The use of cars for transport and mobility has become a common phenomenon across America. The research was done to establish the performance of the US transport system, and results indicated that over 90% of the American population drive to work, school, and market (American Public Transit Association, 2017). The use of cars for transport to and from the university has also become part of the American University students’ lifestyle. Today, over 60% of the students’ population use cars for mobility within the University premises. The construction of learning facilities is also done in consideration of the mobility and car parking of the facility users. Lack of efficient parking services in some institutions has to lead to long walking distances to access services. Thus, Universities have to develop an efficient parking system that can sufficiently accommodate the students parking needs to ensure students are not subjected to long walking distance or any other parking inconvenience. The study shall seek to establish whether the existing university parking services system is efficient and offers student contingency in learning.
Study Hypothesis
The study shall be guided by the following hypothesis
HO: The University parking system is efficient and offers student convenience in learning.
H1: The University parking system is not efficient and does not offer student convenience in learning.
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Literature Review
Cars have become a common consumer commodity in America that provides people with freedom and convenience in travel and mobility. Studies on the US transport system show that the use of cars has un-popularized the use of public transport, the use of trains and subways (American Public Transit Association, 2017). Thus, driving is a common concept that institutions need to restructure their building architecture the meet the needs of people who need to access services and use cars.
Universities in America are faced with an increase in the demand for parking space since the number of students who use cars around the university premises is on the rise. A study in the University of Delaware indicated that poor parking system caused students inconveniency through long distance working hence leading to low academic achievement (University of Delaware, 2017). Another study by Kaplan (2015) indicated that parking problems in universities affect lectures and students’ class attendance hence affects academic performance.
Sampling Procedure
Sampling is the process of establishing the elements that will take part in the study. It involves the selection of some few elements from the total target population of the study (Gentles, Charles, Ploeg & McKibbon, 2015). In this study, the target population is the total university student population that uses cars for mobility and transport to and within the university premises. Simple random sampling method shall be used to establish 100 students that shall take part in the study. The study shall adopt a simple random sampling method since it offers all students an equal chance of selection into the sample to be used for the study.
Data Collection Methods
Data shall be collected using a structured interview questionnaire. A questionnaire contains a set of questions that the respondent answers by providing his opinion and viewpoint on the subject under study. The questionnaire shall be reviewed for validity to ensure it precisely measures the construct under investigation and will also be reviewed for reliability. A pilot survey shall be done using the questionnaire and reliability measured using the Cronbach alpha coefficient. If the coefficient is greater than 0.7, it shall be adopted for the study.
Proposed Quantitative Research Design
The study shall adopt a survey research design. Through the use of a survey, it is easy to collect first-hand information from the study sample to describe the characteristics of the total target population that which is too large to observe. Through a survey, the respondents respond to a set of questions and provide the investigator with a self-report of the populations’ belief, opinion, and knowledge on the subject under study. A survey is preferred in this study since it provides an accurate account or portrayal of the total population characteristics.
Potential Ethical Problems
Research has to comply with ethical research standards. To ensure the research is compliant to all research standards, an informed consent to conduct the study shall be sought from all relevant authorities. The purpose of the study shall be communicated to all research participants, and participation in the study shall be voluntary (Dove, Townend, Meslin, Bobrow, Littler, Nicol & Shabani, 2016). Study respondents identity shall be concealed to avoid breaching individual rights. Data collected in the study shall be used for the purpose of the research only.
Limitations of Your Research Proposal
The study shall be limited to the University parking system effectiveness and whether it offers student convenience in learning. Data shall be collected from a sample of the total population, and inferences shall be made to the total population. The study also is limited by two assumptions. First, all the information collected from the respondents is true and is free from any personal disposition or outside influence and two the respondents shall provide all information on the effectiveness of the University parking system through the questionnaire.
Survey Questions
Kindly respond to the questions below by providing your view on the state of the University parking system.
Do you think there is enough parking lots in the University?
How often do you use the university parking facilities?
Have you ever been late for class because of parking issues?
Do you think it is difficult to find parking at the university?
Have you ever had to pack long distances from the facilities you needed to access?
What would you do if you couldn't find a parking space?
How long does it take to get a parking space in the university?
Are there parking spaces that are not utilized and not for use by students?
Did you miss your exam/quiz because you couldn't find a parking space?
Do you feel that there is need to improve the University parking policy?
References
American Public Transit Association. (2017). Delaware Transit Links . Retrieved from APTA Web site: http://www.apta.com/resources/links/unitedstates/Pages/DelawareTransitLinks.aspx
Dove, E. S., Townend, D., Meslin, E. M., Bobrow, M., Littler, K., Nicol, D., ... & Shabani, M. (2016). Ethics review for international data-intensive research. Science , 351 (6280), 1399-1400.
Gentles, S. J., Charles, C., Ploeg, J., & McKibbon, K. (2015). Sampling in qualitative research: Insights from an overview of the methods literature. The Qualitative Report , 20 (11), 1772-1789.
Kaplan, D. H. (2015). Transportation sustainability on a university campus. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education , 16 (2), 173-186.
University of Delaware. (2017). UD Parking News . Retrieved from UD Web site: http://www1.udel.edu/transportation/parking/
