Isaiah Jones
4/14/15
IMRaD Report
Gender and Revision of Meal Plan
Abstract
Research in gender and revision
of the university meal plan found that men are more in favor of changing it
than women. This study examined 13 male and 7 female students at the University
of Louisville. The survey was done by sending questions over email and personal
interviews. The results indicate that men agree more than women on revising the
university meal plan. Although this is a small sample size, it’s acceptable to
assume this study could represent the whole student population. These findings
may suggest that a slightly higher percentage of men want a change to the
university meal plan.
Introduction
Discussing this topic among
students on campus, the majority would like to see the meal plan be revised.
The current meal plan for a student living on campus is either $930 or $1460.
This will cover the student’s meal swipes and flex points. Students can use
their points and swipes at university restaurants such as the Ville Grille and
Chic Fil A.
Students aren’t disappointed in
this meal plan, they just want it to have a few small changes. There’s a couple
problems with the meal plan. There are a limited number of restaurants where
students can use their meal cards. Many restaurants surround the campus, but
students can only use their meal plan on a small amount of them. Also unused
swipes don’t rollover each semester. Most students don’t use all of the 115
swipes given to them at the beginning of each semester, and when the semester
ends the university takes them. So the university basically keeps the student’s
money from unused swipes and points. So by the end of the spring semester, some
students still have a couple hundred dollars left, and don’t get to use that
money for the next semester. This study will help determine how many students
want a revision to the meal plan, and also compare and contrast male and female
opinions. My findings on the study conducted will show that students agree on
adding more restaurants and having meal swipes and flex points rollover, thus
possibly giving the university a decision to change it in the future.
Method
Participants
13 men and 7 women participated
in this study. All participants were students at the University of Louisville,
and the majority of those surveyed were freshmen.
Data Sources
The researcher received all of
his data from the survey questions and interviews.
Procedures
The researcher emailed the survey
to students at the University of Louisville. Next the researcher interviewed
two students on the same survey questions. This not only provided data, but a
more in-depth view of the student’s opinions on the revision of the meal plan.
Once all data was collected, he recorded them into a table.
Data Analysis
The researcher asked the students
the following questions in the survey:
1. What
is your gender?
2. What
year are you?
3. Are
you satisfied with the university’s current meal plan?
4. The
university should change its meal plan?
5. There
should be more restaurants added to the meal plan.
6. Unused
swipes and flex points should be rolled over to the next semester.
Questions 1 and 2 are just for
comparing and contrasting. Question 3 should be answered with yes or no.
Questions 4, 5, and 6 are given the options strongly agree, agree, disagree,
and strongly disagree.
Results
Table 1 shows that a great
majority of the students surveyed strongly agreed on revising the meal plan,
adding restaurants to the meal plan, and rolling over swipes and flex points.
Table 1: All students survey answers on revision of meal plan,
addition of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.
|
|
Meal
plan should be revised
|
More
restaurants should be added
|
Unused
swipes and flex points should rollover
|
|
Strongly Agree
|
60%
|
70%
|
70%
|
|
Agree
|
30%
|
25%
|
30%
|
|
Disagree
|
10%
|
5%
|
0%
|
|
Strongly Disagree
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
Table 2 indicates that males are
in strong favor of changing the meal plan, adding restaurants, and rolling over
swipes and flex points. None of the males voted disagree or strongly disagree
on any of the choices. To receive the percentage of males who strongly agreed
or agreed on a choice, the researcher divided the total number of males
surveyed (13) by the number of males who voted in that choice. For example, 77%
of males strongly agreed that the meal plan should be revised. To get that
percentage, divide 10 by 13, with 10 being the number who voted in that
category and 13 being the total number of males.
Table 2: Male’s survey answers on revision of meal plan, addition
of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.
|
|
Meal
plan should be revised
|
More
restaurants should be added
|
Unused
swipes and flex points should rollover
|
|
Strongly Agree
|
77%
|
77%
|
85%
|
|
Agree
|
23%
|
23%
|
15%
|
|
Disagree
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
|
Strongly Disagree
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
Table 3 shows some variation for
the female’s choices on revising the meal plan, adding restaurants, and rolling
over swipes and flex points. From looking at the table below, it shows females
are in favor of changing the meal plan, just not as strongly as males. Over a
quarter disagreed that the meal plan should be revised, and most agreed it
should be revised. Also more agreed on the rolling over of swipes and flex
points than strongly agreeing. This demonstrates females are somewhat in favor
of revision of the meal plan.
Table 3: Female’s survey answers on revision of meal plan, addition
of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.
|
|
Meal
plan should be revised
|
More
restaurants should be added
|
Unused
swipes and flex points should rollover
|
|
Strongly Agree
|
28.5%
|
57%
|
43%
|
|
Agree
|
43%
|
28.5%
|
57%
|
|
Disagree
|
28.5%
|
14.5%
|
0%
|
|
Strongly Disagree
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
With these results, it’s
acceptable to assume males are in stronger favor of revising the university
meal plan. The survey would be more accurate if the sample size was larger and
there was an even number of males and females surveyed, but these findings could
suggest how the percentages would look in a larger scale.
Discussion
The researcher interviewed two
freshmen students, one male and one female, on this topic. The male student
wanted change to the meal plan, strongly agreed to adding more restaurants, and
strongly agreed to rolling over meal swipes and flex points. He stated that the
restaurants surrounding campus should be included on the meal plan. Also he
said he hates eating at the same restaurants every day, so adding more would be
helpful. The female student wanted a revision to the meal plan, agreed to
adding restaurants, and agreed to rolling over meal swipes and flex points. She
wants healthier restaurants to be added and that the students should have more
options on the meal plan choice they want.
The importance of this study is
to show the percentage of students who want the university meal plan to be
revised, and the comparison of males and females on the survey questions. There
were a couple problems that were stated earlier, but it’s still assumable that
the data is still accurate for a bigger and equal sample size. In doing this
study, it has been found that males are more supportive of revision of the meal
plan than females. This suggest males might care about this topic more than females.
Future research on this topic could be comparing the freshmen, sophomore,
junior, and senior students or having a larger sample size for the study.
