About the research

Research question

How does the prescense of others also studying improve sustained focus among high school students? How does this, if it exists, compare to gamification?

Current hypothesis

We build this because we believe simply studying with others increases studying efficiency.

The hypothesis is based on our survey results and reading of previous research.

Methodology

Phase 1 — Surveys. We designed and distributed a 12-question survey to 30 students across three grade levels. Questions covered self-reported focus duration, phone usage patterns during study, anxiety levels, and study environment. Data collection is complete; analysis is ongoing.

Phase 2 — Interviews. We are conducting semi-structured interviews with 6–8 survey respondents selected for range of response patterns. The goal is to understand the qualitative experience of distraction in ways the survey instrument could not capture.

Phase 3 — Literature review. We are reading primary sources on social facilitation (Zajonc, 1965), co-regulation of learning, smartphone-mediated distraction, and gamification. A working annotated bibliography is on the Research page.

Phase 4 — Prototype testing. We are building Cohort, a lightweight web app that lets 3–6 students join a shared study session and see each other's focus status in real time, without any competitive or scoring mechanisms. We will run structured testing sessions with volunteer students during the exam period in fall 2026.

Phase 5 — Paper. The project concludes with a written research paper synthesizing all phases. Target completion: January 2027.

Limitations we already know about

Along with us not being trained researchers, our amount of respondants was small in comparison to more professional projects, as we could only get respondants from our school through personal networks. This introduced bias towards them due to them being our friends and coming from the same school. Though we made our respondants as varied as possible despite this, these issues will be acknowledged in our paper.