Live a life as a student, sometimes becomes a rule for us to stay in a hostel even only once in the moment being a student. Not only as a student, some people need to live in a hostel, mostly with mate, either, a roommate or only as a housemate. Whoever they are, as long as they are the one who we are going to face each second, each day or maybe for ages, both of us and them should be mentally ready to confront with any possibilities when living together. The definition for a roommate as extracted from Wikipedia is a person whom we share the room with. The words roommate and housemate are used interchangeably in United States regardless if they were sharing a bedroom or not. Some people thought having a roommate is such a nuisance or troublesome. Others think, by having a roommate, could be so helpful and could ease most of matters in their lives. Briefly, either by having a roommate or not, both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
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What could be the advantages for having a stranger living together with us and sharing most of the amenities with them? Even a best friends couldn’t make a compatible roommate because it is undeniable everyone loves its own privacy and a big scarification is become a necessities for this kind of lifestyle. At first view of having a roommate, we can share the payment for the hostel with our roommate. Even though it is affordable enough to pay the hostel fee, take it for granted because the money could be spent on other stuffs. No one likes to be alone, unless they are strange enough to mingle with others due to the lack of confidence in them. Having a roommate actually gives you someone to talk to. In other word, loneliness is diminished for about 90% unless you are the one who dislike having a roommate. Plus, there is possibility that both of you will develop into long lasting friendships. A study had been done over an academic performance. For those with average academic performance who live with an individual of high achievement of it, the moderate academic performance will increased to the higher one.
However, for those who choose to have a single-room, they may also have their own reasonable idea to do so. Some people need more privacy to study so that they could concentrate more on the academic, plus, if they are someone who doesn’t like sharing most of the amenities. Briefly, the main key is ones’ attitude towards others. Some people don’t easily mingle with others, some people does. Having a roommate probably need us to accept everything about them, the negatives or positive. Plus, these kind of questions usually wondering in ones’ mind about someone who is going to be their roommates; Do they care about tidiness? Do they consider the volume of music they listen to? Do they cooperate with you while completing the assignment or tasks given by the lecturer that somehow may affect your academic performance? It is all about how both of you are dealing with that will resulted in more negative or positive impact.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Life as a student brings a poignant memory in a person life. That is includes on living in a hostel for the whole education year in UTM. For some reasons, people tend to recall back their life as a student, whether it was a sweet or bitter memories. Research is performed in order to find out the reason of why students choose to stay in a single room or a double room. We are also conducting research on the benefit of single and double room based on individual opinion.
Some students prefer to stay in single room while others are not. It is believe that privacy is the main idea of living alone. Living alone means student are free to do anything and no need to worry about other people impression on doing things that they like.. There are also students who could not afford the idea of sharing a room with stranger or even with their friend. This is because of their negative perception on their roommate that could affect them in many ways. For example a few students cannot even study in the room while their roommate is around. While others cannot even bare to watch and stand on their roommate awkward behavior. While having roommate can be such a great company .It is more secure when they are around. Student can share their problem and could avoid the loneliness .Thus we would like to find those factors that are contributing to our main research.
Different people have different views on living alone or having a roommate. For some students, having a roommate could boast up their academic performance. It can improve their grade and social communication between them. Their roommate could also help them in various ways for example having a group discussion on their studies and spending their leisure time together. However, there are also student who preferred to not having a roommate. In other word means single room. Single room could provide them a quiet and calm environment. It is a conducive environment to them. Thus we would like to find the benefit of single and double room to student.
In conclusion , regarding to this research , our main goal are to find factors that affect student to choose single room and double room .We are also would like to search for the advantage and disadvantage of single and double room to student.
1.3 Objectives
To find out whether having a roommate effect on their academic performance.
To discover the emotional level of student’s whose have a roommate.
To determine the reason of choosing a single room and double room.
To identify the advantage and disadvantage of single and double room.
1.4 Research questions
How by having a roommate effect on their academic performance?
What are students feeling toward their roommate?
What are the reasons why students choose single room and double room?
What are the advantage and disadvantage of single and double room?
1.5 Significant of study
From this research , we can help students in choosing whether to live alone or with a roommate . For some students they do not know their own self reliant to live alone or with roommate. Some students can live independently while others are not. Others cannot even stand other people’s behavior. This research is to overcome their problem with roommate. We also provide solutions to improve their relationship with their roommate. For a lonely single room students, it is an option to choose double room for next semester . By having a roommate , they can have someone to talk and share their problem. Thus they do not feel lonely anymore. In conclusion , this research helps student in overcome their problem of college life.
1.6 Scope of the Study
Students from KTC , KTHO , K9 , K10 , KRP , KTR.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
This research is conducted to find out whether having a roommate effect on their academic performance or not. Besides that, we also want to discover the emotional level of student’s whose have a roommate. We also want to know the reasons of choosing a single room or double room. And the last we want to identify the advantages and disadvantages of single and double room.
2.1 Reason of Choosing Single and Double Room
Living alone or with a roommate both has their own pros and cons. For not having a roommate, many can be done independently and without any control over. Your life will be more relaxing and comforting. Moreover, you are free enough to do anything whenever as you wish and no one will command you the time to leave or return to your accommodation. For those who do not care about hygiene, you don’t have to bother tidying and cleaning your rooms and doing chores such as washing-up after meals. Leaving a towel in a bathroom floor would be a bad habit; however no one would criticize you directly. Plus, you can listen to your favorite music as you desired without being nag by others. Having a TV at a hostel would give so much fun to you as you are the only one who watches it without need to compromise with others to turn the channel. Having a long bath or shower would not be a problem to you since no one would hurry you. Plus, self-reliance can be developed while living alone since you need to do most of the task like paying the bills promptly by your own. Of course, living alone gives privacy the most. Whatever or whenever you want to do something, it’s all your choice. Many difficulties would rise from a relationship with a roommate mostly if both of you have different lifestyles or you may confronting a roommate who has problem in paying the rent or expenses. Being alone sometimes bring loneliness, however, if you are able to overcome the problem, it will be such a wonderful moment for you to have a very independent and privacy life.
There are many good reasons to have a roommate. You won’t be lonely. Even if you’re not close with your roommate, having a roommate means having someone else around, so you won’t have to feel lonely.You’ll gain convenience. Having a roommate adds convenience. For instance, if you have different schedules, a roommate can feed your pet or water the plants when you’re not at home to do it. If you go out of town, your roommate can tell you about any important mail you receive.You’ll save money. When you have a roommate, you’ll save money in several ways. First, you can rent a larger apartment that would give you both more room and more value. You’ll also split utility bills and the cost of groceries, among other apartment expenses. Plus, if you or your roommate cook even if you just do the basics, cooking for two more normally saves money over cooking for just one. You’ll have help. With a roommate, you can split the chores needed to keep your apartment in shape. So, you won’t have to be the one to do grocery shopping all the time. Or, if you become the designated grocery shopper, your roommate can take on other errands that you would normally have to do. Sharing errands helps lighten the load for both of you.
2.2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Living alone or With Roommate
Life as college student brings such a wonderful life or even nightmare to them. Living alone or with roommate are the main factors contributing to this situation. According to dictionary by Farlex , roommate is a person with whom one shares a room or rooms. It is means that two or more people will share the same room. Therefore, there are many pros and cons when living alone or together with roommate.
There are many advantages and disadvantages of living alone. Firstly, the advantage of living alone is having absolute freedom in our life. It means that we are freely to doing anything and we no need to worry about the other people when doing something that we like. We also never have a problem when we want to decide something or make a decision because we do not need to consider to the other person. It means that we can take our own decision without think about the other opinion which are maybe sometimes do not compromise to our opinion. Besides that, we will feel more comfortable to live with our own lifestyle without bother to the other. Here we have more privacy when living alone compared if we have a roommate. In addition, living alone will make easier to manage our financial. Its mean that we can limit our budget for every month without spend too much on it. The monthly bill can be reduced because of we are only living alone. We can set or limit the usage to reduce the bill. Thus, the financial is more easy to manage without need consider to the other.
In contrast, there are also have several disadvantages of living alone. The first important thing is we will feel lonely. No one can avoid this problem. We don’t have a friend to talk with or we cannot share anything that we feel when we living alone. We also don’t have someone that can help or give their opinion to solve our problem. It is because sometimes we need to hear the other opinion from the other people to help solve our problem. So, if we living alone we need to solve the problem lonely. No one can help. In addition, if we living alone no one can help to do some work in the room or house. So, all of the chores are our own responsibilities. We also can feel tired because of all the work we need to do by ourselves. Furthermore, we might be some financial problem because of the entire bill or rent is our own responsibilities. So we need to spend more money on it. The most important thing that we can faced if living alone is no one can take care of us in the case of we are getting sick or need a friend to talk with at the leisure time. So, it will be a big problem because of we don’t have friend to help when we need them in the emergency case.
There are many advantages and disadvantages of living with roommate. The advantages are they serve as a good detox from tough days , they can help split the burden of chore ,they can be great motivators and security . We can share our problem with roommate. Living alone without roommate could cause the days to be time consuming and boring. Even though with a little help from roommate in doing chores together. They could ease our work as nobody would like to spend too much time in cleaning. Roommate is a good source of motivational influence. They could encourage you to perform the entire plan you have schedule. For example, you have no reason to skip gym when you have planned it earlier with your roommate. It is more safe to live with roommate rather than alone. It is always good to have someone waiting for your return. Furthermore, no crime happen when they are always in and out of home.
The disadvantages is no privacy. When you are not living alone, privacy is at minimum. It feels like you are not free to do anything you want.You could feel a sense of control or have to commitment to them by telling them every single details on your daily rutine.
In conclusion , living alone or with roommate are a great deal on your college life.You can get really frustrated with your roommate or living happily to each other. You could also find it is more easier to live alone. Therefore we should search for the pros and cons on both of this situation earlier so that we can make a wise decision and are well prepared for any circumstances.
2.3 Solution
Solution in this research is to study the emotional level of student in UTM who live in double or single room. In this research, we provide a guide from our finding in literature review which they can follow for student who faces problems living in single and double room. Example is to live happily without problems with roommate. According to article title ‘Roommates: The Do’s and Don’ts’ by University of Utah, it provide many tips which is useful for the student for example tips to find a suitable roommates, tips to avoid while choosing a roommates, tips to live successfully with the roommates and habits to avoid when living with roommates. To choose a right roommate we have open an interview so we can study about someone that we want to live together by choosing some with similar characteristic. Bring friend along so we can ask the opinion from them. To live successfully with roommate, we should speak out what unhappy behavior is done by the roommate rather than keep it which finally makes you hate them more. Make sure when discussing the issue choose a right time and place and don’t humiliate them. We also find an article to help students who feel lonely when live in the single room. According to the article ‘How to Fight Loneliness when Living Alone’ by Associated Content from Yahoo and Apartment Living Without a Roommate by SR. EDITOR, students should have the hobby such as writing, reading, music and so on. They also need to be friendly to all students in their neighboring room in the hostel. Other tips is they can get a pet like hamster, fish and others. All the tips will be asked in the questionnaire for the students to answer. Indirectly, actually we give them an option so they can use to live in hostel whether to have single or double room.
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section discusses the methodology of the research. The main purpose of the research is to find out whether having a roommate would affect ones academic performance, to discover the emotional level of the student’s who have the roommate, to determine the reason of the choosing the single or double room and to identify the pros and cons of the single and double room. The research conducted among the student of UTM Johor Bahru and the data for the research was collected through questionnaire and the interview.
3.2 Research Instrument
This research utilizes both the quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The instruments used to collect the data were questionnaire and interview. A set of questionnaire containing 20 questions, divided into four sections. Difference question types such as ranking, scales, yes-no, listing, open-ended and category were used in the questionnaires. The section of the questionnaires were; i) demographic information, ii) reason for choosing a single or double room, iii) advantage and disadvantage single and double room, vi) the solution of problem encountered by student. The questionnaires were piloted a group of 10 students to access its validity before it was distributed.
The qualitative data for the research come from interview. The interview was utilized to confirm the findings from the questionnaire as well as to triangulate the data collection methods. Six respondents were involved in the interview. Seven questions were prepared after consultation with several aspects in the topic area (Appendix). The interviews further explore the reasons of choosing a single or double room.
3.3 Respondents of Study
The respondents of the study were all undergraduate students from UTM Johor Bahru. On Mac 2011, a total of 30 questionnaires were distributed to students at six different colleges of the university. Six students were selected three boys and three girls to provide in-depth information about the topics through interview sections.
3.4 Research Procedure
Before the actual data collection period, a pilot study was conducted to access the validity of the research instruments. A total of 10 students were involved in pilot study chosen at random and various places of the university. During the actual study, the questionnaires were distributed at specific locations on campus by a representative of each six colleges. Six students were selected from those who completed and returned the questionnaire to attend the interview section. Appointments were set for the interview at a later date.
3.5 Data Analysis
To analyse the data a total of four variables were taken into consideration namely academic achievement, emotional level, reasons and the pros and cons of single and double room. Data were entered into the computer using the Microsoft Excel software. Results were presented through frequency counts and other descriptive statistics. Interview data would provide a way to validate the data from the questionnaire. The data were transcribed. The analysis of the interview data went through the coding technique using identification of categories of patterns and themes that emerged from the analysis.
4.0 FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses the results of the research on the perspective of student based on the reason,advantage ,disadvantage of choosing single or double room. This research also to discover the view of student on having roommate on their academic performance and their emotional level toward roommate. Primary data were collected by distributing questionnaires to 35 students.
SECTION A (DEMOGRAFIC INFORMATION)
Figure : Year of Students
Figure 1 shows the number of student based on the year of study. Almost all the year of study shows an equivalent number of student. The respondent are from both gender which are male and female.
SECTION B (REASON OF CHOOSING TYPE OF ROOM)
Figure : Reason of Loneliness
Figure 2 shows the respondents choices of reason of loneliness when living in single room. A survey was carried out to find the reason contribute to the lonely feel.The reasons are do not have friend to talk with, do not have company to eat at night or weekend and nobody to share the joy and sad.
All this factor are in the same category . From the graph the highest factor contribute to loneliness is do not have friend to talk with. The lowest factor contribute to loneliness is do not have company to eat at night or weekend.
Figure : Reason for Having a Roommate
Figure 3 shows the reasons why students prefer to have a roommate. We have four main reasons for having a roommate which are to share kettle and iron, to share transportation, help to wake up in the morning and also to remind about the assignment or test.
From the graph, we can see that the highest reason is wake in the morning which 25 students choose for that. The second highest number of students choose share transportation to have a roommate which is 20 students choose for that reason. The third highest numbers of students are 17 which are they prefers to choose share iron and kettle for having a roommate. Only 13 students choose the reason to remind about the assignments or test for having a roommate, and that is the lowest reason for having a roommate.
Figure : Reason for Not Having Roommate
Figure 4 shows the reason for not having roommate. The reason are roommate always goes out ,disturb sleeping time because he/she stay up late with light on, always with her/his laptop, play games, online and movie,always bring friends to room and make noise and like to disturb and play music loud .
The research is based on ranking style question. The rank 1 is most likely with highest percentage and 5 is the most unlikely with lowest percentage. The reasons of disturb sleeping time because he/she stay up late with light on, always with her/his laptop, play games, online and movie,always bring friends to room and make noise show an equivalent percentage of 20% which are the highest percentage. The reason of roommate always goes out contribute to lowest percentage with 7 %.
Figure : Reason for Choosing Single Room
Figure 5 shows the reasons for choosing a single room. From that chart, we can see that the highest reason for choosing a single room is they want more privacy. This reason is the most popular reason compared to the others. The second highest reason is don’t want more committed which is 16 students choose for that reason followed by 14 students choose don’t have to care about the other. Only nine students choose a single room because of they have a bad history with their roommate. Four students choose a single room because of they don’t like to share their belongings with others. The last and the lowest reason is no one would like to be their roommate and only one student chooses for that.
Figure : Reason for Choosing Double Room
This figure shows the number of students in their choice of reason for choosing double room. From the chart, we can see that the highest number of students choose don’t like to be alone and need friend to accompany followed by have someone to share the problem. Both of them have 25 and 24 numbers of students respectively. From that result also, we can see that 15 students choose the reasons of want to improve their study by living with someone has higher academic performance. The most unpopular reason for choosing double room is because of the quota for single room is limited with 14 students choosing for that.
SECTION C (ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SINGLE AND DOUBLE ROOM)
Figure : Advantages and Disadvantages of Having Roommate
Table : Four Category of Advantages and Disadvantages of Having Roommate
Categories
Sense of Secure
Lack of Privacy
Convenience
Emotional Level and Grade Improvement
Agree
28
15
22
25
Disagree
7
20
13
10
A survey from this research is to study the advantages and disadvantages of having a roommate. Figure 7 shows the number of students who agree and disagree with the reasons given in the questionnaire distributed.
Most of the respondents, 28 out of 35, agreed that the most important reason for having a roommate is the security is more guaranteed. The second highest reason is emotional level and grade improvement where the respondents agree that the emotional level and grade can be improved when having someone living together. However, the least agreed reason by the respondents is having a roommate will result in lack of privacy that only 15 out of 25 agreed with this.
SECTION D (SOLUTION OF PROBLEM)
Students have their own opinion to solve their problems. Figure 8 and Figure 9 show how they prefer to solve their problems
Figure 8 : How to Maintain Good Roommate Relationship
From the pie chart above, we can see that the highest percentage goes to be open-minded with 32%. At the same time, be friendly without expecting to be your best friends also give a big percentage with 24%. The third highest percentage to maintain good roommate relationship is speak out any problem before getting worse with 17%. While for care about your roommates’ stuff, only give 13%. Be open to change and be careful of who you bring into your room did show the lowest percentage with 8% and 6% respectively.
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Figure 9: How to Overcome Loneliness
From the bar chart above, we can see that the highest number of student UTM choose in on hobby. The second highest number of student with 7 people is on stay in touch with friends. While for be kind and friendly with your neighbour only give 3 students. Unfortunately, get a pet give a zero reading which no student in UTM prefer to take this method to overcome the loneliness.
DISCUSSION
This research is to study the student perception on living in single and double room, in other word means living alone and living with roommate. The respondents of this research is based on both gender male and female. There are 17 male and 18 female from 4 different year of study involved in this research.
Our research is to determine the main reason of loneliness among students when living alone. From the graph , the highest factor contribute to loneliness is do not have friend to talk with. The lowest factor contribute to loneliness is do not have company to eat at night or weekend. When living alone , students will live independently .All the time we are alone in the room without company. Student will carry all the stress feel from assignment and test by theirself. Without a roommate to talk with it is really a heavy burden to keep. From the article of Apartment living without roommate ,the article provides the solution to avoid loneliness. One of it is getting a pet can make students feel less lonely.
From the research that we get, most of the students choose wake in the morning as their reason for having a roommate. This is because of they want to avoid from over sleep and wake up late in the morning. Thus, when they have a roommate, it will help them to avoid from coming late to the class and also missing class at early in the morning. Share transportation also one of the most important reason for having a roommate. It is because when share transportation, they can spend some money and have some for saving. Share kettle and iron also can help them to save some money from the fee of electrical instrument for every semester. For example, when they living alone, they need to pay for RM 25.00 but when they have a roommate and share the kettle and iron, the cost will be divided by two and each one of them only need to pay about RM12.50 only. Thus, they can save some money and used that for another important things. Some students choose the reason of having a roommate because of their roommate can remind them about the assignment or test. Most of the students not choose this reasons as the most important factor because of their classmate can remind about that and they have a responsible to do so by themselves without their roommate. It is because not all students have concern about their roommate and like to do so to their roommate.
Finding of the research of the reason for not having roommate is based on ranking question. The rank 1 is most likely and 5 is the most unlikely. The highest percentage shows the most likely reason of not having roommate. The lowest percentage shows the most unlikely reason of not having roommate. The reasons of disturb sleeping time because he/she stay up late with light on, always with her/his laptop, play games, online and movie,always bring friends to room and make noise shows an equivalent percentage of 20% which are the highest percentage. The reason of roommate always goes out contribute to lowest percentage. When living with roommate , student are likely to feel less privacy . This is because of their roommate behavior or activity in the room. From Ron Leshnower (2006), the author of the article of How to Decide Whether You Should Live With Roommates or Live Alone stated that among the reason of not having roommate is don’t want to risk problems. This is due to lifestyle conflicts. For example different students have different time of study. One prefer to study late night while other prefer to study at early in the morning. The reason of roommate always goes out is most unlikely reason because students seem to like their roommate leave the room.
There are several reasons for choosing a single room. Most of the important factor is because of the students need more privacy. From our literature review also, it mentions that privacy is the most important factor when choosing a single room. So, from our research it proved that factor is the most important factor when choosing a single room. Besides that, the factor of don’t want to be committed also can be categorized as the important reason why student have to choosing single room. It is that reason is the second highest number of students choosing for that. Some students prefer to this reason because of they no need to tell to their roommate when they want to go out and maybe come back late. They no need to tell to their roommate where and with whom they want to go out. This will make them feel more comfortable and fell more privacy. From the research that we get, only one student choosing single room because of no one wants to be their roommate. It is because all of the people have friends, so it is impossible if they don’t have anybody to be their roommate.
From the research that we get, the result for reason for choosing double room can be divided into two parts. The first is the most important reasons for choosing double room and the second is the least important reason for choosing double room. The reason of don’t like to be alone and need friends to accompany and don’t have someone to share a problem can be classified as the most important reason when choosing double room. It is because of both of the reasons only has one different in the number of student in choosing that reasons. Both of the reasons also have interconnected to each other. Most of the students choose double room because they want friend to talk with and share a problem. Thus, their roommate can help to solve and listen to their problem. They also don’t want to be lonely when living alone. Thus, when they have a roommate, they have a friend to talk with and help them when they need someone. For example, when they are getting sick, they have someone to take care of them. From our literature review also, this is the most important reason when having a roommate. The reasons of want to improve their
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