Methods of Research with Statistics

The following example essay on “Methods of Research with Statistics” help in understanding where the negativity of the “Manic Monday as a realistic phenomenon comes from in the Philippine School Setting. In response to this problem, this study proposes to investigate options that may help reduce or manage Manic Monday moods to help students optimize performance and output to be happier individuals.

Introduction

It is said that people experience most difficulty on Mondays than any other day of the week.  The onset of the First Industrial Revolution gave birth to employment which was bound by working hours and output quotas.

Because of this, complaints often came up during this day dubbed as Manic Monday or otherwise known as Monday Blues.

In 1979, the Boomtown Rats, an Irish rock band, released I Dont Like Mondays. Lyrics say that they want to shoot the whole day down. It was a hit in many countries and placed 73rd in the US Billboard Top 100. In 1986, an American pop-rock band, The Bangles, released Manic Monday, written by Prince.

It is a song about not having any fun on this particular day.  The entire world related to this song as it soared through the various top music charts and remained in the US Billboard Top 100 for many weeks.  Presently, we still experience complaints from others or even catch ourselves doing so, more on Mondays.

Review of Related Literature

#MondayNaNaman, #ManicMonday, and #MondayBlues can be found in social media to describe a feeling towards the upcoming weekday. Monday seems to convey adverse mood from people whether young or old.

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In 1986, as the hit song of The Bangles, goes Just another manic Monday, I wish it was Sunday. Cause thats my fun day, my I dont have run the day for it was just a manic Monday. The songwriter, Prince, in an interview by Lynskey Dorian (2003), describes a woman who is waking up to go to work on Monday, wishing that it could still be a Sunday, as she wants to relax and feel free from anything that stresses her.

In an article by Bob Weinstein (2019), he stated that Monday conveys a negative feeling for it follows a day of fun and freedom. It is upsetting since, after an incredible weekend, free from schedules, workloads, studies, pressures, deadlines, and projects from school or work, Monday starts it the inevitable tasks over again.

Diener (2011) specified that in a study conducted by Chow from the University of Virginia, Blue Mondays or Manic Mondays is described to be a part of a sequence of emotions almost like a regulator that has a basis of positive or negative emotions. The phenomenon is an effect of a person losing excitement and the time for joy and rest. This is contrary to the theory of employers that people experience Blue Mondays because of negative work behavior. Diener recommended mental training to lessen the effect of the occurrence.

Monday is never easy as it is considered by many to be the beginning of the new week full of tasks. Monday means a hectic schedule, tons of workload, and numerous tasks and errands need to be attended to and because of this, people tend to grumble more on this particular day.

An article by the Daily Mail Reporter (2011) cited research conducted by the Flomax Relief in the United Kingdom to 2,000 adults shows that an average participant complains for 34 minutes on Monday while 22 minutes only for the rest of the week. This research proved that people show a high amount of weariness on a Monday rather than the other days of the week.

There are also related studies from Areni, Burger & Zlatevska (2011), which showed that participants (n= 34) identified a small but reliable Monday Blues effect. However, the mood summaries experienced throughout the day varied depending on whether they involved university students or non-students. It was reported that University students daily mood summaries showed a large Monday Blues effect, while married men who were non-students, reported smaller effects with higher variance.

An article written by Nicolas Cole (2016), explains that Monday Blues marks the end of a 48hour freedom weekend. It gives an insight that one is actually in control of how a task can be done better and more effectively. The article reports that factors affecting moods do not significantly affect feeling down on a Monday. Ultimately, it is a personal decision to start the week right.

Significance of the Study

To validate the phenomenon, this qualitative research will be conducted among the Junior High School Students of a private exclusive girls school in Antipolo. Measures to reduce or manage the mood brought about by Manic Monday to be more productive and happier individuals will be identified.

Definition of Terms

Manic Monday or Monday Blues refers to the mood of a person as having a lack of enthusiasm and motivation to give an optimum performance during the first working day of the week. It is characterized by complaining, grumbling and speaking against the day.

Lived experience, as it is explored and understood in qualitative research, is a representation and understanding of a researcher or research subject’s human experiences, choices, and options and how those factors influence one’s perception of knowledge.

Research Design

A Phenomenological Study for individual consciousness as experienced by a person is the basis of the research design. A Qualitative Research Method will be used by the researcher for data gathering. Analysis of interviews, journal entries, and focus group discussions will be used to collect data.

Participants of the Study

The participants of this study will be the Junior High School Students of a catholic private exclusive girls’ school in Antipolo. Participation will be voluntary and limited to those who have been experiencing the phenomenon.

Sampling Procedure

This study will use the Purposive Sampling Technique. Participants will be limited to Junior High School Students of Assumption Antipolo. Volunteer students from Grade 7 to Grade 10 who have been experiencing Manic Mondays will be invited to participate in the study. Submitted Parental Consent Forms will be the final basis of the sample.

Data Gathering Procedure

The lived experiences of the participants will be used to validate the phenomenon for four consecutive weeks. The collection of data will involve various methods. Interviews, journal entries, and focus group discussions will be done through the Homeroom-Guidance Program. Merriam (1998) suggested that using particular data collection techniques, such as personal journals, should not be the only method for data collection in a qualitative study as they can be highly subjective. Using three independent sources of data to triangulate, improves the validity of the study (Thomas, Nelson and Silverman, 2005).

Insights about the lived experiences of the participants regarding Manic Mondays will be gathered through Focus Group Discussions. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire developed by Adrian Angold and Elizabeth Costello (1987) will be modified to be used during the Focus Group Discussions. The questionnaire has a series of descriptive phrases on how students have been feeling or behaving. It is used to screen depression of children from 6 to 17 years of age.

The lived experiences of the participants will also be taken from their journal entries. Merriam (1998) reiterates that personal documents used in a Qualitative Research are subjective accounts written by the participants and therefore can describe a person’s attitude, beliefs, experiences, reactions, and point of view. It further provides insights into the situation and daily life of the participants. The participants may feel more comfortable about sharing personal thoughts and experiences through their journal rather than confiding personal information face to face.

Observation of the participant will be done to witness personally how the individual is in everyday circumstances (May 2001). It was suggested by Daly (2007) that by becoming part of the course, the researcher can learn how the participants behave and interact in their natural social environment. This provides additional insight into the conduct of the participant, as the observation method can be more objective than other data collection techniques.

Treatment and Analysis of Data

A Narrative Analysis will be used to recognize the patterns within the responses of the participants lived experiences about Manic Monday or Monday Blues. Initially, data gathered from interviews, journal entries and focus group discussions will be transcribed using Microsoft Word. Participants will confirm the data upon completion. To conduct a thematic analysis, transcriptions will be imported into the NVivo, a qualitative data analysis computer software package produced by QSR International. Creswell (1998) recommended using computerized programs in qualitative research to facilitate the configuration and storage of data. The NVivo will provide a rich text-based and/or multimedia information, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volumes of data are required.

It is imperative to review the purpose of the study and the research questions once the data is transcribed before analyzing, as recommended by Merriam (1998). Documents will be labeled separately. Comparison occurrence from the various data will be made. The researcher will organize and refine sets and subsets which support the purpose of the study. The triangulation of data will be done to determine the emerging patterns in the sources of data. When sets have been identified in all of the data, recurring themes may be identified. Analysis of which will provide a rich and detailed account of the participants discernment regarding the experience (Creswell, 1998). Tabulation will be done to discover common themes, to facilitate comparison of data and to make complex data simpler to analyze.

References

1. Benjamin, K. (2019). 6 Scientific Reasons Mondays Are the Worst. [online] Mentalfloss.com. Available at: worst?fbclid=IwAR3CT0IJrBO-9tmTtzyqDRFeXdLiT6svMA5ri-Hz2G1oUY1puu5hzIRxyLk [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
2. Biswas-Diener, R. (2019). “Blue Monday” Explained…. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: 7oDo [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
3. Campbell, P. (2019). Happy Monday? Probably not.. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: probably-not?fbclid=IwAR0hZaEODAwc0KVtw-z0nwmn7jRgAF-UczgmCgIY0AuFeeg5sJsdSl73JYU [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
4. Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
5. Cole, N. (2019). How to Get Over Your Monday Blues. [online] Inc.com. Available at: should-be-concerned-if-you- f.html?fbclid=IwAR1HdEWKZeZQV205YBvWnRGRmnxHxTfpoU7BD01PhXG2_oLySYb3 JdiMnik [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
6. Daly, K. J. (2007). Family studies and human development. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
7. Given, L. (2019). Lived Experience – SAGE Research Methods. [online] Methods.sagepub.com. Available at: methods/n250.xml [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
8. Hancock, D. R., & Algozzine, B. (2006). Doing a case study research. New York: Teachers College Press.
9. Huffpost.com. (2019). HuffPost is now a part of Oath. [online] Available at: depressing_n_908491?fbclid=IwAR2CtVMRYUja8L-tuGbVe4M6RUE5RyGMoiKoWiPCUYLxaUG7MEheRB9HBRQ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
10. May, T. (2002). Qualitative research in action. London: Sage Publications.
11. Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
12. Vardy, M. (2019). Scientific study confirms that Mondays suck. [online] The Next Web. Available at: Mondayssuck/?fbclid=IwAR2t2gOCoff_B_avxUijVrsvvhPF3wXE9JFwnbYTYSbqX3tUk4mxRiAGHnY [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
13. Wasmer Andrews, L. (2019). [Blog] Available at: BODY/201204/ARE-MONDAY-MORNINGS-REALLY-AWFUL [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
14. Weinstein, B. (2019). Why Mondays are universally hated at work. [online] Reliableplant.com. Available at: hated?fbclid=IwAR2wkSr66td-WdVM7kfcTYINWFmYC-PyU6Fjsq9JMWvY7_6hz2LQnpuoY7Y [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].