How do researchers measure precrastination?: A literature review

When looking at the driving factors behind the ways in which people make choices on which actions to take, one of the more commonly referenced factors that presents itself is that of procrastination. The concept of procrastination is most simply known as the desire to prolong starting a task for as long as possible, whether due to a lack of interest or due to the task being deemed too difficult. One factor that has not been commonly referenced is the newer concept of precrastination. As its name suggests, precrastination is the inverse of procrastination, in that it describes the desire to begin a task as soon as possible. While there are many methods available to measure the tendency of a person to procrastinate, the way to measure precrastination has not yet been clearly defined. The purpose of this research is to review the literature regarding precrastination in the hope of answering the primary research question of how exactly is precrastination being measured in these studies? Based on 15 different studies, this research found that, the essence of measuring precrastination is so far gathered using either surveys, cognitive or behavioral observations, or a combination of the two. It is hopeful that the reviewing of the literature can help enlighten researchers on how to best capture the precrastinating behavior across different contexts. Implications and future research directions will be discussed.