To: Justin Atwell

From: Evan Kottsick ____ Mariah Kratt ____ Ryan Carda ____ Matthew Olson ____
Subject: Progress of Research on Factors Influencing College Students Breakfast
Habits
Introduction
The purpose of this response is to inform you of the progress we have made on our
research report in ENGL 324. Our research focuses on the breakfast habits of
college students, at NDSU, to determine major influencing factors on students
decisions to eat or not to eat breakfast. Breakfast is commonly referred to as the
most important meal of the day, and it is critical for healthy brain function. As it is
the first meal of the day, it acts as a kick starter for the body for the rest of the day
(Adolphus K et al.,2013). Our research focuses on college students because they are
future professionals and we want them to get as much out of their education as
possible. Because of breakfasts abundant benefits, it is important to know why or
why not college students are skipping breakfast, to identify and combat the issue. In
this memo, we will be discussing what has been completed thus far, what still needs
to be completed, and how our progress is in relation to the deadlines.
Completed Research
At this point in time, we have created and distributed an online survey to a wide
variety of college students and student organizations through email. We hope to
obtain 100 or more survey responses and currently have 83. The 13-question survey
has questions ranging from demographic data to specific breakfast habits. The data
that we have collected thus far has shown surprising results on the amount of
college students who do eat breakfast in the morning, as well as the percentage of
people who feel they are educated on the benefits of breakfast. We are already able
to notice treads and are beginning to draw conclusions and analyze the data. The
attached table shows the objectives that we have completed so far, as well as a
schedule for what we still need to
accomplish.

Date Objective Progress

March 7th Submit Final Draft of Completed
Proposal
March 13th-April 6th Collect Survey Data In Progress
March 20th-April 13th Analyze and Summarize In Progress
Data
March 30th Submit Progress Report --
April 7th-April 13th Draft Final Research Not started
Report
April 14th-April 19th Revise Final Research Not started
Report
April 20th Submit Final Research Not started
Report
Table 1: Timeline
Remaining Research
Data collection is in progress, and we believe we will be able to reach the 100-
response goal by April 6th. At this point we will close the survey regardless of the
number of responses obtained. We are also analyzing the data we have collected so
far, and this process will continue as we obtain more data and conclusions will be
made after a complete analysis. Conclusions will be explained thoroughly and
concisely in the final report which will be submitted at the assigned deadline. We
will continue to do outside research to supplement the information gained in our
research, while analyzing the big picture and explaining how our data fits with
previously obtained information. We also need to attempt to identify the largest
problems which lead to college students not eating breakfast as well as draft
potential solutions for said problems. All assigned deadlines will be met.
References
1. Adolphus K, Lawton CL, Dye L. The effects of breakfast on behavior and
academic performance in children and adolescents. Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience. 2013;7:425. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00425.