Professional Documents
Culture Documents
0 Introduction
Dress code is a standard of dress establish for a given environment, as in the military,
in a school or business, or in a cultural group. It is also one of the symbols of formality.
The definition of dress code is a set of rules specifying the correct manner of dress while
on the premises of the institution (Word Web Online,1999). Example of dress code is a
combination of smart casual such as dressing that the officer’s wear when they want to go
to work. Many races in Malaysia have their own dress code to compare 1 race with
another races and its symbol of their own personality. For example Malay has baju
kurung and kebaya, for Chinese they have cheongsam and for Indian they have sari. For
many events in Western cultures, a dress code is specified, and the invitee should wear
clothes at the specified level, and, at his discretion and more formal (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Basically, public universities have their own dress codes ethics for students to
dress modestly. Thus, students should put on suitable dressing according to occasions.
However, some students are stubborn and not know of this etiquette. University’s
administration did not have other choice but to take action in order to control student’s
dressing by sending the students out of classroom, or fine them. If the university’s
administration did not take action, this problem become worse than it does and can effect
the university’s dignity and student’s future life. It also give students more freedom in
dressing, and students will dress with immature dress that conservative, not suitable and
too sexy to attend class.
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1.2 Statement of Problem
Dress code is known at all institutions. Each school, university or other institution
have their own dress code. Several, when some the student of University Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) did not follow the dress code due to some reason. We can say that by
observing the UTM student on how their dressing during lecture time. The student’s did
not dress properly and did not follow the dress code due to the effect of overslept. They
do not have enough of time to wear properly and follow the dress code because they have
late to go to their lecture.
Sometimes, the student did not follow the dress code because they feel
uncomfortable with the dress code that had been set by University Administration. It is
also because of the student attitude. The students take easy dress code for graduated.
They did not bother at all about the dress code. They enjoy on how they are wearing.
Rarely, the student from village or rural area is also cannot follow the dress code
because they do not fell comfortable with the dress code. They feel uncomfortable to
wear something that they rarely do. Therefore, it is indeed to find and identify the reason
and the ways to overcome this problem.
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1.4 Objectives of Study
(a) To investigate the number of 2SKK-FKKKSA student who obey the dress code that
has been set by the administration
(b) To find out the 2SKK-FKKKSA student’s excuses for not obeying the dress code
ethics
(c) To identify the benefits of dress code ethics towards undergraduates
Research Question 1:
How many 2SKK-FKKKSA undergraduates in UTM obey the dress code?
Research Question 2:
Why the students disobey to the dress code?
Research Question 3:
What are the benefits of dress code ethics among undergraduates?
3
1.6 Scope of Study
The significance of this study is important because this finding can discover
student’s prevalence towards the dress code ethics. Besides that, this research can identify
student’s excuses that make them disobey dress code ethics. Thus, the result of this
research can emphasizes the benefit of dress code ethics towards student.
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2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
dress code and students’ opinions about dress code. Many researchers have piloted this
subject of study. First of all, the benefits of obeying dress code are briefly explained.
Then, disadvantages of dress code will be discussed about side effects if we disobey dress
code ethics. After that, we included students’ perception about dress code that they
By recent studies that had been done in the past, application of dress code in
certain venue can overcome certain problems. Application of dress code can reduce
outrage that can occur among students like lowering student victimization (Scherer
1991), decreasing gang activity and fights (Kennedy, 1995; Loesch, 1995), and
1996; Gursky, 1996). Safety is one reason for a dress code; however, many educators
believe that a dress code also promotes a positive educational environment. In an attempt
to counter violence, many public schools implement a dress code or require students to
wear uniforms. The idea of uniforms even reached the halls of Congress when then-
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President Clinton endorsed them in his 1996 State of the Union address. After this
speech, the U.S. Department of Education disseminated the Manual of School Uniforms
to all 16,000 school districts in the nation. The manual stated potential benefits, such as
decreasing violence and theft, preventing students from wearing gang-related colors to
school, instilling student discipline, helping to resist peer pressure, helping students
Uniforms are asserted to increase student learning and attitudes towards school
through enhancing the learning environment (Stover, 1990), raising school pride
(LaPointe, Holloman, and Alleyne, 1992; Workman & Johnson, 1994). According to
Larry Wilder (November 12, 2007), other results of the research revealed that 68 percent
of the parents believed the uniform policy improved overall academic performance.
Eighty-eight percent of the parents thought the code reduced teasing between boys and
girls. Eighty-four percent felt the uniform code promoted equality between the sexes.
Perhaps most revealing was the fact that 80 percent of the girls and 62 percent of the boys
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2.2.3 Decrease Behavior Problems
rates, lowering suspension rates, and decreasing substance use among the student body
(Gursky, 1996).
increased self-esteem (Thomas, 1994), increased spirit (Jarchow, 1992), and increased
feelings of "oneness" among students (LaPointe, Holoman, & Alleyne, 1992). Nathan
framework within which uniform proponents claims can be better understood. He asserts
that clothing can be considered a sign, which he defines as "anything that stands for
something else." Clothing, as a sign, coveys information about values, beliefs and
emotions. If the clothing that adolescents wear can be considered a sign, then that which
they freely choose as individuals can be seen as conveying an expression of their personal
identity. School uniforms, by contrast, are clothing which is selected by school officials
and mandated to students. It is simple in style and color and it is intended to convey the
institutional values of the school. Joseph suggests that for clothing to be considered a
'uniform' it must fulfill the following criteria: 1) it must serve as a group emblem, 2) it
must certify the institution's legitimacy by revealing an actor's status position, and 3) it
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school uniforms clearly function as a symbol of membership to the school community.
structure, those that wear uniforms (subordinates) and those that do not wear uniforms
(superiors). School uniforms serve as a clear sign of this status distinction between
students and faculty and therefore, certify the legitimacy of that distinction by all
Besides the benefits of following the dress code, there are also negative effects of
dressing.
Besides that, for some students who do not agree with dress code will rebel to
express how they feel. On the other hand, students will make unacceptable addition or
deletion on their formal dress and this reaction will make the dress code awkward.
In addition, school uniforms are transparent, where we can see through their body
shape. If this type of school uniforms been apply on school girls, it will passionate
another students and lecturers. This may attracts male students from concentrating in
8
2.4 Student Opinions
Some people like the idea of a dress code, other people don't. Based on online
magazine (topics-mag.com), some people say a dress code is bad because there is no
freedom or individuality. Students like to wear simple attire and they hate to be burden by
too many rules. In addition, some students feel that the dress code were irritating because
But some students think when they wear uniforms, they don't need extra money
for buying clothes. For example, if they have a school uniform, they have to wear it every
day, so they don't need to buy other dresses to wear to attend class. To wear the same
clothes is an effective way to unite people into one way of thinking. In some societies,
they want to increase their unity and power by making people wear the same clothes.
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3.0 Methodology
This chapter discusses the research design of the study. As the study objectives
were to investigate whether the students obey the dress code, the benefits of dress code
and the students’ opinion about this issue. A pilot study was conducted to gain
purposive sampling technique. This method was chosen because it is easier to collect the
data needed from the respondents due to the relevant knowledge and experience of the
respondents involve in this research were from Second year undergraduate Chemical
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3.2 Research instrument
Three methods were chosen in order to collect the data for this research, which
were questionnaire, interview and observation. This study emphasizes on the quantitative
Questionnaire was selected as the main data method. Interviews were conducted
to make sure the validity and reliability of the gathered information from the
questionnaire. On the other hand, observations were made in order to identify the real
3.2.1 Questionnaire
designed. The questionnaire was really beneficial to our investigation and study. The
yes/no, scale, listing, ranking, and category questions. By doing the questionnaire, it
would be easier to collect data, analyses and collate data in quantitative form.
Nevertheless, some open-ended were also included as more useful information could be
gathered.
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3.2.2 Interview
Besides the questionnaire, interview was used to support the data collected from
the questionnaire. Interview has been doing via Yahoo Messenger. The respondent was
respondent via Yahoo Messenger. The interview was done by recording the whole
interview via chatting in Yahoo Messenger, through the respondent emoticon, the
The interview was carried out on the same day after the questionnaire was
distributed to the all respondents. The researchers also make and add some other
questions during the interview session to acquire more data to complete the objective of
the research.
3.2.3 Observations
Other than questionnaire and interview, observation also has been used to collect
more data. The observation was done by observing all of the respondents on how they all
dressing. This method will acquire more specific data by observing the respondents. The
respondents could not hide their dressing because the researchers were observed all the
respondents on how they all dressing. The researchers could know whether the
weekdays. The information obtained were noted down and being analyzed in Chapter 4,
Data Analysis.
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3.3 Data collection process
The data collection process of this research involved two stages that are the pilot
The pilot study has been made by distributing the questionnaire to all the
respondents. The pilot study was conducted by giving the questionnaire to UHB2422
lecturer. The lecturer was guided the researchers at the same time. The lecturer was also
corrected the errors in the questionnaire. The lecturer was asked something from the
questionnaire because she does not understand about the questionnaire. At the same time,
The actual study was divided into three part; the distribution of questionnaire,
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3.3.2.1 The distribution of questionnaire
There were fifty respondents who were involved in the actual study. The
during the lectures period to all the respondents. It was taking about almost two
hours for the respondents to answer the questionnaire. After that, the
problems while answering the questions, the researchers will guide and help them
The interview sessions was made via Yahoo Messenger. The conversation session
was taken about half an hour. From the interview, the researchers could extract
some other information about the dress code issue among the undergraduates
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3.3.2.3 The Observations
The observation was done at FKKKSA during before and after lecture
period. The researchers were observed some other respondents during the
to obtain more information. It was also become easier to analyze the results.
The analysis of the research from the interview, questionnaire, and observation
involved some stages. The questionnaire involved three stages that are sorting; coding
and recording the data that were obtained from the questionnaire. The data that the
researchers obtain from the questionnaire were being arranged based on the question in
the questionnaire. After that, the data were being coded manually by the researcher.
Then, the data were transferred to Microsoft Windows Excel. The graph and chart from
Besides that, the analysis data from the interview involved four stages. First is
transcribing the interview to a simple data. Then, the data were being sorted. After that,
the data was coded and the last stage was recorded the data in Excel. All the responds that
The observations also involve some stages like the interview. Data that the
researchers get from the observation were changed to simple data. This method was used
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4.0 Data Analysis
interview and observations of the study. The data were plotted in graphs and pie charts.
This data consisted of number of respondents who were comfortable with dress code
ethics, the number of students displayed their matric card, the way of the students dressed
when attended their classes, number of students who followed the dress code based on
days, the factors why the students followed dress code, and factors why the students
cannot follow the Smart Day (Monday) attire. This chapter also includes the analysis of
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4.1 Findings and Discussions
No
17
Yes
33
Figure 4.1 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Natural Resource (FKKKSA) who are comfortable with dress code. This
chart shows that 33 respondents are comfortable with dress code and 17 respondents are
Some of the students were trained to follow dress codes since they were in
schools and matriculation. Therefore, they felt quite comfortable to obey the dress code
because they used to wear it. On the other hand, the respondents who are uncomfortable
17
50 Respondents 46
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10 4
5
0
Yes No
Figure 4.2: The Graph of Students Who Displayed Their Matric Card
Figure 4.2 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Natural Resource (FKKKSA) who displayed their matric card during
attending their classes. The graph shows that 46 students did not display their matric card
during their classes while four students displayed their matric card.
There were several factors that students did not display their matric card. Some of
the students claimed that wearing the matric card did not affect in their academic
achievement. This is fact supported by David Brunsma, and Rockquemore, (1998) who
say there are no relationships between wearing uniform and increased academic
preparation. Besides that, the students felt that they were senior if they were not
displaying their matric card because normally, only juniors like to display their matric
card.
18
ud
en
St
ts
30 27
25
20
14
15
9
10
5
Figure 4.3 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Natural Resource (FKKKSA) who wore sandals, shoes and slippers
while attending classes. From Figure 3, there are 27 students wearing sandals, 14 students
dress code. On the other hand, students felt more comfortable to wear slippers when they
attended their classes because it is simple, easy to wear and flexible. Meanwhile, the
students who wore shoes were the least compared to the others. However, wearing shoes
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Practice for Future Career
Discipline 16
15
8 6
University 5 Look Cool
good Enhance confidence
perspective in public
Figure 4.4 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Natural Resource (FKKKSA) who follow the dress code ethics upon
some reasons. The factors that encouraged them to follow the dress code ethics are
discipline, university good perspective, enhance confidence in public, look cool and
practice for future career. From the figure, 16 students followed the dress code as a
practice for future career, 15 students thought by following the dress code it can help to
build their discipline, eight students want to maintain their institutions’ good perspective,
six students follow the dress code because they want to look cool while five students
believe that by following the dress code they can enhance their confidence in public.
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Chemical Engineering students will have career that requires them to wear formal
attire. Therefore, following dress code was a practice for their future career. Besides that,
by obeying the dress code students could help to maintain the university perspective
(shsu.edu, June 2001). University will be respected in producing the best graduates to
generate economy of the country as well as to discipline the students. Employers also will
be attracted to hire the students who have good personality in term of their attire besides
their academic achievement. In addition, students who followed the dress code are look
more confident.
Worthless Irritating
6 6
Rushing
9
30
Lazy
20
Uncomfortable
Figure 4.5: The Factors That Students Cannot Follow the Smart Day Attire
Figure 4.5 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Neutral Resource (FKKKSA) that cannot follow the Smart Day
(Monday) attire. This chart shows that 30 respondents were lazy, 20 respondents were
uncomfortable, nine respondents were rushing to class, six respondents thought that
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following dress code were worthless and six respondents thought that following dress
Students were lazy to follow dress code because they did not want to be burdened
by too many rules and they love to dress simple. Most of the students did not follow the
Smart Day attire because they were not used to wear shirt, necktie, and black shoes that
make their foot smelly. While they were afraid if they displayed their matric card it can
be easily broken or lost. When the students overslept, they had no time to prepare
themselves with proper attire required because they had to rush to class. Some of students
believed that following Smart Day attire were worthless and were not effecting their
16
15
14
13
12
10 9
8
7
6
4
3 3
2
0
Figure 4.6: The Number of Students vs Days of following Dress Code in a Week
Figure 4.6 shows the number of students from 2-SKK from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Neutral Resource (FKKKSA) follow the dress code in a week. There are
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seven respondents that did not follow dress code for the entire week, while 15
respondents follow dress code for a day, and 13 respondents follow dress code for two
days only. Respondents who follow dress code in three and four days both are three
respondents. Meanwhile, nine respondents follow the dress code for entire week.
The students who did not follow the dress code for the entire week because they
strongly disagree with dress code ethics set by the administration. Most of students just
barely followed the dress code for one to four days in a week. This was due to Smart Day
attire and rule of laboratory that emphasis the dress code such as wearing shoes as a
precaution while doing experiments. Meanwhile, the students who followed the dress
code for entire week strongly believed the benefits of following the dress code.
The previous dialogue was an interview session with one of the interviewee. From
the previous method of the study, the distribution of the questionnaire was to gain the
quantitative data. Meanwhile, the purpose of the interview session was to obtain the
First of all, the interviewer greeted the interviewee to start the conversation. Then
the interviewer proceeded with the first question. The interviewee was being asked about
their opinion upon the dress code issue among Second year student of Chemical
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was really important to follow the dress code. The interviewee also mentioned that
students could get some benefits if they followed the dress code ethics. Meanwhile, the
interviewee said that the ladies usually followed the dress code however gents were the
opposite. This scenario occurred because the dress code set by the administrator gave
some advantages to the ladies. Generally, the attire for the ladies was ‘baju kurung’ while
for the gents were shirt with necktie and long pants especially on Monday (Smart Day). It
was common for the ladies to wear ‘baju kurung’ even if they were not going to the
classes or lectures. It was suitable for any occasion or event. However, the disadvantage
for the gent was the attire set by the administrator only suitable for them during attending
to their classes. These phenomena caused the gents to disobey the dress code. They feel
more comfortable by wearing round neck, jeans and slippers or sandals when attended to
their classes.
Next, the interviewer asked the interviewee on how to encourage the students to
follow the dress code set by the administrator. First of all the interviewee suggested the
authorities to be stricter towards the students who disobey the dress code ethics. They
should fine the students who are not following the attire rules. Other than that, the
interviewee also recommended that the staff or lecturer should be more strict with the
students. They should not allow the students who were not wore proper clothes during
attending the class. The staff should ignore and admonition those who disobey the attire
rules. Besides that, the interviewee also suggested to set up a campaign about the benefits
of following the dress code ethics toward students. This campaign could give some
impacts to the students. Some of the students maybe did not realize on how important the
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dress code ethics. This interview session took about half an hour. The interviewer
4.3 Observations
the Smart Day attire because they did not want to look awkward in front of bunch of
students who followed the attire. Besides that, the students who did not follow the attire
would make lecturers targeting them to ask questions because they look obviously
Meanwhile, most of 2-SKK students did not follow the dress code during Tuesday
to Friday. They thought it was unnecessary to follow the dress code ethics on the other
days except Monday. In additions, the observations method was more effective to
observe the way the students really dress while attending their classes rather than
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5.0 Conclusions
students who obey the dress code ethics that has been set by the administration. The
2SKK-FKKKSA students’ excuses for not obeying the dress code ethics were determined
and the benefits of dress code ethics towards undergraduates were identified. The primary
from 2-SKK undergraduates randomly. Other than that, an interview was conducted via
Yahoo Messenger.
From the research questions at the beginning of the study, it is now possible to
state that this study sets out to (1) investigate the number of 2SKK-FKKKSA students
who obey the dress code ethics that has been set by the administration (2) find out the
2SKK-FKKKSA students’ excuses for not obeying the dress code ethics, and (3) identify
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5.3 The Findings
i. Most of the 2-SKK students did not follow the dress code ethics that had been set
by the administration.
ii. The students who did not follow the dress code claimed that they were lazy,
iii. The benefits of following the dress code were as a practice for future career,
confidence in public.
As we know, most of the 2-SKK students did not follow the dress code. It may
affect to the students’ future career because employers are more attracted to the
From this study, it shows that most of 2-SKK students did not follow the dress
code. However, these findings only valid for 2-SKK students and cannot be generalized
to other courses in UTM. A larger sample in which similar methods should be used is
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5.5 Limitation of the research
This research faced several limitations. One of them is the research was
conducted only among 2-SKK students and only 50 respondents from 2-SKK students.
This result may vary if the research was conducted with more samples because the result
Besides that, this research did not include the gender of the respondents. This
result may vary if we compare the respondents’ gender. Generally, the attire for the ladies
was ‘baju kurung’ while for the gents were shirt with necktie and long pants especially on
Monday (Smart Day). It was common for the ladies to wear ‘baju kurung’ even if they
were not going to the classes or lectures. Meanwhile, male students feel more
comfortable by wearing round neck, jeans and slippers or sandals when attended to their
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6.0 Recommendations
that could be considered. The following recommendations could help to encourage the
1. The authorities should be more strict towards the students who disobey the dress
code ethics. They should fine the students who are not following the attire rules.
2. Lecturers should be more strict with the students. They should not allow the
students who disobey the attire rule and do not wear proper clothes to attend
class.
3. The staff should advise those students who disobey the attire rules while doing
official matter.
4. Campaigns about the benefits of following the dress code ethics toward students
should be held. This campaign could give some impacts to the students.
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6.2 Recommendations for future researches
Based on the research, there are some suggestions how to improve the future
1. The obvious mistake made by the researchers is only specific to the men dress
code issue. The researchers also should emphasized more on the ladies dress code
in the future.
2. The observations should be carried out more frequent to gain more accurate data
3. Further researches should be carried out on a larger sample which would better
as the sample. More accurate data can be obtained by collecting the data from a
bigger sample. The issue upon the dress code can be observed not only limited to
2SKK FKKKSA but also among all the FKKKSA students or perhaps the whole
university.
4. The interview session should be carried out on more respondents. Therefore, the
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6.3 Final remarks
The research was carried out to know whether the students obey the dress code,
the benefits of dress code and the students’ opinion about this issue in 2SKK students. A
total of 50 students of 2SKK were selected to be the respondents of the research. The
main method of collecting data was distributed a set of questionnaires. From the
support the research. Other than that, some observations were made during the class
In a nutshell, the overall findings of the research signified that most of the 2SKK
undergraduates were not following the dress code ethics. Therefore, some initiatives
31
Reference
Wilder, L. & Key, S. (2007, November 12).Helping students dress for safety and
helping students dress for success. Pros and Cons of School Dress Code from
http://www.fresno.edu/scholars_speak/key_and_wilder/
Taverner, A. (2008, January 29). 10 Reasons Why Sandals are Just Better than Shoes
Any Day from http://www.articlesbase.com/clothing-articles/10-reasons-why-
sandals-are-just-better-than-shoes-any-day-318760.html
David L. Brunsma, D.L. and Rockquemore, K.A. (1998). Effects of student uniforms on
attendance, behavior problems, substance abuse, and academic achievement. Journal of
Education Research, 92(1), 53-62, from
http://www.gate.net/~rwms/UniformBrunRock.html
Creel, J. & Stallings, A. (2001, June 15). Educators' Dress Code Study Shows Numerous
Positive Effects from http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/T@S/2001/DressCode.html
Mitchell, Harold, W, Knechtle & John, C (2003, Fall). Uniforms in public schools and
the first amendment: a constitutional analysis. Journal of Negro Education from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3626/is_200310/ai_n9248747
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Appendix
Appendix A: Questionnaire
Research question 1:
What are the student reactions toward the implementation of smart day
dress code?
YES
NO
YES
NO
A pair of sandals
A pair of shoes
A pair of slippers
33
Research question 2:
1) Do you find it comfortable to wear the attire suggested by the dress code?
YES
NO
2) How often do you follow the dress code in a week (including smart day)
YES
NO
4) In your opinion why students cannot follow the dress code ethics?
Lazy rushing
Look cool
34
What are your suggestions to encourage students to follow the dress
code ethics?
1) What should the UTM administration do to encourage student to follow the dress
code :
35
Appendix B: Interview scripts
IR: Assalamualaikum..
IR: First of all, I would like to thank you for your cooperation to be interviewed.
IR: Okay I would like to start to ask about your opinion upon dress code in UTM?
IE: it is because the students will wear the proper clothes to the class.
IE: erm...so far from what I have see, I think it is work for the girl.
IE: For the boy, just a few of them wear according to the dress code.
IR: Then, what do you think the reason why most of them do not follow the dress code..?
IE: hmm.. It is so hard to answer this question because I followed the code, but I think,
IR: ok...
IR: what are your suggestions to encourage all students to follow dress code ethic?
IE: erm..I think the guard should be everywhere to 'saman' the students who doesn’t wear
according to the code and in the future, they will wear the proper clothes
IE: haha….
36
IR: hooo..
IE: thanks
IR: hermmmm.....
IE: this idea is base from my friends who study at UITM Shah Alam
IE: The guards will fine if they wear the improper clothes during the class time.
IE: erm, other than that, the lecturer should not allowed the students to enter the class
IE: because from campaign, the UTM administrator can expose the students about the
important and the reason why the UTM do the dress code. It is for their future especially
IE: ok
IE: u r welcome...
37