A Correlative Analysis between Circadian Rhythm and Gender with Academic Performance among Medical Technology Students (AY 2020-2021)

Abstract

The alertness and productivity of an individual within the day or night, known as the circadian rhythm, can affect his or her academic performance. The CoViD-19 pandemic has generated online learning to be possible nowadays. Given the current situation, the study aims to determine the relationship between circadian rhythm and gender with academic achievement among Medical Technology students of a Philippine university during the initiation of the online learning set-up. 360 students who were currently enrolled in the Medical Technology program of this university participated in the study. The demographic information and academic standings of the participants were gathered to build a foundation on their background and scholastic profile. The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) modified by Sarah Briggs (2015) was used to assess their circadian rhythm and academic performance. Data analysis was performed using the Fisher Freeman Halton Exact Test to assess the degree of independence among the variables. After the results were obtained, the researchers observed that the p-values of the relationships of the variables, specifically between circadian rhythm and gender (p = 0.210), circadian rhythm and academic performance (p = 0.616), and gender and academic performance (p = 0.122) were higher than the significant p-value (α = 0.05). This indicated that there was insufficient evidence to infer that there is a significant relationship among these variables. Thus, it implies that there is no significant correlation existing between circadian rhythm and gender with academic performance of the Medical Technology students. These findings can be helpful by letting students acknowledge ways, based on other factors, which can improve one’s academic performance in spite of his or her circadian rhythm.