Running head: STUDYING AT NIGHT AND MEMORY RETENTION

EFFECT OF STUDYING AT NIGHT ON THE MEMORY RETENTION OF

2ND YEAR NURSING STUDENTS

A Research Study

Presented to the

Department of Psychology

College of Arts and Sciences

University of St. La Salle

Bacolod City

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Course

Experimental Psychology (PSYC106)

By:

Espinosa, Precious R.

Jurisprudencia, Myles S.

Malundo, Jae Esther B.

Punzalan, Patricia Anne L.

BSPS2-A

May 2021
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, the researchers would like to acknowledge the efforts of every group

member for their participation and cooperation in the making of this research paper. It has

definitely been a difficult journey but it was full of new learnings and realizations, and the

researchers would not have had it any other way.

The researchers would also like to thank their families for their unending support, and the

love and understanding that they have shown throughout the duration of the experiment.

As for the participants involved in the experimentation, the researchers would like to

express their gratitude to the 20 BSN2E students who took part in the study despite their

extremely busy schedules. The researchers have seen firsthand how they all gladly participated in

the research study with a smile on their faces, and that will always be something to remember.

To Ms. Leezo Dionzon, the researchers would like to show their appreciation for helping

out in every step of the way. The researchers could not have done this without you.

Finally, the researchers would like to thank the almighty God for His guidance

throughout the entire academic year, and for always looking down on the researchers as they did

their best to create a successful research paper.

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We do it all for the glory of God. We lift everything up to Him.

ABSTRACT

Memory retention could heavily depend on what time of day you are most comfortable in. For
night owls, studying at night might be more beneficial for them. For morning people, it could be
morning. But according to a previous study, studying at night can enhance retention of
information (Kunmar, 2018). Especially now in the time of online classes due to the pandemic,
students are having difficulty retaining their learnings because of the distractions they face at
home. Since they are not in a slightly controlled environment, knowing how to take advantage of
what specific time of day can aid them in retaining information could be very beneficial. This
research study aims to answer “Does studying at night affect the memory retention of BSN2E
students?”. ‘Studying at night’ is identified as the independent variable in this study with the
treatment conditions, being: 1) studying during the day, then 2) studying at night. The dependent
variable is the memory retention determined by the participants’ results in the 12-item quiz
which they took a day after their study periods. The null hypothesis states that “Studying at night
has no significant effect on the memory retention of BSN2E students.” Both groups in this study
are assigned to a specific study period wherein they will have to study an Introduction to
Psychology lesson for 30 minutes, after which they are to take a 12-item quiz the day after in
order to identify whether they have successfully retained their learnings. The participants were
assigned fairly to their corresponding groups using an online team generator due to the Two
Randomized Groups Design (2RGD) that the researchers decided to utilize. All in all, the
experiment had 20 participants, specifically BSN2E students, whose ages ranged from 20-21
years old. Both study groups had 10 members each. Both groups also coincidentally had 3 males
and 7 females each. In this experiment, the statistical tool One-Way ANOVA is used to interpret
the results alongside the alpha level of significance of 0.05 and the degrees of freedom of 18,
which determined the observed value of 0.49, which is less than the critical value of 2.1, leading
to the conclusion that studying at night does not have a significant effect on the memory
retention of BSN2E students.
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INTRODUCTION

The institution of University of St. Lasalle is currently undergoing many changes because of

the pandemic. The university already adapted flexible online learning to cater the educational

needs of the students during this crisis. In online learning, the students are able to adjust their

time and workload at their own pace. Though this research material is not only limited to online

learning, but it also covers the effectivity of the study habits of the students in the traditional

learning set-up.

The goal of this experiment is to discover whether studying at night affects the memory

retention of the 2nd year Nursing students. This experiment is essential for educators, faculties,

and students of the said university. The significance of the time-of-day in learning will be tested

in this experiment so that educators and faculties may be able to adjust, reconsider and cater to

the needs of the students as much as they can. It is also essential for the students to know if

studying at night may affect them so that they may be able to maximize their learning experience

and study strategically. For example, in a research made by Bell in 2005 titled "Influence of

Time-of-Day on Student Performance on Mathematical Algorithms" according to Bell (2005) it

is a fact that the time-of-day has no significant factor in the efficiency of the students in

answering mathematical algorithms. Though the results of this study suggests students who come
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to school with their physiological needs met could perform mathematics accurately at any time

of the day.

In contradiction to the said study mentioned above, individual research papers discussed

positive and negative significance that may affect the memory retention of the students when

they study at night. The positive significance, if the students choos to study at night, according to

Kunmar (2018), can enhance the students' retention of information. Kunmar cited a study

conducted in University of Notre Dame that states the retention of information is more reliable in

the evening before you sleep because the students can avoid retroactive interference. Retroactive

interference is a part of the interference theory that involves human memory. It happens when

the latter learning interferes with the students' earlier learning because of constant distractions

and new information (McLeod, 2018). The negative effect of studying at night is the exposure of

students to artificial lights that contain blue light, which can also be displayed on the gadgets’

screens. Blue light can interrupt the sleep cycle and hinder students to sleep well because,

according to Klemm (2007), for optimal learning, adolescents or college students need nine or

more hours of sleep every night.

In conclusion, the current experiment aims to know whether studying at night affects the

memory retention of the 2nd year Nursing students from the University of St. La Salle. In line

with this, the researchers want to confirm their assumption if indeed studying at night does not

have a significant effect on the memory retention of BSN2E students.

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METHODOLOGY

A. Participants

The experiment's participants were 20 second-year level students from section E taking

up Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of St. La Salle. The participants whose

ages ranged from 20-21 years old were then divided into two groups through an online team

generator. The two groups will have their corresponding treatment conditions, with the first

being the one where they study at night, and the second as the one where they study during

the day. Both groups have an equal number of 10 members, with a total of 6 males and 14

females. Specifically, both groups coincidentally had exactly 3 males and 7 females.

B. Instruments

 Calculator – used by the researchers to compute the results of the gathered data.

 Facebook Messenger – an application used by both the researchers and participants to

ensure smooth communication before the day of experimentation; also used to answer

any concerns or clarifications the participants may have for the researchers regarding

the experiment.
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 Lesson Reviewer – a simple handout regarding the different branches of Psychology

taken from an Introduction to Psychology lesson, which were prepared by the

researchers for the participants to study one day before the taking the quiz.

 Microsoft Excel – used by the researchers to record the scores of each participant.

 Online Team Generator – used by the experimenters in order to form two randomized

groups with 10 equal members. (via http://www.randomlists.com )

 PowerPoint Presentation – utilized by the experimenters to show the questions from

the quiz in a neat and organized manner.

 Quiz – a 12-item test prepared by the researchers in order to find out whether

studying during the day or night could affect the memory retention of the participants.

 Technological Devices – utilized by both the experimenters and participants, such as

laptops and mobile phones, to communicate with each other through various online

platforms.

 Timer – used by the experimenters to make sure the participants don’t exceed the 30-

minute study period.

 Wi-Fi – used by both the experimenters and participants to connect to the internet and

be able to open the online applications needed for the experiment.

 Zoom – an application used by the researchers to successfully conduct the experiment

online in real-time at the comfort of everyone’s homes.

C. Procedure

Pre-Experimentation
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1. Days prior to the actual experimentation, the researchers used an online team

generator in order to form two randomized groups with 10 equal members.

2. The first group (Group 1) was to undergo the first treatment condition, which was to

study during the day. Their study period would be from 10:05-10:35AM.

3. The second group (Group 2) was to undergo the second treatment condition, which

was to study at night. Their study period would be from 8:05-8:35PM.

4. All participants were informed that quiz-taking would take place the day after their

study periods. The 12-item quiz would be given at 1:00PM until everyone has

finished answering through a Zoom meeting with all 20 participants present.

5. The researchers have asked the participants to free up their schedules for both Zoom

sessions beforehand.

6. All participants were also asked ahead of time to turn on their cameras during the

experimentation and were informed that all Zoom meetings would be recorded for

documentation. They were to be encouraged to do the experiment somewhere they

feel would have less distractions and external factors that may affect their

concentration during the study period and quiz-taking.

During the Experimentation

1. The researchers gathered the participants into the Zoom meeting scheduled for their

assigned study periods at 10:00-10:40AM or 8:00-8:40PM.

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2. The Introduction to Psychology handout was sent in the Facebook Messenger group

chat the researchers have with either groups after the participants confirmed their

attendance in the Zoom meeting.

3. The timer was set for 30 minutes as soon as the 10 participants successfully opened

the handout.

4. When the 30 minutes was over, the alarm went off and the participants were asked to

stop studying and to close the handout on their devices.

5. After, the experimenters reminded the participants to wait until the next day for the

quiz to take place.

6. On the day of the quiz-taking, the researchers asked all 20 participants to enter

another Zoom meeting that was scheduled at 1:00PM.

7. 4 participants were assigned to 1 experimenter for the quiz-taking. The assignments

were also announced in the group chat before entering the Zoom meeting.

8. The quiz was shown through a simple PowerPoint Presentation. Sufficient time was

given for each question on the 12-item quiz, until all participants have successfully

answered each item.

9. Participants were asked to send their final answers via Zoom chat, privately to their

assigned experimenters.

10. The experimenters were also asked to screenshot all answers of the participants for

data gathering and computation after the Zoom meeting.

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11. The participants were given the choice to be informed of their scores or not. All

scores were kept confidential, and were not publicly announced to the participants,

but were rather sent privately.

Post-Experimentation

1. The answers of the participants were thoroughly checked by their corresponding

experimenters.

2. All scores were encoded into a Microsoft Excel sheet for computation.

3. The researchers then made use of the gathered data to analyze whether there was a

significant difference between the two treatment conditions using the T-Test for

Independent Groups.

D. Experimental Design & Statistical Analysis

In this experimental study, the researchers made use of randomization to select and assign

the participants into two equally randomized groups. In line with this, since the study

involved two treatment conditions, the Two Randomized Groups Design, known as 2RGD,

suited as the experimental design. Studying at night is the independent variable in this study,

with two treatment conditions, namely: studying at night, and studying during the day. The

memory retention of the 20 BSN2E students are identified as the dependent variable for this

study. For the statistical analysis, the researchers have decided to utilize the T-Test for

Independent Groups as it perfectly corresponds with the research design since we have two

groups with two different treatment conditions.

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RESULTS

In order to determine if studying at night affects the memory retention, a t-test for

independent measures was used on the data collected. The experimental study used an alpha

level of significance of 0.05 and computed the degrees of freedom equal to 18 to get the critical

value of 2.1. After identifying the critical value, the observed value was then computed to be

equal to 0.49.

Due to the fact that the observed value of 0.49 is less than the critical value of 2.1, the

null hypothesis must be accepted due to the decision rule. This suggests that studying at night

does not affect the memory retention of 2nd year nursing students. However, the results must be
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interpreted with caution because based on the varied but similar scores of the participants from

both groups, two possible extraneous variables may have affected the results of this study.

First, different environment settings of the participants may cause them to experience the

experiment with different distractions, these include all type of noise. Second, the possibility of

the students cheating. Although the experimenters asked them to join the zoom meeting for

monitoring, the experimenters cannot completely control the behavior of the students whether

they decide to cheat during the quiz or study their notes past the allotted study time.

Although the result of this study is not 100% reliable due to the way the experiment was done,

the results gathered still showed a big difference between the critical value and observed

value. Therefore, in this experiment, that made use of a total sample size of 20, regardless of

the shortcomings that may have affected its result, it is concluded that studying at night has no

significant effect on the memory retention of 2nd year nursing students from the University of

St. La Salle.

Tables

Table 1

Collected Data

Variables N Mean Summation of x Summation of x2 SS

Group 1 Day 10 7.5 75 657 94.5
Group 2 Night 10 6.9 69 517 40.9

Table 1 shows the important data that were gathered and computed using Microsoft

Excel. The sample size of 10 for both Group 1 and Group 2, respectively, was used to compute

for the degrees of freedom which is needed to get the critical value. While on the other hand
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the summation of x and the summation of x2 of both groups were used to get the square of

sums that were needed to solve for the observed value along side with the mean and sample

size of both groups. In short, all these 5 data, specifically, contributed to be able to get and

compare the critical and observed values of this experimental study.

Figures

Scores

10%

10% 30%

10%

20% 20%

10 4 8 2 7 12

Figure 1. Scores of Group 1 in percentage.

Figure 1 shows the percentage of the scores that the participants of group 1 have gotten.

As seen on the pie chart, the scores of group 1 are varied but also not that low despite

being in the control group.

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Scores

20%

40%

10%

10%

20%

5 6 8 9 10

Figure 2. Scores of Group 2 in percentage.

Figure 2 shows the percentage of the scores that the participants of group 2 have

gotten. As seen on the pie chart, the scores are less varied with 40% of the participants

getting the same score of 5, but the average between the two groups are still very close to

each other.

DISCUSSION

The researchers have accepted and proven its hypothesis that “studying at night does not

have a significant effect on the memory retention of BSN2E students.” To arrive at the said

conclusion, determined by the resulting critical value of 2.1, which is greater than the observed
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value of 0.49; the study made by the researchers utilized Two Randomized Group Design

(2RGD) as its experimental design to test the effect of the independent variable, studying at night

to memory retention, the dependent variable of the study. An alpha level of significance of 0.05,

degrees of freedom of 18, and a T-Test for Independent Measures, were also utilized to calculate

and interpret the gathered data from the 20 second-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing- E

(BSN2E) student participants, where a total of 6 males and 14 females, aged 20-21 years old,

were chosen and divided into two equal groups through randomization. Specifically, group 1,

who underwent the treatment condition of studying during the day, had three (3) males and seven

(7) females, while group 2, who underwent studying at night as its treatment condition, also had

three (3) males and (7) females.

The results generated from the study imply that studying at night does not have a

significant effect on memory retention. In line with this, according to Day or Night: When Is The

Best Time to Study? by Oxford Learning (2017), every person learns better on different days

according to their productive time. Students also achieve statistically significantly higher scores

when taught at their preferred time than at their nonpreferred time (Virostko, as cited in Hines,

2004). However, despite these several tested claims, different kinds of research were still proven

that stated otherwise. For example, according to Kumar (2018), students’ retention of

information is enhanced through studying at night. As stated in Quereshi (2017), What is the best

time to Study? Some researchers also have found that teenagers are more likely to learn

effectively at night because distractions lessen due to the peaceful and quiet environment.

Nevertheless, these findings that contradict the results are proven otherwise by Hines (2004),

which study claims that morningness-eveningness is essentially an individual characteristic,

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making the findings of the aforementioned studies that contradict the hypothesis applicable and

limited to those who preferred nighttime as their study period.

This research contributes and helps students understand that learning takes effort (Bjork,

as cited in Bacon, 2017) as well as retaining memory. Although the idea of having a “best time”

to study that will ensure a good amount of retained memory is helpful and intriguing, the results

of this study and other researches with similar findings answered the research problem and imply

that learning is subjective. Every individual is unique, and each follows their own preferred time

to learn, which they find effective in retaining their memory. Therefore, as a recommendation,

further researchers should conduct a study that does not solely focus on the effects of studying at

night on memory retention. Instead, it should shift its attention to the implications of preferred

study time on memory retention since every individual’s chronotype, one’s time-of-day

preference (Hines, 2004), can considerably affect productivity and memory retention. It is also

recommended to conduct this kind of study in a face-to-face setting to control and lessen the

extraneous variables that may affect the result of the experiment.

REFERENCES

Bacon, P. L. (2017). Effective Studying is a Science, Not an Art: Teaching Students

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Scientifically Based Study Techniques. Scientifically Based Study Techniques.

Headwaters, 30(5). Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=headwater

Bell, W. S. (2005). Influence of Time-of-Day on Student Performance on Mathematical

Algorithms. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED490712.pdf

Hines, C. B. (2004). Time-of-Day Effects on Human Performance. Catholic Education:

A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 7(7). Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=ce

Klemm, W. R. (2007). What Good Is Learning If You Don’t Remember It? The Journal of

Effective Teaching an online journal devoted to teaching excellence, 7(1), 61-73.

Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1055665.pdf

Kunmar, M. (2018). Studying at odd hours: Advantages and challenges. Retrieved from

https://www.jagranjosh.com/articles/studying-at-night-advantages-and-challenges-

1535442090-1

McLeod, S. (2018). Proactive and Retroactive Interference. Retrieved from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/proactive-and-retroactive-

interference.html#:~:text=Retroactive%20interference%20(retro%3Dbackward),new

%20memories%20disrupt%20old%20memories
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Oxford Learning. (2017). Day or Night: When is the best time to study? Retrieved from

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/best-time-day-to-study/

Qureshi, K. A. (2017). What is the best time to study? Retrieved from

https://www.dawn.com/news/1308334

Wang, L., Zhang, R., Hou, X. et al (2019). DA-JC1 improves learning and memory by

antagonizing Aβ31–35-induced circadian rhythm disorder. Mol Brain, 12(14). Retrieved

from https://doi.org/10.1186/s13041-019-0432-9

Zhang, L. (2012). Studying at night provides more benefits. Retrieved from

https://gunnoracle.com/1950/forum/studying-at-night-provides-more-benefits/

Appendix A

Instruments Used
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Applications

Lesson

Reviewer
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Quiz
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Website

WiFi
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Appendix B
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Informed Consent

Appendix C
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Documentation of Experiment

Group 1 (Day Time)

Group 2 (Nighttime)
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Quiz-Taking
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Appendix D

Raw Scores
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Appendix E

Computations
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