A couple of weeks ago, I asked a simple question in an online survey here on my blog: To what extent are you procrastinating right now by reading these blogs? The data continue to come in, but the trend isn't changing, so I think it's time to discuss the results.
Let me begin by noting that not everyone who viewed the blog entry actually filled out the one-item survey. Although I can't know exactly how many independent, unique IP hits there were, the total number of "views" at the time of writing is 536. (Interestingly, this entry was not read very often, as most of my other blog entries have had many more readers. I'll conclude that the majority of you would rather read about procrastination research than participate in it.)
The total number of survey submissions to date is 140 or roughly 26% of the views for the blog. The actual percentage of respondents is probably underestimated by this figure, but it gives us some idea of the participation rate.
Of course, this surprised me because the survey literally only required 2 clicks: one to choose your response and one to submit it. It would be interesting to know why so many people chose not to respond at all. My best guess is that many people wondered about the anonymity of the responses, but I really don't know. There could be lots of reasons, including not caring about the question or even avoiding it.
Here is the survey item, response categories and results:
I am procrastinating right now by reading these blogs.
The ratio between these various choices remained fairly constant as the data came in over the past couple of weeks. The modal (most frequent) response is that readers are "absolutely" procrastinating by reading the blogs. In fact, if we collapse across the two categories, "Quite a bit" and "Absolutely," we can see that over half (67%) of the readers acknowledge that this reading is a form of procrastination
As discussed in a previous blog about the nature of the tasks that form our procrastination (see "Procrastination is . . ."), the content of the task itself reveals very little about whether or not we're procrastinating. Reading, perhaps even research, on the Psychology Today blog site is a distraction for many of the respondents. Why?
I think the most probable answer is that readers are struggling with their procrastination. They may be at their computers avoiding a task and, since they're not committed to returning immediately to the task at hand, they would like to begin to address this "problem." What better way to make use of the time off task then to spend a minute and try to figure out why this happens so often. (Note: For the potential folly in this line of reasoning, see "I'll just check my email, it will only take a minute")
This is not news to me. I get more student research participants and "lab volunteers" near exam time than any other time in the year. Here's what I think is happening. I'll write this explanation as a fictitious case study about "Paul."
Paul has waited fairly late in the term to begin studying for exams. In fact, he's left a lot of his course reading until now too. He's got many chapters to catch up on in each course. Not surprisingly, he's feeling overwhelmed.
In an effort to feel good, he gives in (See "Giving in to feel good"). In other words, in order to escape the really negative emotions he's experiencing, it's tempting, almost irresistible, to just put everything off a little longer. Hey, it still is more desirable to act tomorrow ("Intransitive preference structures").That said, it's very difficult to justify this to himself. Even with his well developed self-deception skills, he is quite aware that he needs to act now. (For more on self-deception, see "Bad Faith" or "Structured Procrastination: When all else fails".)
Fortunately, there is a last bastion of respite. If he can do something that is academically oriented, but not the dreaded reading and studying he's avoiding, he can escape the guilt he's feeling (at least he's trying to convince himself of this). So, he thinks about those experimental credits he needs, and low and behold there's a study that fits him perfectly - a study on academic procrastination. This is Paul's salvation. He thinks, "Not only will I get grade-raising credit for participation, I may learn something about myself to help me out of this miserable situation."
Does this sound like a true story? You bet. I know lots of students who've been there. I was at one point, many years ago (although no one seemed to be studying procrastination at McMaster University in the 1970's, we just practiced it ☺ ).
You can see the parallel for SOME of the readers here I'm sure. How many of us have wandered the aisles of the local bookstore browsing for that "solution book" to solve our procrastination problem instead of doing the task at hand. Ironically, we may well spend more time locating, buying and reading (well, at least some of) the book, than it would have taken to do the task we're avoiding.
Ouch you say. Yep, ouch. Each of us has to face this sad tale before we can ever get to a place honest enough with ourselves to deal with procrastination. It's part of wisdom; it's the insight that we need to develop (see "Procrastination: What role wisdom?").
I'm not saying you shouldn't read this blog. Heaven forbid, right?! ☺ Seriously, I think there is lots you can learn here. My plea is that you approach this reading not as an impulse and avoidance strategy, but as a deliberate choice. If you don't, I don't think you'll learn that much, as you're already too deep into self-deception to really hear the rather challenging messages that many of these studies convey.
Well, if my readership drops off now, it's my fault. I don't think it will. We all want to understand ourselves better, and I'm happy to join you on the journey.
(Final Note: The "Absolutely!" category of the survey was 66 and the "Quite a bit" category increased by 1 as well when I finally posted this blog entry. The other two categories, remained the same. Procrastinators are finally getting to the survey!)
Privacy Issues -- in principle
Well, Timothy. Thanks for your great blog. I didn't take the test, when I first read the post -- and took it now after reading this post. This reason, why I did so, is quite simple: I felt embarrassed, to be part of the 74% of the readers who only took good advice from your blog, but weren't willing to answer a simple question, that could a lay a basis for the writer and the readers.
On the other hand, I was (and still am) pretty sceptical of the conclusions you could draw from such a test: I find it pretty hard, to let people decide for themselves how much they are procrastinating, right now. In my opinion this requires a little self-analysis -- and thats lots more than just two clicks. Escpecially for people who are afraid of evaluation, may it be from the in- or from the outside.
Finally, I don't like the technology of the poll from a privacy point of view. It tells you, right after (!) you've submitted an answer, that your IP-address was stored. But it's not so clear to me, who has this stored information, now. You? The guys who own the website of the poll? The blog people? These concerns may seem paranoid to some people. I am quite sure, the number of people on the internet who care about such issues is well above average.
Anyways, thanks again for your blog. I'm still happy to participate in your research.