A new study from the Warwick School of Business suggests those who procrastinate on papers will experience a drop of up to five per cent in their final grades.
The study was conducted by David C. Arnott, a principal teaching fellow in the area of marketing, and Scott G. Dacko, an associate professor of marketing. Both men work at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.
“I have a strong interest in pedagogical issues and in academic procrastination,” Arnott said. He called his collaboration with Dacko “natural,” given their similar fields of work and their various experiences within the academic field.
“Being of an exploratory nature, the work did not require funding, other than via our salaries,” Arnott said.
The hypothesis of the study is that “students who procrastinate in completion and submission of assignments perform less well than those who do not.”
As a remedy for this problem, Arnott said the key is to recognize this habit during a student’s first semester of university.
“Strategies and training can be put into place to help those students to better manage their planning and writing of assessments—a useful skill, not just for their time at university, but for life.”
However, Arnott said students are probably not alone in procrastination.
“The study does not suggest that university students procrastinate any more or less any other group of people . . . They procrastinate because they are human,” Arnott said.
Despite this research, these conclusions are being debated. Cosmopolitan UK writer Gem Royston-Claire penned a piece titled “In defence of procrastination.”
In the article, Royston-Claire wrote “procrastination is often reported about like it’s a choice—students have chosen to risk missing a deadline.”
“Anyone that suffers with procrastination will know it’s more like a disease,” Royston-Claire said.
However, Arnott said he believes this “disease” has a cure.
“The objective [is] early identification of those with the tendency to procrastinate and to aid in their overcoming that tendency. A demonstration of the effect of their procrastination on their results is, we would argue, a more powerful motivator for their taking remedial action,” Arnott said.
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