Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2 - Assignment 9A

Who: There are certain people who share a lot in common with the others in my opportunity, but they also fall outside the boundary in that they are not looking for help from other students. Even though the number of students included in this is more than I expected, there are still more than enough students that are in need of such an app. Many of the students that aren't looking for an app for additional help from classmates are satisfied with the resources available to them. The majority of these students attend professors' office hours or pay for a tutoring service; therefore, they are content with the help they are already receiving.

What: The need I identified to succeed in school by downloading an app that will connect users based on the classes they are enrolled in differs from people's need to appear as if they are trying to get better grades. Both types of students will download the app, but only the one good type of student will use it for its intended purpose. Most students that are actively searching for new ways to get help in school actually desire to perform better on homework, quizzes, and exams. However, some students who engage in such behavior simply want it to look as if they are trying to get better grades. These students want to be able to tell their parents that they try hard in school and still can't get good grades. Their end goal in doing such a thing is to get their parents off their backs.

Why: Students inside the boundary may have a different underlying cause of their need as pointed out in the "what," but the underlying cause of the outsiders' need (for the most part) is no different than the majority of the students inside the boundary. The outsiders that I previously referenced will not use such an app because they are satisfied with the resources already available to them. However, these outsiders still have the need to do well in school just like the insiders.

Inside the boundary                                      Outside the boundary

Who is in:                                                       Who is not:
Students looking for an app that                      Students not looking for additional help in school
connects them to fellow classmates               
What the need is:                                           What the need is not:
To do better or appear to do better in school    To get more help or do well in school
Why the need exists:                                      Alternative explanations:
Students wanting to be successful                    Students already receiving enough help or
or students having controlling parents              students that don't care if they do well

Summary: The five people I interviewed are all students at the University of Florida. Considering UF is a very academic school, all students that attend should want to succeed in their classes. However, some students simply don't care. For example, one student that I interviewed said he doesn't need good grades to become an actor which is his dream job. The other four students that I interviewed have the desire to succeed in school, but their need for additional help outside of the classroom have already been met. A couple of them said they use the Study Edge tutoring service here on campus, while others said they are content with attending lecture and teachers' office hours.