STID 3113 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN IT

Project Proposal
Group C
Identify Stress Performance Pattern Among IT Students

Members:
NUR SITI HIDAYAH BINTI MUHAMMAD
NURSUZIELA BINTI AZMI
NOR AMIRAH BINTI AZIZ

222581
227540
227794

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1

Research background
Stress is a condition that is related with the behavior of someone. A

persons response towards stress depends on whether an event is appraised

as a challenge or a threat (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Stress is a natural
consequence because all people are experienced in daily life, it is a
challenging and it can lead to positive outcomes such as motivations and
improved the performance or vice versa.
This shows that stress can influence the attitude of someone, whether
it will give the good or bad effect to the individual that face with stress in
term of their performance in their daily life as a higher institution students.
The research purposes to find out the relation between the stress and
performance of Information Technology students when they are facing stress.
1.2

Problem Statement
The problem statement in this research are students do not realize that

they are having stress or not. Sometimes, changes in attitudes of the

students is actually because of they are stress but they do not expect that it
is a stress. So that, by doing this research, students will know that they are
stress or not through the questionnaire that would give to them. Next,
students do not know that stress can affect to their performance if cannot
manage it. According to Md Aris Safree Md Yasin and Mariam Adawiah
Dzulkifli (2010), depression, anxiety and stress negatively correlate with
academic achievement. Students always underestimate about stress so that,
they did not manage it better. Therefore, by doing this research students can
know that the influence of stress will effect to their performance and how to
manage the stress. Lastly, students cannot identify the factors of stress. This
is related with the problem statement that if they have a stress or not,
absolutely they also do not know what the causes of stress.
1.3

Research Questions

Our main research questions examined are:

i.
How can multimedia students recognize either they are in stress or
not?

ii.
iii.
1.4

How stress influence on multimedia students performance?

What is the impact of stress for multimedia students in their daily life?
Objectives

The main purpose of this research is to identify stress performance pattern

among multimedia students. Besides that, we have another objectives to be
achieve which are:
i.
ii.
iii.

To know whether the students were under stress or not.

To identify what the causes of stress among multimedia students.
To identify what are the impact of stress among multimedia students.

1.5

Scope

The target participant for our research are 30 undergraduate students

courses from Multimedia, University Utara Malaysia.
1.6

Significance of study

The benefits of this study are to give exposure to UUM students about
either they are having stress or not and the effect of stress on their
performance. So that, they can manage their stress to perform in their
study.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0
2.1

DEFINITION
According to Quick, Wright, Adkins, Nelson & Quick (2002). Stress is an

important component of the growth, development, and performance whether

in individual, groups or organizations also it something that someone cannot
avoids that. Stress thats caused by energy inside the body is natural asset to
managing the stress. Therefore, distress and pressure in a long term of
difficult circumstances will cause stress. For instance, do a work for long
hours, and cannot solve the problems in a long period. Meanwhile, other
books had comes out with a different definition of stress which is stress is a
feeling which results from excessive pressures and environmental simulation.
(Priest & Welch , 1998). However, Khan (1087) in Quick, Wright, Adkins,

Nelson & Quick (2002) states that stress is a creatively ambiguous world with
little agreed-on-scientific definition. This concept of stress is really cares
about their environment. (James, & Arroba,1999) states that stress is what
happens when there is a lack of balance between demands and resources,
when the pressure level is inappropriate. In perspective of physiological
approaches, stress are concerned with aspects of bodily function which are
distributed when an individual encounter negative experiences. (Selye,
1946). Payne (1981) has indicated that stress is the outcomes of individual
response to pressure. According to Payne (1981), the letters STRESS are used
to symbolize experience at different level of pressure. Figure below show the
meaning of stress,

Low pressure

S Submitted
T Torpid
R Relaxed

High pressure

Deteriorati
Developme
nt
Destruction

E Energized
S Struggling

Figure 1: Responses to several of pressure

S Smashed

The submitted and torpid reaction is the lower end of pressure scale.
Individual respond by feeling relaxed and will acting energized. This the
appropriate level at pressure for most people when people perform and feel
at their best. As the pressure level continues to rise, there is a sense of
struggling. Finally, when the pressure is too high and individual is unable to
cope with too many demands, the individual will become very stressful and
smashed. The ideal situation is to maintain the appropriate level of
pressure where one could feel relaxed and energized (Payne, 1981). The
nature and effect of stress might be best understood by saying that some
environmental variables (stressor), when interpreted by the individual as
threatening may lead to a stress reaction (Dua, 1994).

2.2

RELATION BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND PRESSURE

James & Arroba, (1999) states that there had relation between level of

pressure and performance. The graph below shows that the relationship
between performance and pressure.

Performance

Pressure
They concluded that if level of performance is low when pressure is low then
the increasing level of pressure will increase in a constant in the level of
performance. It states that in the organization pressure make them (workers)
will lead to top performance. If it is too little of pressure they cannot achieve
the top performance or goals in the organization. But it is not necessary if the
pressure increased will increase the performance of that person. It is depends
on how they manage the pressure or stress. Some people could manage the
stress no matter how high the pressure and they can achieve the high
performance in their jobs. However the changes in decreasing or increasing

are cause by some factors such as instability in work relationship, work

overload, and the discomfort of feeling incompetent. Instability in work
relationship is such a do not feels work together in a group and do not have a
similarity in doing an assignments. When they not have cooperation between
each other, it will affect the performance of that student. Social patterns at
work are frequently disrupted as reorganizations occur. Many teams form
around temporary projects with previously unknown colleagues. This occurs
regardless of how sensible the cooperative working is thought to be. (James,&
Arroba,1999). Next, work overload is the situation in which someone has too
much work to do or receive so much information every day. Students can
categories in a work overload because every day students have classes and
they receives so much information and assignment to do.
Stress can effect on the students performance. According to MD Aris
Safee MD Yaasin and Mariam Adawiyah Dzulkifli (2011), the overlapping
symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress can lead to all sort of academic
achievement among students. Indeed stress can effect to the performance of
students. For instance, if a student coping with stress and cannot manage the
stress, it will cause the performance of the student decrease.

3.0

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

The nature of this study would require quantitative research and

qualitative research to fully answer the research questions (Feliciano). This study
will be attempting to find the influence on the stress and the performance
among Multimedia students.

Researc
h
plannin

Prepare
research
instrume

Data
collection

Analysi
s

Documentat
ion

Conclusi
on

First, our research starts with research planning. The population of research
are the Science Multimedia students in Malaysia and the samples of our study are
for University Utara Malaysia (UUM) students to defined either the students are in
stress or not and to see the comparison of their performance went they are in
stress. At the stage of preparing research instrument, questionnaires are created

and will do some interview section for Science Multimedia student in UUM. In the
section of the questionnaire and interview, the question will be represented to find
out the perception of students about the stress either they are in stress or not and
to defined about their performance pattern. After collect all the data, we will
analysis all the data that we get and take the data that related to our research.
After that, in the next stage, all of the data that we get from the students
answer will be collected and will be used in our research. In the documentation
stage, all the data will be combined together in a document neatly stacked for used.
The document is included the analysis and result of the research. Lastly on the
conclusion, all the data will be concluded and come out with research conclusion.

4.
0

EXPECTED RESULT/FINDINGS

The result shows that IT students knows if they are under the stress or not. If
they are having stress how is the performance it would be, whether the
performance will increase or decrease. Otherwise, if they do not under stress how
the performance is would be. For instance, the result shows that students are
having stress and it cause performance of the students is decrease. Necessarily,
after we are already knows they are having stress or not we can also identify and
list all the factor of stress that probably students faces such as over workload and
being unhappy in the studies. Besides that, the result of the current study also
shows that the effects of stress among IT students. We found that stress had an
impact on students performance and in their daily life in University. So that, we can
expect that the pattern of the stress performance in the final result which is at high
or low level of performance.

5.0

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the students sometimes not realized that they are in the stress
mood but their behavior react that they are in the stress. While they are in stress,

some of the students performance pattern are in improved and there was also a
students that is not good in their performance pattern. It is important to know either
we are in stress or not because it will affect our performance in our daily day. If we
can find out early, we are able to prevent something that is not good and can
counter our performance.

REFERENCES

1. Bryman, Alan (2003). Triangulation. Encyclopedia of Social Science

Research Methods. SAGE Publication.
2. David J. Feliciano. Factors of Adolescent Self-Concept: Mass Mediated,
Peer, and Family Communication, 11-14.
3. James,K & Arroba,T.(1999).Energizing the Workplace: A Strategic
Response to Stress.(pp.21-47).USA: Vermont.
4. Md Ariss Safree Md Yasin & Mariam Adawiyah Dzulkifli. (2011).Differences
In Depression, Anxiety, and Stress between Low-and-High-Achieving
Students. Journal of

Sustainability Science and Management.

5. Payne,R.(1981)."Stress in-Focused Group." Small Group Behavior. 12,3,

p.253-268.
6. Priest,S & Welch,J.(1998).Creating a Stress Free Office.(pp.31-33).Gower
Publishing Limited. USA: Vermont.
7. Quick,J.C, Wright,T.A, Adkins,J.A, Nelson,D, and Quick,J.D.
(2002).Preventive Stress Management in Organizations(2nd e.d). (pp. 1213) American Psychological Association. England.
8. Rajasekar,D.(Jan-June 2013). Impact of Academic Stress Among The
Management Students of AMET University an analysis.
9. Roselina,F.(1996).Stress in higher education: An Epidemic Syndrome in
The 21st Century,1-3