In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in

Inquiries, Investigation, and Immersion

A Quantitative Study

“The Use Of Coin Banks as an Effective Way of Improving the Saving Behavior of Senior
High School Students Of Theresian School Of Cavite”

Presented By

Almasan, Allia Jade C.

Antonio, Risalyn S.

Bausin, Leah Katrine L.

Caindoy, Mark Alfonso C.

De Castro, Hershey Ann M.

Gonzaga, Sebastian Arman F.

Laurio, Joselda F.

Perez, Margaux Aline M.

Ms. Marylourd T. Daroy

Inquiries, Investigation, and Immersion Instructor

 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Background of the Study

Nowadays, Students tend to spend a lot of money whether it is for school or for their own
personal needs. Saving money could be really hard especially with the different influences of the
mainstream media, products, and services. Some students spend so much that they forget how to
manage their own money which can later lead to financial issues. Saving or setting aside money
in our age and time could either be through financial institutions like banks or coin banks and
piggy banks. With the various ways available to save money not everyone has the luxury to
apply for a bank account, still there are many alternative ways to save and secure money; one
being the coin banks. Money could either come from the students’ parents or off of their own
effort like working part time jobs or running errands and getting paid. Some people tend to get
overwhelmed when they have a large amount of money on their hands and start spending right
away without organizing or planning a budget first.

Saving and budgeting money is an important factor in one’s life that could easily make
their financial circumstances more easy and manageable. There are several factors that could
affect the students’ behavior in saving; one in particular is their parents. Some parents lend their
full financial support for their child that makes their child carefree when it comes to money and
lack the habit of saving, knowing that no matter how much money they spend their parents will
always provide their needs without having to fret over his/her financial situation. According to
Messigner (2018) parents vary from one end of the spectrum (we’ll pay for everything) to the
other (you’ll pay for everything). Messigner also stated that students want to be involved in the
discussion about paying for college.

Developing saving habits could easily prove useful for students in our day and age
especially with the help of gadgets and various apps that could monitor our money and our
spending. Developing a saving habit is important for younger generations because they are
developing a sense of responsibility for their own money at a very young age that encourages
them to monitor their spending and save up their money for their wants and needs.
 With the data presented, the researchers will conduct a study that observes and determine
the effectiveness of using coin banks on improving the students saving behavior.

This study focuses on determining whether the coin banks will significantly improve the
saving behavior of the selected Senior High School students in Theresian School of Cavite. The
objective of this qualitative research was to determine the effectiveness of the intervention of
using a coin banks as improving the saving behavior of the students.

Research Framework

Figure 1. Diagram shows the use of coin banks as an effective way of improving the Saving

Behavior of Senior High School students of Theresian School of Cavite

Use of Coin Saving Behavior

of Senior High
Banks School students

As shown in Figure 1, the study will use coin banks as an intervention in determining the

effectiveness of the intervention in improving the saving behavior of the selected students based

on the results of the first questionnaire. The conclusion will base on the observation during the

intervention period and results of the questionnaire gathered after the intervention.

Statement of the Problem

With the various influences and trends of modern society, saving has been an even more
challenging task. Salikin, et al. (2012) mentioned the problems of doing saving in university life,
such as the uncertain about where the money spent, or even about taking money from parents or
others without permission for spending that driven by their desires than their economic needs.
This qualitative case study aims to determine and seek answers on whether or not coin banks are
effective in improving the saving behavior of Senior High School students.
 Specifically, the researchers aimed to seek answers on the following problems:

1. How do senior high school students of theresian school of cavite spend their money
or allowance?
2. How do senior high school students of theresian school of cavite save their
money/allowance?
3. How would coin banks affect the saving behavior of the senior high school students
of theresian school of cavite?

Hypothesis

This study will be conducted on the following assumptions:

H0: The use Coin Banks are not effective in improving the saving behavior of Senior High
School students.

H1: The use Coin Banks are effective in improving the Saving Behavior of Senior High School
students.

Significance of the Study

The results and conclusion of the study was deemed significant because it benefits the

following:

Community. This study provided information that inspires the community to save and

improve their saving behavior through using traditional way of saving money. The result would

help the society to be well informed about how important to save money.

Parents. This study helped to inform the parents about teaching their child the

importance of saving their money even in little ways just like using coin banks.
 Students. This study gives information to the students about the importance of saving

money and the effectiveness of using simple ways of saving money such as coin banks in

improving their saving behavior.

Future Researchers. The information given from this study is a great basis for other

researchers that are conducting the same study. The results and conclusion that this study

gathered gives an idea to their study and served as a reference to their review of related literature.

Scope and Delimitation

This study will be conducted in Theresian School of Cavite during the school year 2019-
2020 and will be limited only to the currently enrolled Senior High School students who don't
practice saving money. The researchers will be using Purposive Random Sampling to determine
which of the Senior High School students don't practice saving. The main focus of this study is
to know the effectiveness of coin banks in improving the students saving behavior. The
researchers will focus on knowing the students who doesn't practice saving behavior by the use
of survey. The students who need to practice saving money will be the one who will be involved
in the intervention.

Definition of Terms
 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Review of Related Literature

Saving

Saving in a simple definition is the excess of income over all expenditure, where the
expenditures are also mentioned as consumption, which is life contributions and insurance and
the saving behavior is the money keeping activity after they use it for their own wealth (Denton,
Fretz, & Spencer, 2011).

According to Keynesian economics (2019), savings are what a person has left over when
the cost of his or her consumer expenditure is subtracted from the amount of disposable income
earned in a given period of time. Savings refers to any income that we do not spend and put aside
– we put the money away. It is the portion of our disposable income that we do not spend on
consumer goods, but accumulate or invest.

Saving has different meaning to every people. To some it means putting money in the
bank. To some, it means putting money in the bank. To others, it means buying stocks or
contributing to a pension plan. But to economists, saving means only one thing—consuming less
out of a given amount of resources in the present in order to consume more in the future. Saving,
therefore, is the decision to defer consumption and to store this deferred consumption in some
form of asset (Kotlikoff, 2019).

In addition, according to editor of encyclopedia of Britannica Gloria Lotha (2019), saving

is process of setting aside a portion of current income for future use, or the flow of resources
accumulated in this way over a given period of time. Saving may take the form of increases in
bank deposits, purchases of securities, or increased cash holdings. The extent to which
individuals save is affected by their preferences for future over present consumption, their
expectations of future income and to some extent by the rate of interest.

Saving Behavior
 According to the Maps world of finance (2018), saving behavior is defined as an
understanding on how people save in a country in order to realize the economic condition of that
country. It is normal facts that if people are saving more, the levels of their personal disposable
income are increasing as well. This also implies that the living standard of people will increase
as well.

There are many aspects that related to the saving behavior. Research about students’
saving behavior in Malaysia that has been done by Salikin, et al. (2012) mentioned about the
problems of doing saving in university life, such as the uncertain about where the money spent,
or even about taking money from parents or others without permission for the spending that
driven by their desires than their economic needs. From previous research, students have some
reasons of doing saving, such as to achieve goal, do saving until the end of the semester (most
are for vacation), and do saving for paying down debts

Review of Related Studies

Saving Behavior

In the study of Henrik Cronqvist and Stephan Siegel (2011), entitled "Origins of Saving
Behavior", they found out that there are several empirical studies have indeed found that non-
standard models and “behavioral factors” explain variation in savings (or the lack of savings)
across individuals (e.g., Bernheim et al. (2001), Lusardi (2001), and Madrian and Shea (2001)).
As a result, genetic variation in savings behavior may not necessarily reflect only genetic
preferences, as in standard models, but may also reflect cognitive ability, self-control, or other
non-standard factors being partly genetic. Turning to social, rather than genetic, transmission of
preferences and behavior, others have emphasized parents’ instilling behaviors into their children
(e.g., Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1981), Mischel et al. (1989), and Bisin and Verdier (2008)).
There is indeed anecdotal evidence suggesting that at least some parents exert costly effort to
teach their children particular savings behavior, by providing a piggy bank, opening a savings
account, and otherwise emphasizing the benefits of a frugal lifestyle. Parent-child socialization
has been found to be empirically relevant for behaviors other than savings, such as religion (e.g.,
Bisin and Verdier (2000); Bisin et al. (2004)). While there exists work on the effects of
government-sponsored financial education programs on savings behavior (e.g., Bernheim et al.
(2001b) and Bernheim and Garrett (2003)), there is a surprising lack of empirical analysis of
parenting and savings behavior. Research by Charles and Hurst (2003) and Knowles and
Postlewaite (2004) suggest significant parent-child similarities in savings behavior.

Based on the study of Legenzova & Gaigaliene (2017) that aimed to assess the saving
behavior of Lithuanian high school students. The survey questioned their ability to save, saving
level, regularity in saving, saving motives, attitude towards saving, saving motivation and
confidence in the saving skills of Lithuanian high school students. A total of 440 questionnaires
were collected in spring 2017 portraying a representative sample of Lithuanian High School
students’ population. Results of the survey revealed that the level of saving among Lithuanian
high school students is relatively high and similar to the levels of adolescent savings in the other
countries. Most of Lithuanian High School students are irregular savers; their overall attitude
towards saving is close to neutrality; their motivation to save may be viewed as moderate,
despite their acknowledgment of necessity to save. The aggregate data revealed that the vast
majority of the surveyed students tend to underestimate their saving behavior habits and skills.

Research about students’ saving behavior in Malaysia that has been done by Salikin, et al.
(2012) mentioned about the problems of doing saving in university life, such as the uncertain
about where the money spent, or even about taking money from parents or others without
permission for the spending that driven by their desires than their economic needs. From
previous research, students have some reasons of doing saving, such as to achieve goal, do
saving until the end of the semester (most are for vacation), and do saving for paying down
debts. In addition, according from Mohamad, Maurice, Jariah, Tahira & Mohd (2008), female
students had greater financial well-being than male students. From Angela, Urvi & Erik (2008),
it stated that women wealth has historically been lower than men. Moreover, the results of the
current study had showed that there has an existing of the differences within saving behaviors
between men and women (Angela et. al., 2008). Furthermore, Patti et. al., (2010) has shown that
the economic well-being and financial behaviors of male and female differ significantly. Female
hold lower levels of wealth and have significantly lower earnings than male. Gender based
differences in behavior that are systematic and widespread can influence consumptions, savings,
investment and the level of risk taking at aggregate level were mentioned by (Szekeres et. al.,
2010). The researches on developing countries proved that women may have a stronger
preference than men for buying goods and services that contribute to the human capital of their
children, such as food, education, and health care (Valeria, 2010). The study of Szekeres (2010)
show that the term of gender refers to socially learned behaviors that are associated with females
and males.

Spending Behavior

Spending Behavior as a conduct influencing the manner in which a man utilize their
money to fulfill their needs and needs with no utilization of control. (D'Silva, 2008). He
elaborated that the spending behavior of students today is fairly not quite the same as before, he
claimed that students are getting more into consumerism consistently. Studies have shown
different factors that can affect the spending behavior of individuals, and these include
demographic factors (Levenson, 2014), age, sex, ethnicity (Villanueva, 2017), qualities and
learning or education (Norvilitis, et. Al, 2006). In a study conducted by Hayhoe et. al (2000 as
cited in Villanueva, 2017), results show that there is a strong influence of sex in spending
behavior. Females tend to spend on appearance goods like clothing while males spend for
electronics, entertainment and food. Females were also found to exhibit more financial practices
like keeping a written budget, planning spending and saving regularly. This result was somehow
contradicted by Roberts (2000 as cited by Villanueva, 2017), who claimed that females are more
likely to exhibit spending behaviors, particularly compulsive buying compared to men. It was
supported by De Guzman (2011) who found out that female students tend to spend huge amount
of money on food and art materials while male students have different kind of priorities. Male
students also spend more on recreation and females spent more on books and school supplies
outspending males by 15% (Bailey, 2009). According to Tew (2016), the spending behavior of
students in modern times has emerged as an essential concern in our society. He concluded that
socioeconomic status issue influences the spending behavior of the students. Meanwhile, some
research studies also support the argument that culture based spending behavior is heavily
influenced by ethnic identity and ethnicity (Intharacks 2017). In addition, according to a research
of Westwood College in US (2009) most of the seniors and college students budget the least of
their allowance for transportation, books and supplies but 40% on optional activities
entertainment, apparel and services, travel and vacation. Stollak (2010) stated that freshmen were
much more likely to spend all their dollars quickly than juniors and seniors. This could be due to
lack of awareness of their budget or not planning appropriately.

Pillai et. al., (2010) with availability of generous pocket money, personal credit cards, access
to credit cards of family members or high-paid jobs at prime age, young people are faster
becoming impulsive spenders and prove reckless often. Moreover, strategic marketers are
designing products and services targeting young generation. With the ease of information access
through the Internet and web technology, marketers have managed to capture a significant
market of youth through online store sales. In the Asian subcontinent, new trends in fashion,
electronic gadgets, sports, video games, mall culture and music are important contributors to
wasteful spending among the youth. Most of today’s young adults, although smart and
independent, scarcely understand the value of money because of the desire to adopt extravagant
lifestyles, in addition the above mentioned factors. Young adults under the age of 30 are now the
fastest growing age group filing for bankruptcy. Besides, evidences show that college students
tend to spend their discretionary income on instant gratification of their wants rather than save
money for their further education. Mohamad & Maurice (2010) stated that more than half of the
respondents did not save any money when they received their scholarship or education loan.
More than half of the students used their money for shopping. The data showed that 45 percent
of them spent all their money before the end of the semester.

The research study of Abawag et. al. (2019) about Spending Behavior of Management
Students revealed that there is a significant difference on the spending behavior of male and
female respondents as male respondents spend more loosely compared to females. This pattern
can be traced on the findings of Stollak, Vandenberg, Steiner and Richards (2010). One of the
factors that influence males to spend loosely is the fact that they were more likely to go out to eat
than females. They also elaborated that, females were found to be fond of creating a monthly
budget than males which lead them to spend tightly or more efficiently. This is parallel with the
conclusion of Hayhoe et. al (2000 as cited in Villanueva, 2017), that females were found to
exhibit more financial practices like keeping a written budget, planning spending and saving
regularly.

Financial Literacy
 Several studies have acknowledged very low levels of financial literacy among senior high
school and college students as they tend to fail financial literacy test (Avard et al., 2005). The
incompetency exhibited by the senior high school students therefore limits their ability to make
sound financial decisions. As indicated in the literature, people with low financial literacy are
more likely to have financial related issues in the real world (Lusardi and Turfano 2009). The
low level of financial literacy could also make small financial issues become overwhelming
which could turn into financial stress and consequently affects the other aspects of live such as
personal relationships or performance at work. The low level of financial literacy and its
consequences then show the need for stakeholders in educational system to put policies in place
to ensure that the level of financial literacy among senior high school students in Ghana is
improved since financial literacy has essential implication for future behavior (Lusardi and
Mitchell 2006). The study assesses the level of financial literacy of Senior High School students
in the Kumasi Metropolis. The study surveyed 320 students to investigate their level of financial
literacy through the administration of questionnaires. Findings from the study reveal that
students need to improve their personal finance knowledge. The results show that the students
answered about 48.7% of the questions correctly. The results also reveal that many of the
students are seen to be familiar with issues relating to simple interest, compounding and loan
guarantee. In contrast, the students are less knowledgeable and inexperienced with issues
concerning personal financial planning, budgeting and overdraft. The incompetency exhibited by
the senior high school students therefore limits their ability to make sound financial decisions
and hence more likely to have financial related issues in the real world. The low level of
financial literacy could also make small financial issues become overwhelming which could turn
into financial stress and consequently affects the other aspects of live such as personal
relationships or performance at work. The low level of financial literacy and its consequences
then shows the need for stakeholders in educational system to put policies in place to ensure that
the level of financial literacy among senior high students in Ghana is improved since financial
literacy has essential implication for future behavior. It is recommended that personal finance
literacy course is well elaborated in the academic curriculum of senior high schools. Also, the
national financial literacy week should be extended to school as workshops to encourage
student’s participation in financial literacy.
 However, it is believed that there has been a lot of discussion but little agreement on the
conceptualization of financial literacy. Remund (2010) reviewed 100 resources and found that
the definition of financial literacy involves five categories: (i) understanding financial concepts,
(ii) being able to communicate about these concepts, (iii) ability to deal with personal finances,
(iv) being good at making financial decisions and (v) being confident of making effective plans
for future financial needs. However, other researchers and communities have not approved this
definition. In a paper on this subject Huston (2010) reassessed 71 studies and concluded that
nearly one-half of these studies described financial literacy as the financial knowledge. Others
considered financial literacy to be something wider than knowledge, but they did not agree about
additional components. Some claimed that money management skills must be a part of financial
literacy. For instance, The President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy (2008) defined
financial literacy as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources
effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being”, a definition which is quite close to the one
used by Jump Start Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy (2015). However, other researchers
believe that being able to make the right decisions is also an additional component. Specifically,
in their study on debt literacy, Lusardi & Tufano (2015) define it as “the ability to make simple
decisions regarding debt contracts, in particular how one applies basis knowledge about interest
compounding, measured in the context of Research and Sport of Slovakia, Ministry of Finance of
Slovakia, 2014). Lusardi and Tufano (2015) emphasize that financial literacy is important
because it has been linked to saving behaviour and portfolio choice. The model by Jappelli and
Padula (2015) implies that financial literacy accumulated early in life is positively correlated
with the individual’s wealth and portfolio allocations in later life. Financial literacy may have an
impact on financial decision-making (Disney et al., 2015), because learning about finance is
necessary in order to make the right financial decisions (Calcagno and Monticone, 2015) and
invest the most effectively (Capuano and Ramsay, 2011), which leads to a gradual increase in
their wealth (Jappelli and Padula, 2013; van Rooij et al., 2011; Lusardi and Mitchell, 2011).
Less knowledgeable people make more costly decisions (Lusardi and Tufano, 2015).

Coin Banks or Piggy Banks for Meaningful Saving Behavior

In the study of S. De Francisco, M. Casais & P. Desmet (2014), they proposed that it is
interesting to consider the well-being effects of saving. Saving is understood as an activity in
which an individual accumulates money with the intent to spend it in the future. Given that
saving can connect one’s present state to a meaningful future state, we became interested in
exploring how this behavior can be experienced as more meaningful, and in that sense contribute
to well-being. They used the BILLEGAS piggy bank as a design case in order to distinguish and
evaluate factors that could enhance the act of saving and make it meaningful. BILLEGAS is a
collection of money boxes depicting cartoon characters that allows the users to choose a
character, pick a name for it, and set a saving intention. In doing so, it adds a tangible quality to
one’s intangible saving intentions. Despite the fact that this product was not designed with the
specific intent of making a contribution to happiness, it incorporates some basic ideas that make
saving enjoyable as well as effective, and in this sense we found it interesting to explore
regarding meaning and empathy. This is accomplished by the act of defining intentions that let
people commit to a goal. The motivation to save money is still rarely explored and so is its
relation with happiness. Furthermore, the formats in which people can save money, like saving
accounts, piggy banks, or other investing strategies, have been hitherto insufficiently explored in
a design (and well-being) perspective. We aim to understand how design can motivate people to
save money in a more meaningful way and contribute to their happiness.13 The BILLEGAS was
designed to help people improve their saving experience. They used the Positive Design
framework to evaluate characteristics of these piggy banks based on the three ingredients that
compose it: the playfulness of interaction (Pleasure), the act of writing down an intention
(Personal Significance), and the commitment to that intention (Virtue). The playfulness of
interaction (including selecting a character, customizing, and naming the product) will help users
to enjoy their saving activity. The act of writing down one’s intentions and displaying the
product in a visible place will help users to experience the meaningfulness of their saving
activity, making the mental connection between the saving, and the meaningful activity which
will be made possible with the saved money. Finally, it relates to virtue in the sense that users set
intentions, which translate into commitments that nudge them into considering their spending
and saving behaviors in a more careful and responsible way. In order to understand better the
value of the characteristics of this product in terms of fostering well-being, it is interesting to
evaluate it in a real context. For that they carried out a study to determine the impact of this
particular piggy bank on people’s happiness. From the studies, they concluded that design can
contribute to the meaningfulness of saving, by enabling users to set up an intention, visualize it,
and empathize with it. During the studies, participants mentioned several occasions in which the
use of money is now being limited to credit and debit cards, instead of coins and bills. They see
this as a tendency that can increase with new technological developments. However, it is
possible to learn a lot from traditional ways of saving, and such lessons that can provide a salient
contribution to well-being. The evaluated strategies are seen as potential enhancers of
meaningfulness in saving and thus contribute to the happiness of those engaged in saving. In
addition, new insights were gathered in other areas to increase meaningfulness in saving: the first
one was the ability to choose and transform currency into more meaningful references by
visualizing the progress of savings; secondly, the use of alternative, more relatable forms, of
handling and saving money by resembling the use of the piggy bank combined with digital
services; and lastly, the sense of community as a support for shared saving intentions, creating
saving networks.
 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The research problems and objectives of the study will be answered using the descriptive
qualitative research design. This design focuses on how the researchers will determine the
effectiveness of the intervention through using a coin banks as improving the saving behavior of
the selected senior high school students of Theresian School of Cavite.

Sampling and Participants

This study will be conducted on Theresian School of Cavite with the selected students
from the Senior High School department during S.Y. 2019-2020. The participants of the study
were selected using the non-random purposive sampling that will choose the appropriate sample
and participants of the study.

Research Instrument

Saving and Spending Behavior Questionnaire

In this research, the data required for the study the researchers will gather information
using a questionnaire from the previous instrument related to the study. The self-made
questionnaire by the students of The Trinity Christian High School was gone through validation
and reliability test.

The survey instrument consists of three sections entirely, where each segment consists of
seven questions thus totaling to a twenty-one item questionnaire. The sections are classified as
the following accordingly: Spending Habits, Saving Habits and Financial Knowledge.

Before answering any of the sections, the respondents are first tasked to fill up their
demographic profile which asks the sex, grade level, strand, and family monthly income of the
respondents. For confidentiality, the researchers do not require the names of the participants are
not required.
Coin Banks

After the researchers gathered the data on the first research questionnaire, the researchers
will analyze the results. They will separate the students that do not frequently save money based
on their answers on the first questionnaire about saving and spending behavior.

The selected students will be individually given coin banks as an intervention instrument.
Coin Banks will help the researchers to observing and determine the effectiveness of those on
whether it will be improving their saving behavior or not.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will conduct the study and gather data on the Senior High School
department of Theresian School of Cavite in S.Y 2019-2020 about the effects of using coin
banks in improving their saving behaviour and assessed the effects using q standardized
questionnaire and coin banks.

Figure 2. Data Gathering/Collection Procedure

• First, the researchers will find the possible students that willbe answering the
PHASE first questionnaire
1
1
• Next, the researchers will ask the participants if they can have their time for
PHASE answering the research questionnaire.
2
• If any of the participants does not want to know their identity, then the research
team carefully protect it.
PHASE
3
• The researchers explained the instructions according to the questionnaire and
PHASE the participants are given a time to answer.
4
• After participants answered the test, the researchers thank the them for giving
PHASE their time and effort.
5
Ethical Considerations

Honesty. The researchers were honest to avoided biases and to make this research strong and

reliable.

Care. The researchers cared about the participants because they are the one who were

responsible for what happened to the participants.

Integrity. The researchers were held accountable for the study they were conducted.

Respect for intellectual property. The researchers considered the intellectual property of

their respondents.

Confidentiality. The researchers knew their limits when asking to answer the test given to

their respondents.

Responsible for mentoring. The researchers informed the respondents about the study

which they were conducted.

Respect for colleagues. The researchers considered other colleagues opinions and

suggestions to came up with much better ideas.

Openness. The researchers respected the answers they gathered from their respondents.

Data Analysis Procedure

REFERENCES

https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/savings-definition-meaning/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/saving

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/savings.asp

https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Saving.html

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/an-analysis-of-saving-behaviour-in-malaysia-

economics-essay.php