We took a random sampling for our online survey by reaching out to Penn State students to answer our questions. Out of our 100 person sampling, we had an overwhelming amount of freshmen respond. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, because these students are the future of Penn State. They have the most time left here at school than any of the other classes, so their opinions greatly matter to the future of puppy rooms/puppy days. |
When asked about normal, everyday stress levels, students fell mostly between the 5-8 range. This is actually very concerning because students seem to still have relatively high stress levels on a day to day basis. Over time, this can have a negative effect on health and cause mental instability for many students. This routine stress harms the body greatly. |
The most alarming, yet not surprising, statistic is when we look at students' highest stress levels throughout the year. If stress like this continues, students will experience noticeable health concerns. This high level tension phase occurs on test days and especially finals week. This is the time when the effects of stress are visible among many. However, look closely at the graph. Some students' day-to-day stress is equivalent to some students' maximum stress days. The 5-8 median range overlaps with the 8-10 range. This means that some students are experiencing severe high-level stress almost all the time. And that is very concerning. |
Here are some ways that Penn State students handle stress. The most popular methods are sleeping, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. However ,look how high the drinking row is. . . Over 50% of the students who relieve stress, according to this poll, drink to do so. Remember, most of these students are under the age of 21. Drinking is not a good way to relieve stress because that can open the doors to so many other issues. Even sleeping in excess can be detrimental to a student's health and cause him to actually become more stressed and maybe even depressed. Other means of relieving stress need to be introduced as alternative methods. Puppies maybe? |
Now look at these three charts. Almost everyone who answered the question said that they like dogs. However, only about half of these students have even heard of Penn State's once a semester 'puppy day'. How is it that so many students really do like dogs but have not heard of the opportunity to go see them? Similarly, look at the chart to the left. Only about 30% have actually attended the 'puppy day', which is not surprising because of how few actually knew about it. Imagine if it was advertised more or occurred more often? There's a possibility that nearly 90% of our dog lovers would want to attend.
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We asked a follow up question to those who did attend. Nearly 60% enjoyed their experience, while 40% did not or felt neutral about it. We decided to follow this question up with a free response question about what students did and did not like about the experience, and we actually got a lot of answers.
Students liked the 'puppy day' because it was a nice study break and a great stress reliever being around dogs for awhile. One respondent said, "So much puppy love :) Great way to relax, definitely felt better after." Another wrote, "I thought it was a great stress reliever, and there needs to be more over the course of the semester." On the other hand, students wrote about what they disliked. Many complained about the lack of actual 'puppies' and said that they were all older dogs. Others complained about how crowded it was and they wished these days happened more frequently so that there would be less people at one time. One person wrote, "Honestly, just being able to hang out with a friendly dog for a few minutes made my day. I just wish there were more dogs there so people could get to hang out with them longer." However, most of the negative responses still liked the 'puppy-day' idea. |
Our final question is why we think that something puppy-related needs to be more prominent here at Penn State. Nearly 85% of surveyors said that they would attend puppy days or a puppy room if they were around more or at all. Another 12% said that they would attend at least once. If there is such a positive response from students on the idea, don't you think PSU should investigate this idea further? Other colleges already have events like this in place. We think that it is time for PSU to take a better look and reconsider.
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In conclusion, we have found that Penn Staters, from freshmen to seniors, experience a great amount of stress. Some of students' ways of coping with stress are not good life-decisions. We think that there should be an alternative, safe stress relief. With such an overwhelming response from dog lovers, why not incorporate a puppy room? We think it's a great opportunity for students to take a break from the crazy life they live and spend time with adorable dogs. So many students show support for the idea. We think that it would be unwise not to pursue it.
This survey comes from surveymonkey.com and had over 350 responses but only the first 100 are viewed*