WHEN ONLINE AFFECTS THE OFFLINE: THE EFFECT OF

MISINTERPRETATION IN ONLINE CHATS ON THE

EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF STUDENTS
Van den Bos, Lars, University of Utrecht, Princetonplein 5, Buys Ballot Gebouw, 3584 CC,
Utrecht, The Netherlands, larsvdbos@gmail.com
Van den Heuvel, Joey, University of Utrecht, Princetonplein 5, Buys Ballot Gebouw, 3584
CC, Utrecht, The Netherlands, joeyhilll@hotmail.com
Molenaar, Sabine, University of Utrecht, Princetonplein 5, Buys Ballot Gebouw, 3584 CC,
Utrecht, The Netherlands, s.molenaar95@gmail.com
Robeer, Marcel, University of Utrecht, Princetonplein 5, Buys Ballot Gebouw, 3584 CC,
Utrecht, The Netherlands, m.j.robeer@students.uu.nl

Abstract
Online chats have grown to become more popular over the past few years and, needless to say, the
way they distance themselves from time and place are great, but are there any negative consequences
connected to computer-mediated communication (CMC)? To be more specific, can misinterpretations
in CMC affect the emotional well-being of a person in some way? Previously done research indicated
that social skills and interpretations are important aspects in communication and should be taken into
account to uncover the answer to this question. Through the means of an online questionnaire,
information was gathered from 108 Information Sciences students. The analyses of the answers show
that there was a severe lack of females (only seven) in the sample and that other results did not prove
to be significant enough to accept the alternative hypotheses. Only negligible correlations between the
variables have been found (at most) and there were no significant differences present. The research
provides no evidence that misinterpretations in online chats affect the emotional well-being of an
individual.
Keywords: Computer-mediated communication (CMC), Emotional well-being, Misinterpretation,
Social skills, Gender, Students.

Introduction

Since the upswing of modern Internet facilities around the world, people have the ability to chat to
each other via a digital medium. The textual form of this chatter is commonly referred to as computermediated communication (CMC) (Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, 2004). The use of CMC has changed the
way people interact in various ways. Chatting to one another leads to large conversations that might be
interpreted elsewise, since there are no nonverbal cues involved in CMC (Walther, 1992).
Misinterpretation and misperception are terms that clarify the situation, but will not explain why this
occurs.
With this research project, the impact of misinterpretation in CMC on Information Science students
has been examined. The research was limited to this sample frame, since misinterpretation is different
between all kinds of populations and contexts (Jones, 1995). It is interesting to consider the effects on
relatively young people that use computers relatively often, which leads to interesting data on several
aspects, such as their social skills, emotional well-being and how adept someone is at interpreting a
particular chat in a particular context. The person should, for example, be able to determine the real
meaning of a particular conversation or be sure that the receiver of a joke also conceives this as such.
A better view on this aspect would lead to information that gives a more contextualized layer to CMC
in terms of testing fellow students. These students are ought to distinguish different and manage
information flows (Borko 1968), but they should also be capable of doing the same in CMCinformation, because they should not be negatively affected by an incorrect interpretation of a chat.
Therefore, scientific research has been conducted, literature was consulted, and psychological
processes that are all informative for the scientific process were explained, so that several interesting
conclusions can be drawn about this sample.
The research itself is interesting from a societal point of view, because CMC is an integral part of both
personal and professional communication (Ku, Chu & Tseng, 2012). Additionally, since there is still a
lot of knowledge to gather about this topic, the study is interesting from a scientific point of view. The
research project is based on a research question, and is being accompanied by several literature papers
that support the reasoning that will be conducted throughout the entire paper. This helped to
contextualize and clarify the gathered, unknown statistics of this sample.
The main objective of the research is to determine the effects of misinterpretation on online chatting.
The CMC will be studied using students in a one-on-one chat scenario. With this, the following
research question was formulated:
Is there misinterpretation among students in one-on-one instant computer-mediated communication
that has a negative effect on the emotional well-being?

Theory

To form a theoretical foundation for the research, various papers that were relevant were studied. Even
though these papers have a lot to say about various aspects of CMC, misinterpretation and emotional
well-being, there are differences that make this research still viable to do. Emotional adjustments
during chatting have been analyzed by a few researches already, for instance by Zhe & Boucouvalas
(2002), where the researches tried to extract emotions from texts by computers. What is missing in this
paper, is that the focus really lies on the emotions in texts themselves, and not on how these are being
interpreted. This is exactly the gap that this research attempts to fill. The goal of the research, as
previously stated, is to see what the effects are when these emotions are being misunderstood in
textual communication, and what the causes are for these misinterpretations. As a matter of fact, no
literature could be found that is really similar to the topic that was researched.

There are, in fact, other papers that might be interesting for some aspects of this research, such as the
types of chat conversations. According to Link & Wagner (2006) three different types of CMC can be
defined: one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many. Moreover, reasons behind the use of emotions
in chats, and reasons behind using texting or chatting in general, instead of just talking are also aspects
that have been previously researched. Fullwood & Martino (2007) state that the use of emotions
(through the use of emoticons, for example) can help participants of a chat to be able to perceive the
personality and emotions of their chat partner(s). These are all very interesting papers, and they are
useful for this research, but they simply do not cover the principle of misinterpretation, which
therefore is a unique part of the subject to perform research on. The most relative papers might be
Vandergriff (2013) and Taesler & Janneck (2010), where the expression of emotion and use of
emoticons and other typographic markers used in chats are analyzed in these papers. Once again, there
was no further elaboration of how these are being interpreted by the one that is supposed to understand
the receiving emotions from the other contact.
In conclusion, the link between misinterpretation, CMC and emotions is a subject that has not been
researched (enough), which makes this research full of meaning.

Hypotheses

This research consists of three abstract constructs: emotional well-being, Communication

Interpretation Quota (CIQ), and social skills. The only variable in the current research is gender. The
conceptual model (Figure 1) gives a representation of the abstract constructs and the variable, and the
relationships between them. The relationships are represented by arrows, meaning that the construct or
concept which is pointing at another construct or concept has an effect on it. In the conceptual model,
the dependent variable, explained by the independent variable gender and the mediating variable CIQ,
is emotional well-being. The two independent variables, namely social skills and gender, explain a
students CIQ and emotional well-being respectively. The CIQ is explained by social skills and it
explains emotional well-being. Thus, this is a mediating variable. In the following subsections, the
conceptual model and its used terms are elaborated.

Figure 1.

3.1

Conceptual Model

Emotional well-being

First of all, emotional well-being is the main abstract construct in the conceptual model. It is the
construct that is affected by other parts in the conceptual model but does not affect other constructs or
variables by itself. Eventually, this construct is where the key focus in the research lies, and is
therefore seen as the main construct in this research.

Emotional well-being can be described in various ways. It can relate to the quality of someone's life,
having aspects like personal well-being, self-esteem, productivity and happiness. A good emotional
well-being will also reduce chances of stress, disorder and sleeping problems (Fredrickson & Joiner,
2002). This concept - since it is an abstract construct - is key in the research for a potential effect of
misinterpretation in chats on the emotional well-being. This is why all the arrows end up in this
abstract construct in the conceptual model, assuming that gender and the Communication
Interpretation Quota directly affect the emotional well-being.
To determine a students emotional well-being in the sample, a previously created scale by the World
Health Organization: Regional Office for Europe (1998) was used. This scale consists of five
statements which are used to measure the participants emotional well-being on a scale of 1-100. The
questions in this scale were implemented within the survey as a key part to gaining insight in the
emotional well-being of the student.

3.2

Communication Interpretation Quota (CIQ)

To be able to measure the amount of misinterpretations, a self-constructed abstract construct was

added, the Communication Interpretation Quota, or CIQ for short. CIQ determines the frequency of
misinterpretation in small chat conversations that have been created for the research. If there is no case
of misinterpretation, the participants CIQ will increase by one point. The CIQ is then transformed to a
scale ranging from zero to one, with one being no misinterpretation at all, and zero meaning that all
the chats were misinterpreted. The right interpretation of a chat is determined by giving four multiple
choice answers, of which only one corresponds with an answer that the sender would (a) find
appropriate to not notice that there has been a case of misinterpretation, or (b) think that there has not
been a misinterpretation at all.
The Conflict Research Consortium (n.d.) suggests that ambiguous messages are likely to be
misinterpreted. People tend to clarify these messages by using their own expectations. This
misinterpretation can lead to social conflict, which in itself can lead to negative affect (Abbey,
Abramis & Caplan, 1985). Negative affectivity involves the experience of negative emotions and poor
self-concept (Watson & Clark, 1984). Even though not all the aspects of this relationships have been
researched, it shows that there is a possible negative effect of misinterpretation of messages on how
people perceive their own emotions. It is expected that students who had more cases of
misinterpretation in the CIQ questions, and therefore a lower CIQ, will have a significantly lower
emotional well-being after answering the CIQ questions than before answering them. This leads to the
following hypothesis:
H1: A lower CIQ negatively affects the emotional well-being.

3.3

Gender

The variable that affects the emotional well-being is gender. This is a variable that is based on the
characteristics of an individual, and can be measured precisely. Logically, the variable gender can only
have two possible values: male or female. Previous research by Simon (2014) states that females are
usually more negative about their own well-being than men. Men report more frequent positive, and
less frequent negative feelings than women. Men and women may react differently to
misinterpretation and that is why this aspect needs to be taken into account in this research. This leads
to the second hypothesis:
H2: Men tend to have a higher overall emotional well-being in comparison to females.

3.4

Social Skills

The last abstract construct is social skills. The social skills of an individual is the ability to
communicate with other human beings, both verbally and non-verbally, and understanding them
(SkillsYouNeed, n.d.). In short, whether an individual is, or is not, sociable. In the conceptual model,
it was expected that social skills affect the CIQ.
A vital part of understanding others, and responding to them, is based on the ability of individuals to
effectively recognize and use nonverbal behavior (Feldman & Rim, 1991). Having developed social
skills will make people able to understand their conversation partner better. Being sensitive to the
thoughts and feelings of others is key to successfully establish and maintain social relationships
(Pickett, Gardner & Knowles, 2004). Socially skilled people will be better in interpreting
conversations correctly, have a better sense for what direction the chat is going in, and are more
skilled in forming appropriate reactions to the conversation partner. Therefore, social skills affect the
chances of misinterpreting conversations and, in doing so, affect the CIQ. This induces the third, and
final, hypothesis:
H3: There is a positive correlation between social skills and CIQ.

Method

4.1

Participants

The questionnaire was filled in by 108 students following the course Scientific Research Methods at
the University of Utrecht. In general, students form a suitable and adequate sample for this research.
They are not just required to use the computer quite regularly for study-related activities, but a fair
amount of young Dutch people also suffer from negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression
(CBS, 2014). The only downside that could be foreseen was the low quantity of female students
following the course, which also reflected in the actual number of females filling in the questionnaire
(N = 7).

4.2

Materials

A questionnaire is a suitable method to answer the research question. Currently, there are some scales
that already exist, which could be used to determine ones mental condition or state. This was
expanded with short made-up chats, with some context added to them. Subsequently, the correct
interpretation of said chat (the feelings of both chatters involved, the meaning of the conversations and
the purpose of the conversation) was determined. This was used to see if the students in the sample
were able to interpret the chats correctly, or in other words, if there was a case of misinterpretation.
Furthermore, the questionnaire was an easy way to reach a lot of students, while making sure they got
the exact same questions. As a consequence, the differences in the answers were dependent on the
individual itself, and not due to the way the questions were asked.
The questions that were devised for the questionnaire have been categorized, and the answers to these
questions were related to a specific part of the research (the entire questionnaire can be found in the
Appendix A). All questions belong to a variable or abstract construct present in the conceptual model.
Putting aside the general questions, the first question that truly mattered to the research was question
two, determining the gender. Questions three through seven and 21 through 25 have been used to
ascertain the emotional well-being of the participants in the sample. Subsequently, questions eight
through 12 gave insight in a participants social skills, and to conclude, the remaining questions
(questions 13 through 20) determined the CIQ of a participant. There was a grand total of 25
questions. Since the hypotheses were based on the conceptual model, the answers to the questions in

the questionnaire provided enough information for conclusions and determination of whether the
alternative hypotheses should be accepted or rejected. A further elaboration on the questions can be
found below. The questions will be described in order of appearance.
First of all, to measure the variable gender, a binary scale question was asked; simply What is your
sex?. The percentages of these amounts were calculated by dividing the amount of males by the
sample size, the same was done for females.
Secondly, a participants social skills were measured by asking them to determine how well five
statements about their social skills fitted to themselves. The social skills scale had to be accurately
measuring social skills and it should consist of fewer than seven questions. Since none of the social
skills scales could be found that met these requirements, a self-constructed scale was added. This scale
consists of one Likert scale for each of five statements that are closely related to social skills. Hall
(1979) divided social skills into two broad classes of sending and receiving. Riggio (1986) expands
this by subdividing social skills into basic dimensions, which involve skill in sending, receiving and
controlling information. Since the participants answering the questionnaire were taking the role of the
receiver, the five statements also focused on assessing the receiver class of social skills. Furthermore,
the National Research Council (2010) states that social skills means having skills in interpreting verbal
and nonverbal information to respond appropriately. According to the National Research Council,
social skills are equal to complex communication. By adding this information to the scale, the
statements were used to determine someones social skill by rating the awareness of reasons behind
communication, awareness of peoples means and intentions through chat, phone and real life
conversations. In other words, if the participants viewed themselves as being successful in the receiver
role of both verbal and nonverbal complex communication. The scores were then added up, creating
one total score for each individual. The total score was used for the hypotheses testing. This scale,
consisting of five items, was found to be reliable ( = .839).
Thirdly, to measure the abstract construct emotional well-being, five seven-point Likert scales were
used for the statements that relate to emotional well-being. Questions that measure the emotional wellbeing were filled in before and after the test with the chat examples in the questionnaire. The scores of
the individuals were then applied to a previously created scale devised by the World Health
Organization: Regional Office for Europe (1998). This is a scale that could measure someones
emotional well-being with a limited amount of statements. The scores of the five questions were then
added up, and transformed into values ranging from zero to 100, as was also done by the World Health
Organization.
The emotional well-being of a participant was determined twice in the questionnaire. This was done to
appropriately form an answer to the first hypothesis. To properly answer the first hypothesis, not the
effect of the CIQ on the overall emotional well-being is interesting, but whether the emotional wellbeing was negatively affected after there were potential cases of misinterpretation. For hypothesis one,
it was expected that more misinterpretations correlate with a bigger negative influence on emotional
well-being, and thus with a bigger negative difference between the emotional well-being after the
questions concerning misinterpretation and the questions before that. Both of the times that the scale
was used in the questionnaire, it was found that the five items forming the scale were internally consist
according to Cronbachs alpha, with alpha scores of .771 and .761 respectively.
Finally, the CIQ score was measured over eight multiple choice questions with one correct answer
each, meaning that the other multiple choice answers were false. The participants were informed of the
chat environment for every single chat, by adding a general context of the chat followed by a part of
the conversation up to the point the participant had to form an answer. In the context, information such
as the nature of the chat, a comprehensive description of the conversation partner, and the time of day
the chat takes place were given to the participant. By providing this context and the chat itself, the
participant should be sufficiently informed to choose the correct reply to the chat, in order to avoid
misinterpretation.

After gathering data from the questionnaire, the CIQ score was calculated by undertaking multiple
steps. Firstly, the given answers per question were compared to the correct answer as determined
beforehand. The correct answers to the CIQ questions are marked by the bold-type text in the
questions themselves (13 20) in Appendix A. Correct answers were given one point, incorrect
answers were given zero points. Secondly, the total of the score of an individual was calculated.
Finally, this was then divided by eight (due to the presence of eight chat examples). This resulted in
scores varying from zero to one. The scale was eventually used to test hypotheses about where one of
the two variables was the CIQ score. No internal consistency reliability, tested by Cronbachs alpha,
was calculated for the CIQ questions, because it is only an indicator if the both chat partners are
interpreting the chat in the same way. As aforementioned, the CIQ is merely an indicator for the
frequency of misinterpretations by a student in the eight chats combined. None of these eight questions
are meant to be interrelated, and therefore no internal correlations were expected to be present.

4.3

Procedure

The questionnaire started by generally informing the students about the research and the questionnaire,
itself. This was done in form of a general story about and behind this research and the questionnaire.
On purpose, the word misinterpretation in the title was changed into interpretation. This was done
to ensure that participants would fill in the CIQ questions in the questionnaire according to their own
thought, instead of actively searching for an obscure answer. The actual content started off with a
general theoretical basis about misperception and misinterpretation in computer-mediated
communication, to give the participants an idea of what the questionnaire is about. Secondly, the
participants were shown gave a short introduction about the abstract construct emotional well-being,
and related that to the research. The participants were then shown the research question for some extra
information. Thirdly, the participants were given a short overview of how the components of the
questionnaire were ordered and what kind of questions could be expected. Finally, the introduction
ended by giving a time indication to fill in the questionnaire (five to ten minutes) and thanking the
participants in advance. The actual introduction given to the students can be found in Appendix A.
The participants who filled in the questionnaire were not treated any differently across certain
conditions. Male or female, and which team the participant was from, did not make any difference in
the way participants had to fill in the questionnaire.
After finishing the questionnaire, the participants were thanked for filling in the survey, thereby
informing the participants the questionnaire was done.

Results

Data from one participant were dropped because the data was found to be corrupt.
The first hypothesis, A higher recognition of CIQs in chats leads to a higher emotional well-being,
was tested using a Pearsons correlation test. For the test, the Communication Interpretation Quota of
students (M = .36, SD = .14) were compared to the difference in their score of emotional well-being
before and after the CIQ questions (M = -1.14, SD = 9.60). Analysis showed an insignificant and
negligible negative correlation, r(107) = -.12, p = .103, one-tailed.
Hypothesis two, which states that men tend to have a higher overall emotional well-being in
comparison to females, was tested using the independent sample T-test. In this case, the differences
between gender in their emotional well-being, both before and after, were tested. The low number of
female students (N = 7), compared to the number of male students (N = 101) that filled in the study,
means that no conclusions based on gender can be drawn from this data. Analysis showed no
significant difference between males (M = .58, SD = .14) and females (M = .60, SD = .11) on the
emotional well-being measured before the CIQ-test, t(106) = -.31, p = .381, one-tailed. Additionally,

analysis also did not show a significant difference between males (M = .57, SD = .14) and females (M
= .56, SD = .11) in their emotional well-being (after), t(106) = .22, p = .413, one-tailed.

Figure 2.

Scatter plot for the correlation of a students Communication Interpretation Quota

and their social skills

For the third hypothesis, the correlation between a students social skills and their CIQ was measured
using Pearsons correlation. As can be seen in Figure 2, the spread of the dots on the scatter plot
provide no clear linear trend between the two variables. Even though there seems to be a positive
association with constant scatter, this relationship is too weak to show any clear relationship. The
coefficient of determination (R2) confirms this, with only 1.6% common variance between the two
variables. The lack of a correlation as suggested in the scatter plot is also shown in Pearsons
correlation test, where no significant correlation was found between social skills (M = 28.22, SD =
4.16) and Communication Interpretation Quota (M = .36, SD = .14), r(107) = .13, p = .098, one-tailed.

Conclusion

In an effort to find a negative effect of misinterpretation on the emotional well-being of students in

one-on-one computer mediated communications, data gathered from a self-constructed questionnaire,
filled in by 108 students following the course Scientific Research Methods, were collected. A few
conclusions can be drawn in relation to the alternative hypotheses, based on the gathered data. Results
from the questionnaire regarding the first alternative hypothesis, H1 A lower CIQ negatively affects

the emotional well-being, produced no statistically significant correlation. Abbey, Ambramis &
Caplan (1985) implied that misinterpretation could lead to negative affect. This negative affect
involves negative emotion and poor self-concept (Watson & Clark, 1984). Hence, a significant
negative correlation was expected between the CIQ and the difference in emotional well-being. Even
though the correlation was not significant, it demonstrated a negative correlation.
The questionnaire displayed no evidence that the second alternative hypothesis, H2 Men tend to have
a higher overall emotional well-being in comparison to females, is true. Results were inconclusive,
due to the lack of females in the sample. Therefore, this null hypothesis cannot be disproven and the
alternative hypothesis that has been devised should not be accepted. This conclusion is not in line with
previous research, because Simon (2014) suggested that men are generally more positive about their
own emotional well-being than women.
Likewise, the results revealed no indication that higher social skills lead to a higher CIQ.
Consequently, the last alternative hypothesis, There is a positive correlation between social skills and
CIQ, should also be rejected. The only evidence that was found regarding this aspect of the
questionnaire is that there might be an extremely weak positive correlation between social skills and
CIQ, which should be neglected altogether. The absence of a significant correlation is in disagreement
with Pickett, Gardner and Knowles (2004). They see being sensitive to thoughts and feelings as key to
social skills.
To conclude, misinterpretation among students in one-on-one computer-mediated communication does
not have a negative effect on the emotional well-being of said students. According to the theory
described earlier, online chats can have a certain emotional weight to them and can be interpreted
incorrectly. Apparently though, no evidence has been found in this research to prove that this
misinterpretation does in fact negatively affect the emotional well-being.

Discussion

There are several limitations to this research that have a potential effect on either the quality of the
findings, or the ability to effectively answer the hypotheses. Firstly, there was a lack of show-up
females in the sample. The sample size contained 108 participants, of which only 6.48% were women.
Even though the difference between genders may be present in the general population, the difference
between the two genders in this sample had to be very large to be statistically significant.
Additionally, this gender problem is part of the second limitation in the research. The sample that
filled in the questionnaire is difficult to generalize. This difficulty has two main reasons. First and
foremost, because the actual percentage of females in universities in the Netherlands is 52% (CBS,
2012), compared to the 6.48% females in the sample. Secondly, because it is questionable if
Information Sciences students are a homogeneous representation of the overall student population.
The third limitation of the research became evident in the two self-constructed abstract constructs.
Although the first of these two, social skills, exhibited a high internal consistency reliability, the
statements making up social skills rest on a frequency of time. This frequency of time was distributed
over seven possible Likert scale answers, ranging from none of the time to all of time, that could be
interpreted differently by each individual. This different interpretation of frequencies could mean that
the answers on this Likert scale are incomparable. Two participants intending to give the same
frequency of time could choose two different Likert scale answers, and likewise, two participants
choosing the same answer could have a different frequency of time in mind.
Besides social skills, there were several problems encountered with the Communication Interpretation
Quota, the second self-constructed abstract construct. Firstly, students were not given an indicator
whether the chosen answer lead to misinterpretation or not, which could explain the lack of a
significant effect on the emotional well-being. As was apparent in the theory, the emotional well-being
of a person is only affected if there is a known misinterpretation between both conversation partners.

Not giving an indication of the occurrence of this misinterpretation made a theoretical effect on a
persons emotions improbable. Secondly, since the answers to the CIQ questions were limited to
multiple choice, students could not form their own reaction to the chat, as is done in a real
conversation. This imposes a potential misinterpretation of the four given answers students could
choose from. Even though one of the four answers is the correct answer that is expected by the sender,
and is therefore the answer that is correct to avoid misinterpretation, it does not mean that the receiver
could not have formed an answer that would keep up the conversation, without the sender even
knowing that his sent message was misinterpreted. For instance, chats could change topics, or
reactions themselves could be ambiguous. This shows that for the creation of a new abstract construct,
a whole process is needed to ensure that it is both reliable and valid in all possible ways. For example,
it is currently unknown if the CIQ gives a good indication of misinterpretation. Unfortunately, since
the main focus of the research was on providing an answer to the main question, there was no room for
forming good and solid abstract constructs.
Finally, the method chosen to gather data for the hypothesis, a questionnaire, posed four main
problems itself. Firstly, by establishing an individuals emotional well-being within just one survey,
the timespan between the two measurements was really short. Chat sessions themselves could even
outlast the length of the survey. Even though a students emotional well-being might be negatively
affected by misinterpretation, no indications were found for when this would occur. This might be
directly after the chat, or there might be a delay before this takes place. Secondly, the usage of Likert
scales in the questionnaire introduced a central tendency bias. Students filling in the questionnaire tend
to avoid the most extreme answers, such as I feel no commitment at all in the emotional well-being
questions, because the occurrence of these is very scarce in the minds perception. Thirdly, in a survey
people have to review themselves, which adds a social desirability bias. There is a possibility that
students will put themselves in the best possible light, instead of giving an objective answer. Lastly,
the multiple choice questions to measure ones CIQ are subject to the probability of guessing a correct
answer.
Future research should ensure that the two newly introduced abstract constructs are highly reliable and
valid. Especially, it should form a good abstract construct for measuring misinterpretation in chats.
Furthermore, future research should focus on experimental research to minimize potential effects of
bias, control extraneous variables, and compensate the shortcomings the questionnaire brings along.

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Proceedings of International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and DSPs, 164168.

Appendix A: Questionnaire
The interpretation of online chats
Since the upswing of modern internet facilities around the world, people have the ability to chat to
each other via a digital medium. The textual form of this chatter is commonly referred to as computermediated communication (CMC) (Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, 2004). The use of CMC has changed the
way people interact in various ways. Chatting to one another leads to large conversations, that might
be interpreted elsewise, since there are no nonverbal cues involved in CMC (Walther, 1992).
Misinterpretation and misperception are terms that clarify the situation, but will not explain why this
occurs.
With this survey, we will be trying to identify the consequences of misinterpretation on the emotional
well-being. Emotional well-being is your ability to understand the value of your emotions and use
them to move your life forward in positive directions. Therefore is the examination of fluctuations in
emotional well-being a substantial part of our research. We will be trying to get an answer on the real
effects of misinterpretations and answer our research question:
Is there misinterpretation among students in one-on-one instant computer-mediated
communication that has a negative effect on the emotional well-being?
In this survey we will be asking some general questions first, such as team allocation and sex.
Afterwards we will be asking a few questions about your social skills and emotional well-being at the
moment you are filling in this survey.
With this general information we will compare the scores you make on our made online chats. It will
be your task to choose an answer that fits the a chat situation most correctly to your opinion.
Finally, we will ask some five questions about your life experiences.
All information will be repeated when necessary.
The survey will take about 5 - 10 minutes to fill in.
We thank you in advance for filling in our survey,
Joey van den Heuvel
Marcel Robeer
Sabine Molenaar
Lars van den Bos

Questions
1. What team do you attend at the workshops of Scientific Research Methods?
If you have not been allocated to a team, please select none.
Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 8

Team 9

Team 10

Team 4

Team 5

Team 11

Team 6

Team 12

Team 7

Team 14

Team 15

Team 16

Team 17

Team 18

Team 19

Team 20

Team 21

Team 22

Team 23

Team 24

Team 25

Team 26

Team 27

Team 28

Team 29

Team 30

Team 31

Team 32

None

2. What is your sex?

Male

Female

3-7. Please fill in what answer fits you the most.

At no
time
3. I have felt cheerful and I
have been in good spirits
4. I have felt calm and relaxed
5. I have felt active and
vigorous
6. I woke up feeling refreshed
and rested.
7. My daily life has been filled
with things that interest me

Some of
the time

Less than
half of the
time

Half of
the time

More than
half of the
time

Most of
the time

All of
the time

8-12. Please fill in what answer fits you the most.

I feel no
commitment
at all

I really don't
feel much
commitment

I can
I don't feel
I can
relate to
very
relate to
Neutral
that
committed to
that a
pretty
that
bit
well

That
really
sounds
like me

8. I'm aware of peoples

reasons to communicate
when communicating.
9. I'm well aware of
what people mean in
real conversations.
10. I'm well aware of
what people mean in
telephone conversations.
11. I'm well aware of
what people mean in
chat conversations.
12. I understand
something after it's been
explained one single
time.

Now, we will providing you 7 chats. In these chats you're playing a role of one of the two people who are
chatting to each other. In front of each chat you can see the context-situation about what you already know
about the other person.
In the end of each chat, is a gap provided, whereat a response to the other chatter can be filled in. We have
provided 4 possible answers that could fit the gap. It is your task to determine which sentence or word fits the
situation the best.
13. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.
Context: Richard has been your best friend for years. He loves to joke around and you two rarely fight. Richard
can be a little impulsive and rough though, but youve learned to see past that. Time of conversation 22:57-23:01
You: Richard, did you finish the exercises for math yet?
Richard: Yes, didnt you?
You: No, I couldnt understand half of it.
Richard: Jesus Christ, are you truly that stupid?
You: ______
A: Im not stupid!
B: Youre an asshole.
C: Very funny, just help me out.
D: Have fun with your math skills, bye.

14. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.

Context: You and David have been friends since high school. Ever since you two met, David has been giving
you lectures on 24Kitchen, which he tries to watch 24/7; he is a big fan and loves to cook. Time of conversation
17:29-17:32
You: Hey, David!
David: Hey there.
You: How have you been?
David: Not so great actually, and you?
You: Im fine, but whats wrong?
David: I dropped the bass.
You: ______
A: Thats a terrible joke.
B: Is it unusable now?
C: Pick it up then.
D: Are you listening to Nicky Minaj or something?

15. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.

Context: Lindsay is your best friend, she is very nice, but she has a negative side; shes a big fan of snarky
comments. Youve learned to live with it, so you two never fight over it when she does that. Time of
conversation 15:43-15:49
Lindsay: I left my keys on the kitchen counter!
You: You cant get in the house?
Lindsay: No, I locked myself outside.
You: So you will have to stay out then?
Lindsay: No, Im going to throw a brick through a window and climb in.
You: ______
A: Wont your parents get mad?
B: Id use a club or bat or something if I were you.
C: Dont hurt yourself!
D: I was just making conversation.

16. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.

Context:
This conversation is between 17-year old teenagers Kayleigh and you. You have been knowing each other for 3
years and frequently hang out together. You are talking about daily occurrences and Kayleigh has seen some
remarkable things lately, which, of course, should be told to you. You know that Kayleighs family is very afraid
of surgical operations and their whole family has a normal cup size. Time of conversation: 14:53 - 14:56.
Kayleigh: Dudette, that is sooo awesome :3!
You: I know right! My mom has been hilarious all day and she
should faint for such a job!
Kayleigh: How much do you get paid an hour?
You: About 39$ an hour.
Kayleigh: No way.
You: How have you been doing lately?
Kayleigh: Yesterday I went to the plastic surgery with my mom!
Kayleigh: And today, I saw the most fattest titties!
You: ______
A: Did you do your own?
B: Whose titties?
C: Titties?
D: Did your mom do a boobjob?
17. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.
Context: This conversation is between a 39 year old researcher K. Jokomoto and you. You two have been
discussing about a research paper that should be written about obese people in Japan. The size of the group is the
main point of the discussion in this chat. You know that K. Jokomoto has already written his hypotheses and has
a good career in writing research papers. Time of conversation: 9:39 9:42.
K. Jokomoto: This research paper is going to be great!
I have just made my hypotheses.
You: Good work mate. Hope you will amaze the audience
with your life changing experiment.
K. Jokomoto: Of course it will. But some literary sources have
been lacking currently. I hope I will find it soon
You: I hope so too.
K. Jokomoto: Although, I am having problems with declaring the
size of obese people. I guess a larger test-group is a must.
You: ______
A: Yes, the larger the better.
B: Feeding them with more fattening products would be a solution.
C: You should be seeking at hospitals for that issue.
D: Not really, if you use your statistic failure error correctly, a decent judgment can be made.

18. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.

Context: The conversation is between you and a female colleague. Anna loves all kinds of animals, and her
female friend, Laura, has just gotten a cat. Anna is telling you about her friends new cat. Time of conversation:
11:55 - 12:04.
Anna:
You:
Anna:
You:
Anna:
Anna:
You:
Anna:
You:

My friend just got the cutest cat!

What color is it?
It is so cute, with its grey fur and blue eyes <3
Aww..
Too bad its not going well between Laura and her boyfriend.
Even though she put effort in fixing the relationship.
What happened?
He gave her cat food!
____

A: No way, thats disgusting!

B: Why did he even do that?
C: That is the most stupid thing he couldve done
D: I wonder if that is enough to fix it
19. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.
Context: This conversation is between a man, James and his girlfriend Emma (you). They have been in a very
good relationship for 1 year now. In this scenario, James is bringing a female friend of him home after doing
tennis together. Emma saw James and the other girl, and starts the following chat conversation. Time of
conversation: 17:50 - 17:53.
Emma: Hey love, who was that girl you were just with??
James: Her name was Chelsey.
Emma: Whoever it was, I want to know: Do you like her?
James: She is a nice girl..
Emma: ______
A: So you are into her!
B: Ah so it's nothing between you two
C: Whatever she is to you, I don't care.
D: I really hope you are not leaving me for her.

20. Please fill in the best answer to fit the gap.

Context: This situation is about a 19 year old guy, Mark, flirting with the 18 year old girl he likes, named Cita
(you). They met each other in a club, where they kissed and danced with each at night. The conversation states
from 9:34 - 9:40
Cita: Goodmorning:):)
Mark: Morning gorgeous!
Mark: I dreamed about you :o..
Cita: Tell me more!
Mark: I only remember you came to sleep over here...
Cita: _____
A: Ahhpyjama party like when I was a little kid!!!
B: Oh we were naughty hmm:)?
C: I'm actually really tired right and I want to go back to bed.
D: Can't imagine that. I really like my own bed.
To finalize this survey, please fill in these last questions about your life experiences.
21-25. Please fill in what answer fits you at each statement.
At no Some of
time the time
21. I have felt vividly and I have
been in a good mood
22. I have feltharmonious
23. I have felt busy and dynamic
in my life
24. I felt refreshed and energic in
the first minutes of the morning
25. I have done things in my life
that excite me.
We would like to thank you for filling in our survey.
Yours as Team B15,
Joey van den Heuvel
Marcel Robeer
Sabine Molenaar
Lars van den Bos

Less than
half of the
time

Half of More than

the time half of the
time

Most of
the time

All of
the time

Appendix B: SPSS output

Descriptive measures
Gender

Statistics
What is your sex?
N
Valid
Missing
Mode
Range
Minimum
Maximum

108
0
0
1
0
1

What is your sex?

Valid

Male
Female
Total

Frequency Percent
101
93,5
7
6,5
108
100,0

Emotional well-being
Before

Statistics
Emotional well-being
(before)
N
Valid
108
Missing
0
Mean
58,00
Median
60,00
Std. Deviation
14,035
Range
75
Minimum
15
Maximum
90

Cumulative
Valid Percent
Percent
93,5
93,5
6,5
100,0
100,0

Emotional well-being (before)

Valid

15
24
30
36
39
42
45
48
51
54
57
60
63
66
69
72
75
78
81
90
Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

1
,9
,9
3
2,8
2,8
1
,9
,9
5
4,6
4,6
2
1,9
1,9
4
3,7
3,7
5
4,6
4,6
8
7,4
7,4
8
7,4
7,4
7
6,5
6,5
6
5,6
5,6
6
5,6
5,6
10
9,3
9,3
10
9,3
9,3
10
9,3
9,3
11
10,2
10,2
7
6,5
6,5
2
1,9
1,9
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
108
100,0
100,0

After

Statistics
Emotional well-being (after)
N
Valid
108
Missing
0
Mean
56,86
Median
57,00
Std. Deviation
14,133
Range
81
Minimum
9
Maximum
90

Cumulative
Percent
,9
3,7
4,6
9,3
11,1
14,8
19,4
26,9
34,3
40,7
46,3
51,9
61,1
70,4
79,6
89,8
96,3
98,1
99,1
100,0

Emotional well-being (after)

Valid

9
21
24
33
36
39
42
45
48
51
54
57
60
63
66
69
72
75
78
81
87
90
Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
2
1,9
1,9
5
4,6
4,6
2
1,9
1,9
5
4,6
4,6
7
6,5
6,5
6
5,6
5,6
12
11,1
11,1
8
7,4
7,4
7
6,5
6,5
10
9,3
9,3
7
6,5
6,5
6
5,6
5,6
7
6,5
6,5
8
7,4
7,4
9
8,3
8,3
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
108
100,0
100,0

Cumulative
Percent
,9
1,9
2,8
4,6
9,3
11,1
15,7
22,2
27,8
38,9
46,3
52,8
62,0
68,5
74,1
80,6
88,0
96,3
97,2
98,1
99,1
100,0

Difference between before and after

Statistics
Difference between emotional
well-being before and after
N
Valid
108
Missing
0
Mean
-1,14
Std. Error of Mean
,924
Median
,00
Mode
0
Std. Deviation
9,599
Variance
92,139
Minimum
-30
Maximum
27
Percentiles 25
-6,00
50
,00
75
3,00

Difference between emotional well-being before and after

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Percent
Valid -30
1
,9
,9
,9
-27
1
,9
,9
1,9
-21
1
,9
,9
2,8
-18
3
2,8
2,8
5,6
-15
4
3,7
3,7
9,3
-12
5
4,6
4,6
13,9
-9
8
7,4
7,4
21,3
-6
12
11,1
11,1
32,4
-3
15
13,9
13,9
46,3
0
22
20,4
20,4
66,7
3
11
10,2
10,2
76,9
6
6
5,6
5,6
82,4
9
9
8,3
8,3
90,7
12
4
3,7
3,7
94,4
15
1
,9
,9
95,4
18
3
2,8
2,8
98,1
24
1
,9
,9
99,1
27
1
,9
,9
100,0
Total
108
100,0
100,0

Social skills

Statistics
Social skills
N
Valid
Missing
Mean
Median
Std. Deviation
Range
Minimum
Maximum

108
0
28,22
29,00
4,163
26
9
35

Social skills

Valid

9
11
17
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
2
1,9
1,9
4
3,7
3,7
2
1,9
1,9
3
2,8
2,8
4
3,7
3,7
8
7,4
7,4
9
8,3
8,3
10
9,3
9,3
15
13,9
13,9
24
22,2
22,2
10
9,3
9,3
4
3,7
3,7
2
1,9
1,9
5
4,6
4,6
3
2,8
2,8
108
100,0
100,0

Communication Interpretation Quota (CIQ)

Statistics
Overall Communication
Interpretation Quota (CIQ)
N
Valid
107
Missing
1
Mean
,35514
Median
,37500
Std. Deviation
,141744
Range
,875
Minimum
,000
Maximum
,875

Cumulative
Percent
,9
1,9
2,8
4,6
8,3
10,2
13,0
16,7
24,1
32,4
41,7
55,6
77,8
87,0
90,7
92,6
97,2
100,0

Overall Communication Interpretation Quota (CIQ)

Valid

,000
,125
,250
,375
,500
,625
,750
,875
Total
Missing System
Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

1
,9
,9
7
6,5
6,5
37
34,3
34,6
35
32,4
32,7
20
18,5
18,7
5
4,6
4,7
1
,9
,9
1
,9
,9
107
99,1
100,0
1
,9
108
100,0

Question nr. Correct answer

13
C
14
B
15
D
16
C
17
C
18
D
19
B
20
B

Wrong
15
82
99
90
92
80
64
32

Correct
93
26
9
18
16
28
43
76

Cumulative
Percent
,9
7,5
42,1
74,8
93,5
98,1
99,1
100,0

Total
108
108
108
108
108
108
107
108

Reliability (Cronbachs alpha)

Emotional well-being (before)

The scale used to measure emotional well-being (before) has a Cronbachs alpha higher than
.7 and is therefore reliable. The Cronbachs alpha cannot be increased by deleting one of the
items.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of Items
,771
5

Item-Total Statistics

I have felt cheerful and

I have been in good
spirits
I have felt calm and
relaxed.
I have felt active and
vigorous.
I woke up feeling
refreshed and rested.
My daily life has been
filled with things that
interest me.

Scale
Scale Mean if Variance if
Item Deleted Item Deleted
19,08
14,750

Corrected
Cronbach's
Item-Total Alpha if Item
Correlation
Deleted
,618
,706

19,26

15,203

,530

,734

19,48

13,803

,677

,682

20,27

13,563

,509

,751

19,24

16,727

,414

,769

Emotional well-being (after)

The scale used to measure emotional well-being (after) has a Cronbachs alpha higher than .7
and is therefore reliable. By deleting one item (I felt refreshed and energetic in the first
minutes of the morning), Cronbachs alpha can be increased. However, we retain the same
scale, since using the same skills for before and after will be better for the comparison of both
scales.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of Items
,761
5

Item-Total Statistics
Scale
Scale Mean if Variance if
Item Deleted Item Deleted
I have felt vividly and I
18,83
15,318
have been in a good
mood.
I have felt harmonious.
19,02
14,000
I have felt busy and
18,76
16,577
dynamic in my life.
I felt refreshed and
20,17
13,822
energetic in the first
minutes of the morning.
I have done things in
19,04
15,550
my life that excite me.

Corrected
Cronbach's
Item-Total Alpha if Item
Correlation
Deleted
,666
,681

,717
,435

,653
,748

,410

,790

,533

,717

Social skills

The scale used to measure social skills has a Cronbachs alpha higher than .7 and is therefore
reliable. None of the items, when deleted, can increase the Cronbachs alpha.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of Items
,839
5

Item-Total Statistics

I'm well aware of

people's reasons to
communicate when
communicating.
I'm well aware of what
people mean in real
conversations.
I'm well aware of what
people mean in
telephone
conversations.
I'm well aware of what
people mean in chat
conversations.
I understand something
after it's been explained
one single time.

Scale
Scale Mean if Variance if
Item Deleted Item Deleted
22,64
11,242

Corrected
Cronbach's
Item-Total Alpha if Item
Correlation
Deleted
,651
,804

22,25

11,834

,744

,785

22,54

11,971

,716

,792

22,95

10,680

,617

,819

22,51

11,972

,543

,834

Hypotheses testing
H1: A lower CIQ negatively affects the emotional well-being

For this hypothesis, the Pearson correlation between CIQ and the difference in emotional
well-being (before and after) was tested using an = .05. The correlation between the two can
be neglected, with r(107) = -.12, p = .103, one-tailed.

Descriptive Statistics

Overall Communication
Interpretation Quota
(CIQ)
Difference between
emotional well-being
before and after

Mean
,35514

Std.
Deviation
,141744

N
107

-1,14

9,599

108

Correlations

Overall Communication Pearson Correlation

Interpretation Quota
Sig. (1-tailed)
(CIQ)
N
Difference between
Pearson Correlation
emotional well-being
Sig. (1-tailed)
before and after
N

Overall
Communicati
on
Interpretation
Quota (CIQ)
1
107
-,123
,103
107

Difference
between
emotional
well-being
before and
after
-,123
,103
107
1
108

H2: Men tend to have a higher overall emotional well-being in comparison to females

The number of females (N = 7) is too low to draw any conclusions from for this hypothesis.
The t-test is taken at an = .05 level. Looking at the second table, when the significance of
Levenes Test is above .05, the top row will be used to draw conclusions from. Since this is
the case for both emotional well-being before, as well as after, the top rows are used for each
of the variables. The p-values are then divided by two, to form a one-tailed test (p = .381 and
p = .413 respectively). However, as aforementioned, none of this data is useful, since the
number of females who filled in the questionnaire is too low.
Group Statistics

Emotional well-being
(before)
Emotional well-being
(after)

What is your sex?

Male
Female
Male
Female

N
101
7
101
7

Mean
,578911
,595714
,569406
,557143

Std.
Deviation
,1427789
,1059650
,1437485
,1079682

Std. Error
Mean
,0142070
,0400510
,0143035
,0408082

Independent Samples Test

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances

Emotional
wellbeing
(before)

F Sig.
,778 ,380

t-test for Equality of Means

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig.
Difference
(2Mean
Std. Error
df tailed) Difference Difference Lower
Upper
106 ,761 -,0168034 ,0550901
- ,0924181
,1260248

Equal
variances
,305
assumed
Equal
- 7,598
variances
,395
not
assumed
Emotional Equal
1,121 ,292 ,221 106
wellvariances
being
assumed
(after)
Equal
,284 7,558
variances
not
assumed

,703 -,0168034

,0424961

- ,0821034
,1157102

,826

,0122631

,0554857

- ,1222689
,0977427

,784

,0122631

,0432423

- ,1130043
,0884782

H3: There is a positive correlation between social skills and CIQ

This hypothesis was also tested at an = .05 level. A Pearson correlation test was used to
determine the correlation between both variables. In the second table, the correlation between
the two variables can be found to be r(107) = .13, with a p = .098, one-tailed.
Descriptive Statistics

Social skills
Communication
Interpretation Quota
(CIQ)

Mean
28,22
,35514

Std.
Deviation
4,163
,141744

N
108
107

Correlations

Social skills

Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
N
Overall Communication Pearson Correlation
Interpretation Quota
Sig. (1-tailed)
(CIQ)
N

Social skills
1
108
,126
,098
107

Overall
Communicati
on
Interpretation
Quota (CIQ)
,126
,098
107
1
107

Appendix C: Improvements and corrections

H1 is now tested using Pearsons correlation.

All hypotheses that suggest a direction are tested one-tailed.
The reason for conducting the research is clearer in the Introduction section.
An answer to the main question is given in the conclusion.
For each hypothesis conclusion, the accordance with theory and implications are clearer.
Correct answers for the CIQ questions are provided (Appendix A).
Discussion is improved and expanded.
The first alternative hypothesis (H1) is rewritten to reflect the actual research more clearly.
Abstract constructs are now explained more clearly, including why and how they were tested in this
way.
Paragraphs taking a detour from the main story have been removed.
Overall, the story throughout the paper is made more consistent.
The conceptual model is explained, including a report on the independent and dependent variables.
Two sources that were lost since the removal of text read before making the paper (Deliverable 4)
were re-added.
The title has been changed to a more appropriate reflection of the actual research.

Appendix D: Research project evaluation

Lars van den Bos
In this research Ive learned a lot and I had great pleasure working with my group. The collaboration
and communication went very well in my opinion. We had a weekly schedule made, so that we had a
good overview of our work and what the status was of it. This way we mostly had the deliverable
content done in time, so that we could all do a check on the paper (on spelling, inconsistencies etc)
before delivering it. Working this way lead us to being on time with finishing the deliverable for each
weeks deadline. Our ways of working also prevented possible stressing for deadlines and secured
quality of our work.
Mostly I was focused on doing the writing and theoretical parts, like our conceptual model. The
statistic tasks that had to be done were not really one of my qualities, so Im really glad I could work
on the writing parts instead of the statistics (in SPSS).

Joey van den Heuvel

During the 10 weeks of Scientific Research Methods we have worked efficiently and hard on all
different aspects of the research paper that delivered us a paper where we can be proud of. This
process went, in my opinion, smoothly and thus with no complications. Everyone had his own task
assigned and delivered a well written piece or statistics calculations that could immediately be used in
the paper to write a consistent and good-understandable paper. The crew of this course provided useful
information and examined some lacks in our paper that we changed afterwards.
My share in the project is to coordinate the activities and write certain parts of the research paper. I
also assisted and examined others work, to find any inconsistencies in certain parts. All in all, I have
enjoyed the project and it was very interesting to conduct scientific research.

Sabine Molenaar
The collaboration went very smoothly. We never had any trouble working together, if you ask me.
Everyone in the group did the work that was assigned to them, we helped each other when help was
needed and no one complained. Everything was handed in on time and without too much stress. I think
we can be quite proud of the amount of work we have completed and what we have accomplished.
The only big mistake we made was during the very first week of this project. We (ironically enough)
misinterpreted the assignment for the first deliverable, which lead to the deliverable being incomplete.
Besides, the overall score of bad on said deliverable was obviously below our personal standards.
Sometimes the assignments for the week came across as a bit vague, so we were not always
immediately sure of what to do and how to do it.
Since math/statistics is not really my strong suit, I focused on the verbal parts of the research. I wrote
multiple sections of the paper, created some questions for the questionnaire and I spell check
everything, because I do not appreciate the presence of any spelling/grammar mistakes in my work.

Marcel Robeer
Overall, I am very glad with how this research project turned out. The collaboration between all four
team members went very well. Even though some of us had more trouble with the statistics part of the
course than others, everyone took the time and effort to put as many of their strengths into the

collaboration as possible. As a point of criticism for both myself as well as for the rest of the team, in
the future we should be more self-critical on the final phases of handing in a deliverable. While
creating the best possible version of every aspect of the research, we sometimes tend to forget to check
if the story told is consistent and if it truly conveys the message we want it to convey. This point of
criticism became apparent when the feedback from the two teaching assistants was retrieved. Our own
teaching assistant judged the paper as being clearer than the external teaching assistant, since the
external teaching assistant did not have the background information we gave our own teaching
assistant throughout the course.
For the research project, my main focus was on the statistical (SPSS) part, and on ensuring that
components were properly combined and in accordance with ECIS-standards. Moreover, I spent a lot
of time controlling the work that had been made with regards to content and proper use of the English
language, as well as rewriting parts to form one single story throughout the paper.