey team, German class, student council, cheerleading team, and Science
Olympiad club because those are the teams, groups, and classes that we are apart of. Even

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10

though the results came from specific groups, the results are credible because we got about equal
percentages of responses from the four classes. The characteristics of the sample include the
grade each student is in, if she or he believes study rooms should be implemented at Saline High
School, and whether or not study rooms would benefit students. It also incorporates their
opinions on where the study rooms should be located, what they wish to see in the study room if
a tutor should be available in the room after school, and who should fund the project. We
received 59 responses to our Google survey, a reasonable number that can account for the
student body.
Instrumentation
The survey was conducted through a computer with internet access. The instrument will
depict what a typical student at Saline High School should feel about our dependent
variable--new study rooms.
Data Analysis
All of our data will generate from a survey that we sent out to multiple groups of students
in the high school. To analyze the data, we carried out a two-proportion z-test for the difference
in proportions in order to determine if there was truly a significant difference between the
proportion of students who believe the high school should implement study rooms and the
proportion of students who do not want the high school to implement study rooms. We checked
all of the conditions such as random, independent, and normal.
H0: pY = pN, where py is
the true proportion of students at Saline High School who want

study rooms, and pN is the true proportion of students who do not want study rooms. The

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11

proportion of students who want or do not want study rooms should hypothetically be equal if
the study rooms do not provide a significant improvement to the school atmosphere.
Ha: pY > pN, where py is
the proportion of students who want study rooms and pN is the proportion

of students who do not want study rooms. We are trying to show that the proportion of students
who want study rooms is significantly larger than the proportion who do not want study rooms.
= 0.05
Z=

Py(1Py)
Ny

+ Pn(1Pn)
= 7.1805
Nn

P = 3.48x10-13
Protection of Human Rights
From the beginning, our team set basic ethical principles that would be followed
thoroughly while conducting our research. With the involvement of human subjects, our research
team went to extreme efforts to protect the rights of everyone participating in our surveys. Our
data was collected anonymously in a secured data space. This is where the responses of the
survey were held under our supervision. In an effort to avoid distress or confusion for our
participants, we provided information on the nature of our experiment. We also debriefed our
subjects once the survey was completed. There were no binding requirements for students to
respond to our survey. They had the choice to fill out the survey involuntarily or stop at any time
without consequence.
Discussion and Significance of the Study
Research Findings
All of our data was gathered in the survey located in Appendix B. From that survey, we
used the results from the question, Do you think Saline High School should implement study

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12

rooms? (Appendix C) to calculate the z score. The survey showed that approximately 83.1% of
students that answered the survey believed that the high school should implement study rooms
while only 16.9% of students felt that the high school should not implement study rooms.
According to our calculation in the Data Analysis section, there is less than a 1% chance that the
difference in proportions of students who want and do not want study rooms is due to chance
alone. Based on these calculations, we can safely assume that there is a statistically significant
difference because our p-value of 3.49x10-13 is less than the alpha value set at 0.05. We, as
researchers, believe that the statistical significance of the calculations found from the
two-proportion z-test is unyielding evidence to show how essential these study rooms are to the
education of the students at Saline High School.
Our hypothesis that having new study rooms would be beneficial for the students at
Saline High School was supported because the students overwhelmingly supported the idea of
implementing study rooms. In addition, a majority of students said they were likely to use newly
implemented study spaces on a regular basis. Approximately 64% of students reported that they
were more likely than unlikely to use the study rooms while only 17% responded that they were
unlikely to use the study rooms (Appendix F). Since the majority of students are very responsive
to study spaces, it ultimately proves their popularity, virtually guaranteeing frequent use among
students. Not only would that be beneficial towards students, but it would also mean the high
school would be making a suitable purchase for this high school. In fact, 73.7% of students agree
that study rooms would help the performance of students (Appendix G).
Limitations

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13

Although this study was conducted properly, our research group is fully aware of the
presence of shortcomings and restraints, resulting in a few limitations to our data. As with any
research study, there are limitations that will skew our findings on all realms of the study. Our
most prominent drawback was the amount of the responses we received from our participants.
With only a total of 59 submissions, we were limited to the amount of data we collected. Of
course we wanted our sample size to be larger, but we worked with what we received. Another
limitation of ours was due to our own mistake. We only distributed the survey to specific groups
of students in Saline High School, our friends and acquaintances. The survey selection was not
randomized. By assumption, we infer that some participants took the survey at the same time
their friends did, concluding their answers could be potentially biased. We also have to take into
account that not all answers were truthful. These errors could not be overcome being that they
are unavoidable regardless of distribution method. The lack of prior research studies available on
this particular project, challenged our research team on how else we should disperse our survey
to the public with the assurance of unbiased results. With that being said, we sampled from all
age groups and grades. We sent out our self-report survey to a wide range of sports teams, school
clubs, and friend groups, both male and female. By doing this, we received a fair amount of
feedback that helped our data analysis entry hugely.
Implications and Benefits
By cause of our study being a success, implementing study rooms into Saline High
School could evoke other useful study spaces, techniques and tool ideas that can be later used to
the students advantage. Implementing study rooms only scratches the surface of the endless
amount of opportunities there are for advancing the way students study and where they choose to

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14

do so. The results of our research study will affect our high school students, as well as other
students in the school district that will become familiar with the idea of study rooms at a young
age. The design of study rooms can be carried out in any school, regardless of age group,
because of its universal feedback from students of all ages. This study space has been a current
success at the collegiate level, why not implement study rooms into schools of younger ages as
well? The feedback we collected goes more in depth about where students would like their study
rooms to be placed, and what they would like provided inside of them. This data can be applied
to any school atmosphere. That is why study rooms will thrive in any student environment. The
results we received will be used to give the students exactly what they asked for: comfortable
furniture, whiteboards, and electronic study gadgets. We are able to modify a study space based
on the students desires. A wide range of people will benefit from the construction of this study
space. Students will benefit from this design the most, being that it is an alternative, quiet space
to stay focused and get work done. This is also convenient for teachers who need extra room for
students to learn and do homework; somewhere other than a noisy classroom. For both students,
teachers, and even parents, this is convenient area is a place to stay on track and will also be a
spot that is beneficial for everyone. The construction of the room, including its features, will be a
useful asset for any student.
Recommendations
The study rooms will be located at the ends of the main hallways on each level of the
building where there are currently tables and chairs. There are four spaces available where the
study rooms can go, two on the top level, and two and the lower level. Having three walls
already in place, it will dramatically reduce the cost of the project. This is because instead of

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15

having to build the whole room, only one wall is needed to complete the room. Having the study
rooms at the end of the hallways leads to easy access for the students because if they go straight
from the classrooms, the study rooms are right there. In the study rooms there will be
comfortable seating such as couches, bean bag chairs, hammocks, and also tables to work on.
The comfortable seating creates a relaxed atmosphere for the students so they do not feel like
they are still in school, but it allows them to still get work done. On the two of the walls there are
going to be full whiteboards, from the ceiling to the ground. This allows students to work out
problems on the whiteboards and help explain their ideas to other students. On one of the other
walls, there will be a tv, much like the ones in the library, where students can plug in their
computers to display any projects, documents, etc., to a group of students (Appendix D). There
will be available time slots for a study room that students will be able to sign to use for a tutor.
These tutors will be available before or after school in the study rooms to be able to work in a
quiet, non-distracting environment (Appendix E). The cost for this project would be roughly
about $8,600. The bean bags costing $130, the hammocks costing $150, the TVs costing $300,
the whiteboards costing $150, the tables $150, and additional for the wall and the labor needed to
renovate the spaces. Through our survey, the student body has expressed that this project should
be funded through the money that the school gets from the parking passes. Our school parking
passes cost $65 per person. If only 200 people buy a pass, which is about 11% of the student
population, than the money from that, $13,000, would easily cover this project. The basic
structures of the study rooms are already built, with the addition of a few things, the impact these
rooms could have at Saline High School is massive.

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References
7 Benefits of Study Groups - SpeedyPrep. (2013). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
https://www.speedyprep.com/blog/7-benefits-of-study-groups/
11 Ways Your Study Environment Affects Productivity (And How You Can Improve It) |
Western Governors University. (2015). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
http://www.wgu.edu/blogpost/improve-online-study-environment
2016 News | Quiet and Silent Refined. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
https://www.library.vcu.edu/about/news/2016/silent-and-quiet-rules-refined-at-cabell-libr
ary-175-new-silent-study-seats-now-available.html
Creating a Good Study Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
http://www.ctl.ua.edu/CTLStudyAids/StudySkillsFlyers/GeneralTips/creatingstudyenviro
nment.htm
Definition of study room. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/study-room
Driving Among High School Students United States, 2013. (2015). Retrieved November 21,
2016, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6412a1.htm
Fleming, G. (2015). Do Study Groups Improve Your Grades? Retrieved November 21, 2016,
from http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/study.htm

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Appendix A
Projected Image of Study Rooms

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Appendix B
The survey sent to the students at Saline High School.

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Appendix C
Student responses to the need of study rooms

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Appendix D
Student responses for items in study rooms

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Appendix E
Student responses to the availability of tutors with study rooms

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Appendix F
Results of the likelyness students will use the study rooms

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Appendix G
Student reactions to addition of study rooms

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