Working and stydying at University at the same time abstract

Purpose of the Study

Investigating the experiences of working students is the purpose of this study, on how hard their encounters are, to know the significant differences between working and non-working students. Next, to gather relevant data on how did the working students’ cope up with their struggles and difficulties. Also, this study aims to know the motivations of working students. Lastly, to fully understand the experiences of a working student and to help the students shortly to understand what it takes to work while studying. In generalization, this study aims to grasp the essence and entirety of a working student's life.

Research Questions

The proposed research has questions that must be answered by the respondents and is summarized as follows:

1. 
   What are students’ perceptions of working while studying?
   

2. 
   What are the positive and negative effects of working while studying?
   

3. 
   What are the challenges faced by students when working while studying and how do they overcome the problems?
   
4. 
   What are suggestions and recommendations for students who are working while studying?
   

Theoretical Lens

Students engaged in part-time and sometimes full-time employment while studying is becoming a normal phenomenon everywhere. Job employment will eventually prepare the students for their future profession. While ordinary experiences will comprise the majority of the data content of this study, these data will be analyzed and justified using particular theories. This study makes use of the Moral Responsibility Theory of P.F. Strawson, Sociobiology Theory of Edward Wilson, and the Existential Theory by Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche.
The Moral Responsibility Theory of P.F. Strawson published in 1962 presents the consequences of each action in the pros and cons result. It can be defined in Philosophy as the status of morally worthy praise, reward, blame, or punishment for an act performed or neglected by one's moral obligations accompanied by the three essential elements: accountability, freedom, and results that can be either praiseworthy or blameworthy.
This theory shapes the pros and cons of the life experiences of working students. As indicated by Watts and Pickering (2000), working part-time and studying full-time has a variety of positive outcomes and respondents generally viewed part-time employment as a necessity to survive in the contemporary higher education sphere. However, the student might experience under pressure due to demands in academics such as completing the tasks in the given time and instability regarding with financial. The work plus studies make these hardworking students sleep deprived, and sleep deprivation increases the risk factors of insomnia and damage to brain function. Working students exposed to excessive workload despite the satisfactory salary will have bad effects on health and well- being in the long run.
Second, this study will also make use of the Sociobiology Theory of Edward Wilson published in 1975 that talked about the relationship between social behavior and Charles Darwin’s Evolution Theory. It focuses on the hypothesis that natural selection partly affects the behavior of an individual. Natural selection is a process in which different biological traits become more or less ordinary based on the effect that a specific attribute has. Furthermore, sociobiology investigates and illustrates that the concept of one’s behavior may be due to by the genes of their parents.
This theory gives shape to this study in a way that it helps to offer a valid point over the circumstances that surround the research participants which have urged the decision to be a working student to afford education. It will also aid in the comprehension of the behavior of the students as they adapt to what a certain thing adequately fit in that precise social change whether their determination is genetically passed or environmentally-circumstantial. It is through this theory that the experiences and characteristics of the participants are given meaning and importance in their decision-making process.
Lastly, this research will use the Existential Theory which is a branch of Philosophy that focuses on the meaning of life. Existential Theory (also referred to as Existentialism, Merriam 1828) can be taken as a philosophical theory which means that someone's development depends on their choice and which emphasizes that everyone is free and responsible. It is the view of humans that define their meaning in life and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe.
The Existential Theory is categorized into two perspectives: first, a religious perspective which states that humans' free will is affected by their beliefs. Second, a psychological perspective which states that everyone has their different mind and will, whatever they decide is through their own. To relate in this study, working students' possess legal rights and own action which corresponds to their will. Existential theory will aid in further understanding of the instances such as students might even stop studying to continue working or starting studying to stop working and even or commonly do both simultaneously. Existentialism has a certain thing to focus in terms of a human will and supports the factors that affect the working students' choices and perspective.