2008 Woodie Awards
Studying sleep deprivation
Q&A with Professor John Robinson
Kellie Woodhouse
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
The baggy-eyed guy who strolls into your 8 a.m. class late might be sleeping more than you think.
That may be the case, according to sociology professors John Robinson and Steve Martin, who published research yesterday saying that most Americans - and most college students - sleep more than they think.
Robinson spoke to The Diamondback yesterday about how students perceive their sleep.
DIAMONDBACK: What's your study about?
John Robinson: How people spend time. This was all people age 18 to 64, the working-age population. ... You take a cross section of people. The data is now collected by the Census Bureau. I did the studies from 1965 to 2000, the Census Bureau has done the studies since then, and we're comparing our results to the Census Bureau. ... They identify people absolutely at random. The last I looked, we have about 37,000 people sampled. We interpret the results.
DBK: What's the brief gist of your results?
Robinson: Well, the main point is that Americans are not sleeping less than they used to. In a matter a fact, until the latest survey that we did, sleeping hours were just right on almost the eight-hour figure.
DBK: And what is your method?
Robinson: Instead of asking people how many hours of sleep they get a night, we asked people, 'What did you do yesterday?' This is more of a long-term recollection of what they did yesterday, so it's not asking people how much they slept. ... The people tell us in their own words what they were doing yesterday. ... The whole idea is that people tell us what they are doing. We don't estimate, because when you estimate, you have a certain picture in your mind about how you want to present yourself.
DBK: Is this also a class?
Robinson: Yeah, Sociology 450. [The class is separate from the study, but it is similar.] Students are different from people.
DBK: So in the study, do participants go through every detail of their day?
That may be the case, according to sociology professors John Robinson and Steve Martin, who published research yesterday saying that most Americans - and most college students - sleep more than they think.
Robinson spoke to The Diamondback yesterday about how students perceive their sleep.
DIAMONDBACK: What's your study about?
John Robinson: How people spend time. This was all people age 18 to 64, the working-age population. ... You take a cross section of people. The data is now collected by the Census Bureau. I did the studies from 1965 to 2000, the Census Bureau has done the studies since then, and we're comparing our results to the Census Bureau. ... They identify people absolutely at random. The last I looked, we have about 37,000 people sampled. We interpret the results.
DBK: What's the brief gist of your results?
Robinson: Well, the main point is that Americans are not sleeping less than they used to. In a matter a fact, until the latest survey that we did, sleeping hours were just right on almost the eight-hour figure.
DBK: And what is your method?
Robinson: Instead of asking people how many hours of sleep they get a night, we asked people, 'What did you do yesterday?' This is more of a long-term recollection of what they did yesterday, so it's not asking people how much they slept. ... The people tell us in their own words what they were doing yesterday. ... The whole idea is that people tell us what they are doing. We don't estimate, because when you estimate, you have a certain picture in your mind about how you want to present yourself.
DBK: Is this also a class?
Robinson: Yeah, Sociology 450. [The class is separate from the study, but it is similar.] Students are different from people.
DBK: So in the study, do participants go through every detail of their day?
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