1.0 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 officers 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.). 1.1 Background of Problem Nowadays, dress codes ethics in public universities become something that students can take lightly. Almost of students in Institut Pengajian Tinggi (IPT) ignore the dress codes ethics everyday. 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. Universitys administration did not have other choice but to take action in order to control students dressing by sending the students out of classroom, or fine them. If the universitys administration did not take action, this problem become worse than it does and can effect the universitys dignity and students 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 students 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. 1.3 Purpose of Study The purpose of this research was to investigate the undergraduates in UTM, specifically the second year Chemical Engineering (2SKK) undergraduates of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources (FKKKSA) dressing style during attending their classes. Thus, this research is to analyze the number of students which follow the dress code, students excuses for not following the dress code ethics, and the benefits of dress code ethics towards students.

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1.4 Objectives of Study The objectives of this research were: (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 students excuses for not obeying the dress code ethics (c) To identify the benefits of dress code ethics towards undergraduates

1.5 Research Questions This research seeks to answer the following research questions: 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?

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1.6 Scope of Study The study involved all the 2SKK-FKKKSA of the 2008/2009 undergraduates in UTM. The participants involved in this study are consisted of Malay, Indian, and Chinese students. The number of the participants is 50 students. Besides, the data was collected through questionnaires which were distributed among all 2SKK-FKKKSA students, and also through some random interviews and observations. 1.7 Significance of Study The significance of this study is important because this finding can discover students prevalence towards the dress code ethics. Besides that, this research can identify students 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

This chapter discusses the benefits of dress code to students, disadvantages of 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 applied. Finally, this chapter ends with a conclusive statement.

2.2 Benefit of dress code This part discussed about the benefits of dress code.

2.2.1 Reduce Violence 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 differentiating strangers from students in the school building (Department of Justice, 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 concentrate on academics and aiding in recognition of intruders.

2.2.2 Increase Student Learning and Attitudes Uniforms are asserted to increase student learning and attitudes towards school through enhancing the learning environment (Stover, 1990), raising school pride (Jarchow, 1992), increasing student achievement (Thomas, 1994), raising levels of preparedness (Thomas, 1994), and promoting conformity to organizational goals (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 reported liking to wear uniforms.

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2.2.3 Decrease Behavior Problems Uniforms are attributed to decreasing behavior problems by increasing attendance rates, lowering suspension rates, and decreasing substance use among the student body (Gursky, 1996).

2.2.4 Psychological Outcome Many psychological outcomes are attributed to wearing uniforms including: increased self-esteem (Thomas, 1994), increased spirit (Jarchow, 1992), and increased feelings of "oneness" among students (LaPointe, Holoman, & Alleyne, 1992). Nathan Joseph (1986) has formulated an analysis of clothing as communication which provides a 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 must suppress individuality (1986). Within the context of an educational institution,

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school uniforms clearly function as a symbol of membership to the school community. The presence of a uniform in schools automatically implies a two-tiered hierarchical 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 members. School uniforms act as suppressers of students' individuality by mandating standardization of appearance and removing student expression through clothing.

2.3 Disadvantages of Dress Code

Besides the benefits of following the dress code, there are also negative effects of dress code. Based on answer.yahoo.com, dress code stifles students' creativity in 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 class and it will lead to sexual criminal.

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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 certain attire in dress code will make them uncomfortable. 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 information from a group of respondents.

3.1 Selection of respondents

The respondents selection was conducted based on non-random (non-probability) 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. Moreover, it is more convenient to interact directly to the respondents. The respondents involve in this research were from Second year undergraduate Chemical Engineering course (2-SKK) in Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources University Technology Malaysia (UTM).

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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 approaches in gathering and analyzing data. 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 problem that occurred in real situation.

3.2.1 Questionnaire As discussed earlier, in order to gather the information, a set of questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire was really beneficial to our investigation and study. The questionnaire contain of a number of close-ended questions. It was also consisting of 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 selected randomly to be interviewed. The interview was conducted by asking the respondent via Yahoo Messenger. The interview was done by recording the whole interview via chatting in Yahoo Messenger, through the respondent emoticon, the respondent react and how the respondent answering the question. 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 respondents follow the dress code or not. The observations were made while the respondents go to their lectures on 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 study and the actual study.

3.3.1 The pilot study 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 questionnaire was corrected.

3.3.2 The actual study The actual study was divided into three part; the distribution of questionnaire, interview session, and the observations.

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3.3.2.1 The distribution of questionnaire

There were fifty respondents who were involved in the actual study. The respondents were picked randomly. The questionnaires were being distributed 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 questionnaires were collected by the researchers. If the respondents got any problems while answering the questions, the researchers will guide and help them to understand the questionnaire. The questionnaire was bringing a lot of information to the researchers. The responses were analyzed by the researchers as well as to get information through the questionnaire.

3.3.2.2 The Interview sessions

One of the respondents who answered the questionnaire was selected randomly by the researchers. The respondent was interviewed by the researchers. 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 second year SKK.

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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 observation session. Furthermore, observation session could help the researchers to obtain more information. It was also become easier to analyze the results.

3.4 Analysis of Data

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 the Excel was used to represent all the data. 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 were obtain from the respondent being analysis by the researcher. 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 because the researchers could easily sort the data.

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4.0 Data Analysis

This chapter discusses the analysis of data collection from questionnaires, 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 the interview session via Yahoo Messenger.

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4.1 Findings and Discussions

No 17 Yes 33

Figure 4.1: Number of Respondent Who Comfortable With Dress Code

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 uncomfortable with dress code.

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 with the dress code think that it were a burden to them.

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50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Respondents

46

4

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

30 25 20 15

St ud en ts27

14 9

10 5 0 Sandals Shoes Slippers

Figure 4.3: Students Attire When Attend Classes 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 wearing slippers and nine students wearing shoes during classes.

Most of them preferred to wear sandals while attending classes because it is simple, comfortable, fashionable (articlesbase.com, January 2008), and it is still obeying 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 is officially following the dress code ethics.

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Practice for Future Career Discipline 15 16

8 University good perspective

5 Enhance confidence in public

6 Look Cool

Figure 4.4: Factors Why the Students Followed Dress Code 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 6 Rushing 9

Irritating 6

20 Uncomfortable

30 Lazy

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 code were irritating to them. 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 study while some of them believed it was irritating.

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Number of Students

15 13 9 7 3 3

0 day

1 day

2 days Days

3 days

4 days

5 days

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.

4.2 The Interview Session 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 qualitative data via Yahoo Messenger.

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 Engineering (2-SKK) in Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources (FKKKSA) of University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The interviewee thought that it

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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 thanked to the interviewee for the information and the commitment.

4.3 Observations

Based on observations on Smart Day (Monday), most of 2-SKK students follow 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 different from the other students who wore proper attire.

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 questionnaire and interview methods.

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5.0 Conclusions

5.1 Overview of Study

This research was constructed to investigate the number of 2SKK-FKKKSA 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 data were collected by designing and distributing a set of questionnaire to 50 respondents from 2-SKK undergraduates randomly. Other than that, an interview was conducted via Yahoo Messenger.

5.2 The Objectives

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 the benefits of dress code ethics towards undergraduates.

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5.3 The Findings

From this study, the following conclusions can be made:

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, uncomfortable, rushing to class, irritate and worthless.

iii.

The benefits of following the dress code were as a practice for future career, discipline, to maintain university good perspective, look cool, and enhance confidence in public.

5.4 Implication of the Findings

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 candidates who have good appearance instead of their academic achievement.

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 needed to better represent the entire university population.

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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 will be more accurate.

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 classes. As a result, they refused to obey the dress code ethics.

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6.0 Recommendations

6.1 Recommendation Based on Findings

Based on the implications of the findings, there were several recommendations that could be considered. The following recommendations could help to encourage the students to follow the dress code such as:

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 research upon the dress code issue such as:

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 and to confirm the validity of the data collected. 3. Further researches should be carried out on a larger sample which would better represent the university or faculty population instead of taking a small population 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 researchers will be able to get more data from the respondents.

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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 questionnaires, the information was analyzed. Meanwhile, an interview was conducted to support the research. Other than that, some observations were made during the class period to get some additional data.

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 should be taken as recommended earlier.

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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-whysandals-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 Writing assignments. (n.d.). Retrieved http://www.lycos.com/info/uniform.html February 25, 2008 from

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Appendix Appendix A: Questionnaire

Research question 1:What are the student reactions toward the implementation of smart day dress code? 1) Do you display your matric card every day?YES NO

2) Do you wear tie every Monday?YES NO

3) When you attend lecture, do you wearA pair of sandals A pair of shoes A pair of slippers

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Research question 2:What are the perceptions of student toward the implementation of dress code?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) 0 day 1 day 2 days 3 days 4 days 5 days 6 days 7 days

3) Do you obey the smart day dress code perfectly? YES NO

4) In your opinion why students cannot follow the dress code ethics? Irritating Lazy uncomfortable rushing worthless

5) Do you agree with the implementation of the dress code, why? As a practice for future career Look cool Enhance confident in public University good perspective discipline

Research question 3:34

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 : Strongly Agree Sue the student that not follow the rule move advertisement about dress code emphasise more on dress code towards students disallow students that not follow dress code ethics from attending classes organize the campaigns about advantages of dress code Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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Appendix B: Interview scripts Interviewer (IR): Ubaidullah Interviewee (IE): Saifa IR: Assalamualaikum.. IR: Can I interview you about the dress code? IE: ouwh, yes you can. 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: You are welcome. IE: oo.. In my opinion, it is good to have a dress code in UTM. IE: it is because the students will wear the proper clothes to the class. IR: But, how far does it work? 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. IE: Especially on Monday. 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, boys dont like to wear formal clothes and it is not comfortable. 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 doesnt wear according to the code and in the future, they will wear the proper clothes IE: haha.

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IR: hooo.. IR: that is a good idea... IE: thanks IR: hermmmm..... IE: this idea is base from my friends who study at UITM Shah Alam IR: hahaokay, you may proceed. IE: The guards will fine if they wear the improper clothes during the class time. IR: then, any other suggestion.. IE: erm, other than that, the lecturer should not allowed the students to enter the class IE: that all I can give to u, I have no idea right now. IE: maybe campaign will help IR: why do you think campaign will work? 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 to enter the interview and go to the work. IR: ouwh, ok.. IE: ok IR: Thats all from me IR: thank you very much for your cooperation IE: u r welcome...

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