ResearchResultsandDiscussion

BreannaDickson,CarolMitchell,JaclynJerse,JuliaLytton,KamrieFryer,ShantelBishoff,andSylvia
Niemyski
TouroUniversityNevada

Introduction
Comprehensionisacomplexlearningprocessthat,extrinsically,isbestsupportedbyapositive
learningenvironment.Manystudentshaveexperiencedsittingdowntostudyandsimplynotretaining
information.Forexample,astudentgoestothebasementofthelibrarytostudyinaquietenvironment
however,thestudentfindshiscomprehensionofstudymaterialstobelacking.Heisconstantly
distractedbythesoundofadooropening,someonetyping,ortheelevatorpinging.Thestudentchose
tostudyinthelibrarybecausepastexperiencesdictatedthatnoisyenvironmentsdecreasedhis
comprehensionlevel.Basedonhislackofcomprehensioninthelibrarybasement,itseemsthatthe
studentprobablyrequiresanenvironmentwithlownoiseandminimaldistractions.
Copiousresearchonthetopicofcomprehensionandenvironmentalstimuliseekstoincrease
efficiencyandefficacyinlearning.Lenz(2013)statesknowledgeofthetopic,qualityofmaterial,
decodingability,andinstructionreceivedcanpositivelyornegativelyaffectcomprehension.Similarly,a
relationshipexistsbetweenstudyenvironmentsandcomprehension(RensselaerPolytechnicInstitute,
2013).

Bronzaft(2013)studiedthequalityofcomprehensioncomparingaquietclassroomtoanoisy

classroom.Thestudyfoundthataquietclassroomprovedmoreefficaciousincomprehensionthana
noisyclassroom.Similarly,Graetz(2013)investigatedtheimpactofaclassroomsettingonlearning
comprehension.Shefoundthataquietlearningenvironmentispreferabletoanoisyone.Ontheother
hand,Jerpi(2002)foundthatoutdoorenvironmentsprovidegreatcomprehensionopportunitiestothose
withconcentrationdisorders,suchasADHD.
Establishingtheoptimalenvironmentforbestcomprehensionisassessedthroughtrialanderror.
Formoststudents,thisprocessstartsinthefirstyearofcollege.However,aonceoptimalstudy

environmentincollege,likethelibrary,mayproveineffectiveingraduateschool.Theauthorsofthis
researchstudyseektodeterminethebestcomprehensionenvironmentsforoccupationaltherapy
mastersdegreecandidates.Theresearchershypothesizethemostefficaciouscomprehensiontakes
placeinaquietacademicenvironment.
Methods
ThesamplepopulationwascomprisedofthirtyfirstyearTouroUniversityNevadaoccupational
therapygraduatestudents.Theparticipantswereaskedtocompleteaselfreportsurveyrating
comprehensionlevelofstudymaterialsinfourdifferentenvironmentsoveraoneweekperiod.The
surveywasaLikertScaleinvestigatingthefollowingenvironments:quiteacademicenvironment,home
environment,noisyenvironment,andnatureenvironment.Theparticipantswereaskedtorankthefour
environmentsonafourpointnumericalscale.Theparticipantsdelineatedwhichenvironmentbest
supportedcomprehension,3rankingasexcellentcomprehension,2rankingasmoderate
comprehensions,1rankingaspoorcomprehension,and0doesnotapplytotheparticipant.
Results
Aconveniencesampleofthirty,firstyearoccupationaltherapystudentswasusedwith
twentyonefemalesandninemales.Allthirtystudentswererecruitedinaperiodofonedayandall
agreedtoparticipateinthestudy.Theparticipantsreceivedthesurveythroughemailandwere
instructedtocompletethesurveywithinoneweek.Onereminderemailwassenttoparticipantswhodid
notreturnthecompletedsurveyontherequestedduedate.Allparticipantsurveyswerereturned
followingthereminderemail.Toprotectconfidentiality,participantswereassignedindividualnumbers
duringthedataretrievalprocess.
Thestudentswereaskedtorankfourenvironmentsonafourpointnumericalscale,delineating

whichenvironmentbestsupportedcomprehension.Theenvironmentaloptionsincludedaquiet
environment,ahomeenvironment,anoisyenvironmentandanatureenvironment.Thedataresults
representstatisticalincrementalranking,mean,median,mode,andrangeofeachoftheenvironments
surveyed.Themeandataresultsforthequietenvironmentrankedas2.13,homeenvironmentas2.4,
natureenvironmentas1.13andnoisyenvironmentas1.36onascaleof0to3.Themediandataresults
forthequietenvironmentrankedas2,thehomeenvironmentas3,thenatureenvironmentas1andthe
noisyenvironmentenvironmentas1.5onascaleof0to3.Themodecomprehensionlevelforthe
quietenvironmentrankedas2,homeenvironmentas3,natureenvironmentas1andnoisyenvironment
as2onascaleof0to3.Therangecomprehensionlevelforallfourenvironmentsrankedas3ona
scaleof0to3.Thestatisticaldataresultsforthepercentageofcomprehensioninaquietenvironment
showanexcellentcomprehensionof33.33%,moderatereadingcomprehensionof50.00%,poor
readingcomprehensionof13.3%andthequietenvironmentdoesnotapplyto3.33%ofparticipants.
Thestatisticaldataresultsforthepercentageofcomprehensioninahomeenvironmentshowan
excellentcomprehensionrankingof56.67%,moderatecomprehensionof30.00%,andpoor
comprehensionof10.00%andthehomeenvironmentdoesnotapplyto3.33%ofparticipants.The
statisticaldataresultsforthepercentageofcomprehensioninanatureenvironmentshowanexcellent
comprehensionof3.33%,moderatereadingcomprehensionof23.33%,andpoorreading
comprehensionof56.67%,andthenatureenvironmentdoesnotapplyto16.67%ofparticipants.The
statisticaldataresultsforthepercentageofcomprehensioninanoisyenvironmentshowanexcellent
comprehensionof13.33%,moderatereadingcomprehensionof36.67%,andpoorreading
comprehensionof23.33%,andthenoisyenvironmentdoesnotapplyto26.67%ofparticipants.

Discussion
Thehypothesisthatefficaciousacademiccomprehensiontakesplaceinaquietacademic
environmentwasnotsupportedbythedataobtained.Firstyearoccupationaltherapystudentsattending
TouroUniversityNevadaweresurveyedtodeterminecomprehensionlevelsinfouraccessible
environments.Thestudentsreportedgreatestcomprehensioninthehomeenvironmentwhilethequiet
academicenvironmentrankedsecondbest.Thisisimportantinformationforoccupationaltherapy
graduatestudentstoascertain.Theoccupationaltherapycurriculumisfastpaced,providingstudents
limitedtimetoseekoutthemostsuitablestudyenvironmentsingraduateschool.Therefore,providing
theoccupationaltherapystudentsatTouroUniversityNevadawithevidentiarybaseddatatosupport
bestcomprehensionenvironmentscanhelpstudentsmorequicklyengageinfunctionallearning.
Inreflection,theresearchteamextrapolatedseveralfactorstoexplainwhythehome
environmentbestsupportscomprehension.Thehomeenvironmentisflexible.Studentscanmanipulate
furniture,noise,andothermaterialstocreateanenvironmentthatpromoteslearning.Furthermore,the
homeenvironmentmaybemorefinanciallyadvantageousforstudying.Studentswhodrivetovarious
studylocationsandbuyfoodanddrink,maysavemoneybystudyingathome.
Whenformulatingthehypothesis,researchersenumeratedfactorsfromevidencebased
researchandpersonalopinionssuggestingthehomeenvironmenttobeinundatedwithdistractions.

Distractionsweredefinedasstimulisuchasneighbors,roommates,children,constructionwork,pets,
television,andcomfortablefurniture.Twostudiesparticularlyhighlightthehypothesisthataquiet
academicenvironmentisadvantageousforcomprehension.TheRensselaerPolytechnicInstitute(2013)
statesthatthehomeenvironmentmaybethemostdysfunctionalenvironmentforacademic
comprehension.Thehomeenvironmentsignifiesaplacewheresleep,eating,andrelaxationtakeplace.
Manystudents...findthattheymustleavetheirroominordertostudyeffectively,becausetheirroom
equalsaplacetosleepandplay,andnotaplacetolearn.Thesestudentshavetogothroughthe
processoforganizingwhattheywanttogetdonewhiletheystudy,packinguptheirbackpack,and
removingthemselvesfromthe"fun"environment,anddeliberatelygoingtoaquieterstudy
environment(RensslaerPolytechnicInstitute,2013).Thewebsitefurthersuggeststhattheprocessof
packingonesbackpackforcesthestudenttodelineatewhatbarenecessitiesareneededforstudying.
Whenpackinghisorherbackpack,thestudentismorelikelytochoosetoleavebehindgadgetsthat
willnotbeutilizedsuchasaniPod.Furthermore,uncontrollablestimulilikeroommatescookingdinner
areeliminatedinquietacademicenvironments.
Similarly,Graetz(2013)arguesthatstudentsarenotpassivebeings.Inorderforcomprehension
totakeplace,studentsmustutilizeselectiveattentiontofocusonthematerialathandwhileeliminating
otherstimuli.Studentsdonottouch,see,orhearpassivelytheyfeel,look,andlistenactively.Students
cannotattendtoalltheenvironmentalinformationbombardingthematanygiventimetheirabilityto
gatherandunderstandincominginformationislimited.Throughautomaticandcontrolledprocesses,
studentsselectinformationforconsideration(Graetz,2013).Hefurtherarguesthatcomprehensionis
coupledwithpositiveemotionalresponsesfromtheenvironment.Graetz(2013)specificallydiscusses
theinherentdistractionscausedbytechnology.Studentsspendtimeengagedinlackadaisicalbehaviors

duetogrossaccesstotechnology.Basedonthesefindings,Graetzreportsthatlearningismost
successfulinacademicenvironmentsratherthanhomeornoisyenvironments.
Thedatacollectedfromthesurveyshowsthattheoccupationaltherapyclassof2015areless
likelytocomprehendstudymaterialsoutdoors,incomparisontoabusyenvironmentalsetting.This
surprisedtheresearchteamastheresearchnotedthatspendingtimeoutdoorsisbeneficialtoones
physicalandmentalhealthwhereasnoisyenvironmentspromotecreativityofthemindmakingitdifficult
tofocusandcomprehend.Furthermore,seasonsandweatherconditionswerevariablesoverlookedby
theresearchteam.Theresultsmayhavedifferediftheresearchstudywasadministeredinanotherarea
ofthecountryorduringadifferentseason.Thestudentssurveyedwerenewtotheareaandmayhave
beenunfamiliarwithlocaloutdoorlocationstostudy.Anotherfactorthatcouldaffectcomprehensionis
thechangingofstudyhabitsfromundergraduatetograduateschool.
Aproceduralbarrierforthisstudywasthecourseworkassignedtheweekthesurveywas
distributed.Thestudywasimplementedpriortotheschedulingofananatomyexam.Theresultsmay
havebeendifferentiftheresearchteampresentedthesurveyduringalessstressfulweekofstudying.
Theresultsofthisstudyshowthatstudyinginthehomeisthemosteffectiveenvironmentfor
studentstofocusandretaininformation.Aquietstudyenvironmentrankedclosetothehome
environment,showingthatthemajorityofstudentsneedtobecompletelyfocusedwithoutdistractions.
Thefindingsshowstudentspreferanoisyenvironmentratherthananoutdoorstudyenvironment,further
disprovingtheresearchershypothesis.
Limitations
Thisresearchstudyhadmanylimitations.Thescopeofthestudywaslimitedtotheopinionsof
thirtyTouroUniversityNevadaoccupationaltherapystudents.Asamplesizeofthirtydoesnot

representtheopinionsofoccupationaltherapygraduatestudentsacrossthenation.Thisstudydidnot
takeintoaccountspecificcohortcharacteristicssuchascohortssize,rangeofage,genderdistribution,
andsocioeconomiclevel.Forexample,atTouroUniversityNevada,themeanageofthe2015
occupationaltherapyclassistwentythreeyearsold.Studentsatthisagemayhavedifferentpreferences
forstudyingenvironments,versuscohortswithagreatermeanage.Also,genderandsocioeconomic
differenceswarrantfurtherinvestigationwithregardtotheenvironmentandcomprehensionlevels.
AtTouroUniversityNevada,occupationaltherapystudentsarelimitedtotwostudy
environments:theclassroomandthelibrary.Universitystudyroomscannotbecountedasastudy
environmentduetotheinconstantavailabilityofrooms.Thisisincontrasttolargeuniversitieswith
multiplestudyoptionsincludingthemultilevellibraries,studyroomswithdifferentnoiserequirements,
coffeehouses,emptyclassrooms,andshadedoutdoorenvironments.
Furthermore,theenvironmentaloptionsprovidedtostudentsarenotconclusive.The
researchersdefinethehomeenvironmentasaquietstudyenvironment.However,participantsmay
regardthehomeenvironmentasanoisyenvironment.Tobeconclusive,thesurveyneedstoestablish
thenuanceswithintheenvironmentsdiscussed.Itisarguabletoconcludethatthisstudyisinvalidbased
onthelimitationspresented.

References
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Lenz,Keith.(2013).Instruction/readingcomprehensionspecialconnections.Retrievedfrom
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