Introduction
The topic under study is the evaluation of the memory strengths of university students while studying. The main aim of the research process is to understand the characteristics and nature of memory systems and processes that influence study processes among university students. Memory is a byproduct of information processing depth that is both short and long-term. Research studies have demonstrated that memory strength is critical to learning and relies on learning since the typical information that is usually stored in the memory of individuals often develops the basis for associating new knowledge. The relationship between existing memory and study habits is symbiotic. It is based on the strengths of memory to understand the role of aids, spaced repetition, and active learning to university students in realizing their learning outcomes in their institutions of learning. Therefore, the paper is set to survey the strengths of memory to understand the memory strengths of university students during their studies, focusing on research methodology, critical discussion, and a brief conclusion relating to the survey.
Research Methods
The study involved a quantitative research design that involved gathering and analyzing numerical data to evaluate relationships, identify overarching outcomes, and uncover trends in the analysis process. The quantitative research design was appropriate for the analysis since it allows for generalizability, statistical rigor, objectivity, and data-driven decision-making (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). The quantitative research design focuses on the survey method to gain knowledge on a particular topic while gauging the participants’ behaviors, opinions, and attitudes relative to their memory strengths. The research considered a predictive survey determined by predicting potential trends through a cause-effect association. The survey research design is considered due to its versatility, reliability, generalizability, and cost-effectiveness. Besides, it can collect extensive information for a relatively high number of respondents.
The main participants in the study were university students currently in their study sessions. The study respondents were selected through simple random sampling. The respondents were physically offered the questionnaires through mail and others for convenience and ease of access. The questionnaire involved in the study was close-ended questions involving rating scales and multiple choice questions that the respondents were required to choose from. The close-ended questions were considered in the analysis since they allowed easy analysis of the study outcomes. Besides, the questions took less time to answer, intensifying the respondents’ response rate (Taherdoost, 2022). The respondents were offered sufficient time to provide their responses, after which the responses were recorded and coded in Excel for analysis. Moreover, the entire study ensured ethics were adhered to, allowing people to have an enhanced understanding of issues, policies, and ethical standards to have the upper hand in decision-making and ethical judgment processes.
Results
The table above demonstrates that individuals who gave a score of 1 were 6, a score of 2 was 7, and a score of 3, 4, and 5 were 6. A score of 6 was 8, a score of 7 was 5, a score of 8 was 8, a score of 9 was 7, a score of 10 was 10, a score of 11 was 6, and a score of 12 was 8. Most respondents scored ten relative to their ability to retain and absorb information. They were followed by individuals who scored 6, 8, and 12, who scored eight relative to their capacity to absorb and retain information. Most students recorded scores above 6 of their capacity to keep and absorb information.
In the table above, the graph shows that family expectations are very likely to influence the respondents’ ability to absorb and retain information. The social actors are expected to contribute to the respondent’s capacity to absorb and retain information. A considerable number of the respondents still feel like cultural factors are unlikely to influence the respondents’ ability to absorb and retain information.
Besides, in the pie chart above, social media and the Internet affect students’ capacity to remember and absorb information at the rate of 47%, entertainment at th%, family and friends at 13%, and hobbies and exercise at 7%. Social media and internet use significantly influence students’ capacity to remember and absorb information. It is followed closely by the entertainment sector, which has a relatively high percentage.
Moreover, in the table above, active recall is demonstrated as a critical technique allowing the respondents to concentrate on the entire study process. It is followed with other techniques, including the Pomodoro method, repeating summarizing, practicing and writing notes, and engaging in quiet surroundings. ActiveActive recall is proving to be effective due to its role in stimulating the brain to retrieve the already learned information. The technique allows the students to decrease their anxiety, save time, enhance critical thinking, and enhance retail details.
Discussion
The high score by the students relative to the capacity of their memory to absorb and retain information illustrates that the students value memory in their learning activities. Memory is critical in learning since the data stored in individuals’ memory develops a basis upon which knowledge can be set on the terms of association. The existing prelateship between memory and learning activities is becoming a symbiotic association that is continually evolving. The memory strength in this situation is allowing the students to embrace passions and interests in their learning activities by reflecting on their strategies to offer them direction in their learning processes over time.
Memory strength is continually declining due to the continual exposure of university students to the Internet and social media. The prolonged exposure impacts recall abilities and memory formation. The findings align with the study by Firth et al. 2019 that portrays that the Internet and social media can elicit both sustained and acute alterations in the different areas of brain cognition. The Internet is capturing the attention of individuals, more so those in their youthful age, adjusting how individuals gather information and develop relationships (Firth et al., 2019). A constant information stream is bombarding users through the utilization of the platforms, which, in turn, overloads cognitive resources and reduces the capacity of their memories to encode memories effectively. Besides, the intensified easy access to information online is compelling individuals to focus more on the digital retrieval and storing of data, developing a reliance that contributes to a decreased need for active rescaling and encoding processes. The constant exposure of individuals to comprehensive information through social media-based feeds can overload the typical working memory. Moreover, in the universities, the students are often away from their families, and they often have their usual constraints that compel them to visualize diversity in their embodiment of learning styles.
Students whose families and parents have high expectations are compelled to work hard to ensure they absorb and remember most of the information they are taught at their institutions relative to university students whose parents have low expectations. The findings are in line with the study by Li, Y., & Bates, T. C. (2019) that identifies that when there is the growth of mindset, there is a likelihood of cognitive ability and educational attainment improvement (Li & Bates, 2019) Thus, parents and instructors should develop high expectations from the university students to intensify their capacity of absorbing and retaining information that is taught to them. However, the utilization of a survey significantly limited the study outcomes. The survey needs to offer the existing causal association between memory strength and the study outcome of university students. Besides, the survey relied on self-reported data subject to bias. It failed to accurately and effectively reflect the research participants’ behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes (Story & Tait, 2019).
Conclusion
In summary, surveying the strengths of memory to understand the memory strengths of university students during their studies, focusing on research methodology, critical discussion, and brief conclusions relating to the survey is essential in understanding research techniques. University students should limit their contact time with the Internet and social media while engaging in other constructive activities, such as play activities, to boost their memory strength. They should always engage in activities that promote their memory strength for better study outcomes. Families and friends should increase their expectations levels regarding the study outcomes of the students to allow them to reach their highest limits. There is a need for further research on the topic to establish the existing causal association between the study outcomes and the memory strength of university students.
References
Bloomfield, J., & Fisher, M. J. (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), 27-30.
Firth, J., Torous, J., Stubbs, B., Firth, J. A., Steiner, G. Z., Smith, L., … & Sarris, J. (2019). The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 119-129.
Immordino-Yang, M. H., Darling-Hammond, L., & Krone, C. R. (2019). Nurturing nature: How brain development is inherently social and emotional, and what this means for education. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), 185-204.
Li, Y., & Bates, T. C. (2019). You can’t change your basic ability, but you work at things, and that’s how we get hard things done: Testing the role of growth mindset on response to setbacks, educational attainment, and cognitive ability. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(9), 1640.
Story, D. A., & Tait, A. R. (2019). Survey research. Anesthesiology, 130(2), 192-202.
Taherdoost, H. (2022). Designing a Questionnaire for a Research Paper: A Comprehensive Guide to Design and Develop an Effective Questionnaire. Asian Journal of Managerial Science, 11, 8-16.
Waite, S. (2020). ‘Memories are made of this’: Some reflections on outdoor learning and recall. In Outdoor Learning Research (pp. 27-42). Routledge.
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