Facebook Effects to College Students

Posted: November 28th, 2013

Face book’s effect on college students

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Statement of Method

The participants to be used in this research are college students and individuals whose lives affect or are affected by college students. Apart from college students, their parents, lecturers, siblings and other members of the society will also participate in the research. The other members of the society are like law enforcement agents and internet service providers. One way of ensuring the safety of those involved in the research is by putting into place measures that encourage confidentiality. Many individuals will at times give information but they will not necessarily want their names quoted, or their identity revealed in the research paper. Some of the measures taken should be identifying the information given by the participants by the use of numbers instead of names. The names are only known to the researchers.

A way of ensuring the safety of the participants can be availing all relevant information to the individuals before allowing them to make the decision of joining the research process. This ensures that the researcher does not take advantage of the individual’s ignorance. They are able to give informed consent. Additional measures are also to be put into place to protect children and the uneducated. The researcher should ensure that the activities are carried out in respect, beneficence and justice. Respect implies treating the participants as individuals with self-rule. Beneficence is the researcher’s efforts to increase the benefits of the research to the participants and reducing the possibilities of harm. Justice implies the equality involved in the selection of research participants. The research should not be carried out using the disadvantaged to benefit the advantaged.

Quantitative variables should be mostly considered while carrying out this research. The independent variable in this research is the use of face book. The dependent variable is the impact of face book on the students. Face book should be manipulated by the researchers to see the impact it has on the college students. The dependent variable is largely dependant on the independent variable. The moderate variables are like the age, gender, year of study and the type of course that the individuals undertake in college. These variables should be considered because they ultimately change the influence that face book has on the students. Female students have a different affiliation to face book as compared to the male students. The course that one undertakes generally translates to the amount of free time individuals will have. This then affects the amount of time they spend on the social network. The year of study of the student also converts to the kind of workload that the individuals have. Different workloads have different influences on the use of Facebook.

Justice and convenience are key factors to be considered while choosing a method for sample selection. The method must not be biased. A biased method of selection will ultimately give faulty results. The method should also be convenient to researchers and participants. Three methods recommended for this research are systematic sampling, stratified random sampling and cluster sampling. In systematic sampling, a particular sequence is used in selecting the participants. An example would be that every fourth student to enter the library is interviewed. In cluster sampling, a cluster of the individuals, where the participants are to chosen is made. This is method favors heterogeneous clusters. An example would be getting fifty students from each department represented in the different colleges. In the stratified random sampling method, strata of the subject are made. Then, from each stratum, random selection is made. A good example is choosing twenty students from each year. The years then become the strata.

The measurements to be put into place include those used to capture the raw data. The data may be captured through direct interview with the participants in the research. This may be done through the answering of questionnaires. The participants may either answer the questionnaires themselves or the researcher may ask questions and indicate the participant’s response to the questionnaire. The questionnaires can be given to the students, their lecturers and even parents. The researchers may also carry out control experiments. This may include two groups of students that are kept under a controlled environment with the conditions. The only difference will be that one group will be given access to the social network, face book while others will be denied this access. Cameras can therefore be used to monitor the behaviour of these two groups of individuals.

A qualitative analysis of the data should then be done. Qualitative analysis is the interpretation given on the textual data and the actions of the participants. This is the data collected from the use if the questionnaire. The researcher is to give a critical analysis of the data in line with the subject of research. The researcher, while analyzing the data, will be seeking to identify the participants’ interpretation of the effect of face book to college students. Qualitative data may also be used to analyze the data collected via the video camera. This will help with the interpretation of the effect of face book. This data will be first hand information. The results of the analysis should then be expressed in a comprehensive way. This should be only after all data has been looked at. The researcher should not manipulate the results of the research to fit into prior expectations. The result should be an uncompromised reflection of the data collected.