IMRaD

Abstract

The importance of the research question, “Does being involved with Greek life affect your GPA positively or negatively” stems from my overall interest in Greek life as a means to improve my GPA and my study habits. To find the answer to this question, I created two separate survey monkey polls, one for those affiliated with Greek life and one for those who are not, asking the same generic questions pertaining to academics. I found that those involved with Greek life studied more hours, were busier during the week, and had higher GPAs than those who are not affiliated. As a result of my findings, it can now be proven that being involved in Greek life will improve your GPA, and confirms that I will be taking an interest in joining in the near future.

Introduction

The question of Greek life improving or hurting ones grades has a frequently talked about topic on campus between those of Greek affiliation and those who are not affiliated. Researching this question and coming up with an answer that is supported by survey statistics will not only end this argument once and for all but will also change campus’s view of either group when it comes to academics. On one hand, if Greek life is proven to help strengthen your GPA, many of those not involved may choose to involve themselves in order to improve their GPA. If Greek life is proven to be detrimental to your GPA, those who are involved may choose to leave the groups in order to focus on their grades and hope for improvement.

It is known that within Greek life there are academic requirements that are needed to be met in order to join and continue being involved. In an interview with Susan Karhoff, a member of the Chi Omega Sorority established on the University of Louisville’s campus, she lists the amount of study hours needed to initiate (100) and the minimum GPA required to stay involved (3.0). These numbers and academic activities can differ between fraternities and sororities, but grades play a very big role in your ability to participate in Greek life. However, participating in Greek life also takes up a lot of time, many members talk about being busy between studying and participating in Greek sponsored events. It is unknown how busy non-affiliated students are, although their participation in academic activities such as studying is completely up to them and not mandatory. Through the survey taken by 50 non-affiliated students vs the survey taken by 50 Greek life affiliated students, we should be able to learn through 5 basic questions whether or not this sample pool reflects that Greek life or non-affiliation can improve your GPA.

Methods

                Participants

                The 3 interviews conducted were with two Greek affiliated students and one student that was not affiliated.

                The two surveys were distributed equally between 50 affiliated and 50 non-affiliated students on University of Louisville’s campus over the course of a week during the spring semester or 2015.

                Data sources

                Sources of Data include three interviews and survey monkey.com. Survey Monkey conducts percentage tests for you to show statistical significant among groups of people.

                Procedures

                Developed 5 questioned pertaining to the performance in academics of Greek life students vs. non-affiliated students.  These questions were created to be able to see the difference in GPA, study hours, and how busy they are throughout the week to be comparable. Then asked 50 affiliated and 50 non-affiliated students to take the survey, answer all questions honestly, to be scored online in survey monkey to show statistical significance. Then I took all of the answers and compared them between the two surveys taken by the students to see which survey showed students who had higher GPAs and were more scholarly.

                Data Analysis

                                Question 1: Are you involved in Greek life?

                                The students who are involved in Greek life on survey 1 answered “Yes” to this question 100% of the time. The students who are not involved in Greek life on survey 2 answered “No” to this question 100% of the time. This just signifies the difference between the two groups being studied.

                                Question 2: What is your GPA?

                                86% of students on survey 1 (Greek affiliated) said higher than a 3.1, and 56% of that 86% had higher than a 3.6. On survey 2 (non-affiliated) only 60% of students had higher than a 3.1, and only 30% of those students said that they had higher than a 3.6. This shows that students who are involved in Greek life statistically have higher grades than those who are non-affiliated by 26%

                                Question 3: Do you think being involved in Greek life would improve or hurt you GPA?

                                100% of students that were Greek affiliated said that they believed it would improve your GPA. 40% of students that are not Greek affiliated said that they also believed it would improve your GPA, showing that even students who are not involved in Greek life believe that Greek life has something to do with improvement of grades and study habits, and 100% of those students that are involved KNOW that it improves your GPA and study habits.

                                Question 4: How busy are you throughout the week?

                                95% of students who took survey 1 (Greek affiliated) said that they were at least pretty busy thoughout the week. 65% of those students said they were VERY busy throughout the week. 80% of students that took survey 2 (non-affiliated) said that they were at least pretty busy throughout the week, but only 10% of those students said that they were VERY busy throughout the week. This shows that students in Greek life have better skills balancing a busy work week and maintaining a higher GPA than students that we non-affiliated.

                                Question 5: How many hours a week do you study?

                                37% of students who answered survey 1 (Greek affiliated) said that they study more than 10+ hours a week. 30% said they study 6-10 hours, and 24% said that they only study 2-6 hours. 7% said that they study less than two. Out of the 50 students who answered survey 2 (non-affiliated), 0% of them said that they studied 10+ hours a week. 30% of them said that they studied 6-10 hours a week, and 60% of them said they studied 2-6. The remaining 10% studied less than two hours. So we can infer that since students in Greek life have requirements to study in order to be initiated, they develop study habits that have them studying for more hours, and that can lead to improving their GPA, where as students who are non-affiliated and don’t have those requirements feel that it is only necessary to study the minimal amount per week, and maintain and average GPA even though they have more time on their hands during the week to study.

Results

Table 1

Table 2

These two contrasting tables show that GPA of Greek life students is higher than the GPAs of non-affiliated students, seeing as the percentage of students in Greek life who have higher than a 3.6 is 26% higher than that of students who are non-affiliated and have a 3.6 or higher, meaning that you have a better chance of obtaining a 3.6 or higher in Greek life than you do being non-affiliated.

Table 3

Table 4

Tables 3 and 4 show the individual student’s opinion of Greek life helping or hurting GPA. As you can see, students affiliated with Greek life 100% agree that it would improve GPA, since they are involved and have probably seen increase in GPA as a result. In Table 4, however, students that are not involved and somewhat unsure, having 50% say that it would not affect GPA at all and 40% saying it would improve your GPA. Table 4 is that there are only 10% of non-affiliated people and Table 3 shows that 0% of affiliated students that think that Greek life would hurt your GPA.

Table 5

Table 6

Table 5 shows that the majority of students involved in Greek life (60%) feel that they are very busy over the week, while on Table 6 it shows that only 10% of non-affiliated students feel that they are very busy over the week. Referencing back to tables 1 and 2, Greek life students who have the higher GPA’s over non-affiliated students also show that they are busier during the week than students who are non-affiliated, which could possibly be correlated to show that students in Greek life, although have less time on their hands than those non-affiliated, have better time management skills to be able to obtain such high GPAs while participating in Greek events and studying.

Table 7

Table 8

Tables 7 and 8 reference the amount of study hours per week that Greek affiliated vs non-affiliated students study. Not only do Greek affiliated students study more hours a week than students who are non-affiliated, their highest percentage of hours is 10+, which non-affiliated students do not study at all. Also, we can reference Tables 1, 2, 5 and 6 here to show that Greek life students have higher GPAs, study more hours, AND are busier throughout the week and are still able to maintain those GPAs whereas non-affiliated students have lower GPAs, are not as busy during the week yet study less hours than those who are Greek affiliated. It is suggested that Greek affiliated students have better study habits, are better at time management, and that leads to their ability to achieve a higher GPA than those students who are not affiliated.

Discussion

Through surveys and interviews it’s suggested by this research that students involved in Greek life will have their GPA impacted in a positive way. They also will study more during the week, leading to higher grades received on tests. Students who are not involved in Greek life will have more time on their hands but will still study less hors, and receive a lower GPA.

This study could be limited since it took place on a specific university campus, where as Greek Life is usually experienced differently at different universities. Also, since the surveys were anonymous, students could have been dishonest with their answers. Further research could be conducted to show that GPA and Greek life correlation could vary from campus to campus.