Research Proposal: Improper Restroom Culture

Date: July 9, 2022

To: Nausheen Saba Siraj

From: Riasad Rahman, ID #212 1691 630, ENG 105, Sec: 15

Subject: Proposal to conduct a research project on the reluctancy among NSU male students

to

address the improper washroom culture

INTRODUCTION:

Restroom etiquettes are a set of activities that maintain proper hygiene, without maintaining

proper hygiene, one cannot ensure an appropriate restroom culture. Lack of restroom

etiquettes among people results in an unhygienic and uncomfortable environment for

everyone. Some key etiquettes are: washing hands properly after using the restroom, flushing

the toilet properly, keeping the toilet seat clean and dry, putting tissue in proper bin or

flushing it down etc.

My research is mainly focused on why male students of NSU do not address the improper

restroom culture, for starters, not questioning the immediate person coming out of the

restroom if they happen to have found any inappropriate toilet usage. Whether if they are

doing it out of courtesy or fear of the possibility that the other person may harass them.

Recently, there has been a lot of complaints regarding the hygiene of the toilets in NSU. I

want to find out why many students are not following proper restroom etiquettes and what is

the overall impact of the improper restroom culture on the male students. Have students just

simply accepted it? Do they rather avoid the restrooms as much as possible? Additionally, I
want to know if this avoidance of restroom, the unhygienic environment there have made the

students more stressful in general.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

I want to investigate on the lack of addressing the hygiene issue in the male toilets, the

reasons behind the addressable situation and the unhygienic environment, and lastly, the

overall impact among the students. I will try to find my answers regarding the problem with

the list of research questions below:

 Has there been an increased case of inappropriate toilet usages among the NSU male

students?

 Why don’t NSU male students call out other students when they spot inappropriate

usage of the toilets, on spot?

 Why some students do not follow proper restroom etiquette rules?

 What is the result of the noticeable improper restroom culture?

 Do students drink less water to avoid using NSU restrooms?

 What is the students’ perception regarding the restroom culture of NSU now, in

comparison to public restrooms, with keeping hygiene in mind?

 How does the improper restroom culture affect students, both physically and

psychologically?

HYPOTHESIS:

Evidently, many cases regarding improper usage of washrooms will cause general

discomfort. I want to see whether it is valid for the case of the male restrooms in NSU, and if

it is, how much reporting and addressing of the situation has been made. I assume that
students do not call out other students who break restroom etiquette rules and advise them on

the spot mainly for two reasons. These are the possibility of being harassed by the person

they called out, and secondly, out of courtesy so that the other person does not feel

embarrassed or bullied. My further assumptions are that the students who do not use the

toilets properly have their reasons for doing so. Students who leave the commode dirty (fecal

residues left on the bottom) lack the knowledge of proper flushing and ‘courtesy flush.’ The

male students who leave shoeprints on the toilet seat are culturally habituated to using squat

pans in their household; thus, they do the same in university. People who leave tissues on the

floor and keep the toilet seat wet after using the lavatories are doing so because they do not

know the basic hygiene rule of keeping your surroundings dry and clean. I believe my

respondents have started to avoid the restrooms of NSU due to the unhygienic environment

and improper restroom culture. They would consider the state of the toilets almost identical to

that of the public restrooms located elsewhere in the city, due to a severe lack of hygiene. I

assume they are very stressed due to feeling they do not have access to hygienic toilets in

their own university; thus, they would drink less water and, as a result, jeopardize their

health.

RESEARCH METHOLODY:

A survey will be conducted on a small sample of NSU male students for my primary

research. I will design a questionnaire for the survey with several questions that will be in

accordance with my research questions. With the data collected from the survey, I will be

able to find answers to my research questions. I will further interview a few students if

additional info and opinions on the matter are needed.

I will be taking help from various articles, blogs, research papers and journals which relevant

on the internet for my secondary research. To access the resources via internet, I will use

Google.

ORGANIZATION:

There will be various sections in my paper, the major ones are Introduction, Background,

Data Presentation and Analysis, and Summary of Findings. Based on the research questions,

content of the sections will be arranged.

TIMETABLE:

I hope to complete my primary research by the end of July and my secondary research by the

mid of August. I shall complete writing the final draft of my research paper by August 20 and

submit the final copy by August 25.

REQUEST FOR APPROVAL:

I hereby request your approval for the submission of my research proposal. I also request for

your feedback regarding any modification or improvement of my proposal, so that I may

change and modify it accordingly. I will be very grateful of your help and guidance in

conducting my research works and finishing my project.