Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
EFFECTS ON SOCIAL NETWORK SITES
USAGE ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
AND ACHIEVEMENTS: A STUDY ON
STUDENTS OF
UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA
Submitted to:
Muhammad Intisar Alam
Lecturer
Department of Marketing
University of Dhaka
Submitted by:
Group: Radiant
No
1
2
3
4
5
Name
Samrina Jafrin
MD. Touhiduzzaman Tarun
Kaniz Fatema
Md. Fahad Hossain
Fatema Tuz Johoora
Roll
12
66
78
108
154
Executive Summary
Social networking site recently has been very popular for communication. In social networking
site people are engaging with many other activities that benefit them in the long run. Effects of
social networking sites on the performance of academic engagement and performance are very
significant and social networking sites play a significant role on the performance of the students.
This effect will be shown on the report. This report has been based on the sample of university
of Dhaka. The sample of the report is very important in this report because hey resembles the
impact of social media on themselves.
social networking sites affect the academic performance of students in University. This part will
explain the background of research, statement of the research problem, purpose of research,
importance of research, limitations of research, definition of terms, and summary. Social
networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities, events, interests with
people in their network.
Lastly based on the finding of our research we will give some recommendation regarding the
effects of social networking sites on the engagement and achievement of the Dhaka University
students.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER I Introduction.............................................................................................................6
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................6
1.2 Statement of the problem.......................................................................................................7
1.3 Purpose of the study...............................................................................................................7
1.5 Research Hypothesis..............................................................................................................8
CHAPTER II Background............................................................................................................9
2.1 Literature review........................................................................................................................9
2.2 Definition of terms...............................................................................................................11
CHAPTER III Methodology.......................................................................................................12
3.1 Population and sampling......................................................................................................12
3.2 Procedure and Time Frame..................................................................................................12
3.4 Analysis plan........................................................................................................................13
3.5 Validity and reliability..........................................................................................................13
3.6 Assumptions of the research................................................................................................13
3.7 Scope and limitations...........................................................................................................14
CHAPTER IV Results................................................................................................................14
4.1 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.........................................................................................14
4.2 Reporting of Data.................................................................................................................22
CHAPTER V - Conclusions and recommendations......................................................................23
5.1 Summary of the study..........................................................................................................23
5.2 Discussion explanation of findings......................................................................................24
5.3 Recommendations................................................................................................................24
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................25
Appendix........................................................................................................................................27
CHAPTER I Introduction
1.1 Introduction
7
Social networking is the connection of friends or family together which allow you to
communicate easily. With social networking sites you can have a long chain of friends you can
chat or share information or ideal with. According to Boyd & Ellison (2008), SNS can be
defined as web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile
within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and
view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. At the
most basic level social networking sites allow users to set up online profiles or personal
homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page functions as the users own
webpage and includes profile information ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion,
politics and hometown, to their favorite films, books quotes and what they like doing in their
spare time. In addition to profile information, users can design the appearance of their page, and
add content such as photos, video clips, music and files. The purpose of this research was to
determine whether the social networking sites affect the academic performance and the
achievements of the Students of University of Dhaka.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Statement of the problem is the most important part of the research study. This study is basically
concentrating on the relationship and impacts of the social networking sites and the academic
performance and achieves of the students. For this reason this study aims to identify,
Effects of the use of social network sites on student engagement and achievements in the context
of students of University of Dhaka
1.3 Purpose of the study
Online social networking sites engage students and need to be studied as distributors of
information. The medium of internet has evolved with growth in its applications. The interactive
nature of online environments has expanded with social networks. Connecting through social
networks started as a niche activity, but with time it is now a phenomenon. The social
networking sites are being used in various ways like forming communities, chatting, blogging
etc. Apart from that different institutions even nowadays are forming communities or groups on
different Social Networking Sites. This study has a broad purpose to reveal the relationship
between the social media usage by the students of the University of Dhaka and their academic
performance and achieves. The specific purpose of the study is the following:
To discover the relationship among being interactive with peers and teachers and using
social networking sites
To determine relationship among using social networking sites and student engagement
To identify relationship among the uses of social networking sites by the students and the
process of collaborative learning
To discover the relationship among the uses of social networking sites by the students and
their academic performance
1.4 Research questions
The following set of hypothesis can identify and recognize the relationship between the uses of
social networking sites by the students and the performance and achievements. The research
hypothesis are the followings:
H0: There is no statistically significant relationship among the uses of social networking sites by
the students and the student engagement and achievements.
H1: There is a statistically significant relationship among being interactive with peers and
teachers and using social networking sites
H2: There is a statistically significant relationship among using social networking sites and
student engagement
H3: There is a statistically significant relationship among the uses of social networking sites by
the students and the process of collaborative learning
H4: There is a statistically significant relationship among the uses of social networking sites by
the students and their academic performance
1.5 Research Hypothesis
This research was carried out to answer the following research questions:
a) Is there any statistically significant relationship among being interactive with peers and
teachers and using social networking sites?
9
b) Is there any statistically significant relationship among using social networking sites and
student engagement?
c) Is there any statistically significant relationship among the uses of social networking sites by
the students and the process of collaborative learning?
d) Is there any statistically significant relationship among the uses of social networking sites by
the students and academic performance?
CHAPTER II Background
2.1 Literature review
The increased use of Social Networking Websites has become an international phenomenon in
the past several years. What started out as a hobby for some computer literate people has become
a social norm and way of life for people from all over the world (Boyd, 2007). Teenagers and
young adults have especially embraced these sites as a way to connect with their peers, share
information, reinvent their personalities, and showcase their social lives (Boyd, 2007). With the
increase of technology used for communicating with others and the popularity of the Internet,
Social Networking has become an activity that is done primarily on the Internet, with sites like
MySpace, Face book, Bebo, Friendster, and Xanga (Coyle et al., 2008).
Many people actively participate in content generation and value creation, and several
researchers (e.g., Young et al., 2009; Vasalou et al., 2010) have examined their profiles to
determine why and to what extent they are keen on posting their entire identity, sharing pictures
and videos, and indicating their religious affiliations, marital status, and political orientations on
the internet. These users interact with others, exchange information about their interests, raise
discussions about new topics, follows news about specific topics on different Social Networking
Sites. Teenagers now use the Internet for the majority their daily activities and information
gathering, as opposed to older generations who used resources like the television or newspaper
(Lewis, 2008). A recent survey showed that approximately ninety percent of teens in the United
States have Internet access, and about seventy-five percent of these teens use the Internet more
than once per day (Kist, 2008). This study also showed that approximately half of all teens who
have Internet access are also members of social networking sites, and use the Internet to make
plans and socialize with friends (Kist, 2008). In September, 2005, out of total adult internet users
(18-29 years) 16% were those who were using any social networking site and this percentage
increased to 86% on May, 2010 (www.marketingcharts.com).Tuckman(1975) defined
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SNS and academic performance of the student users. Students, using internet frequently, scored
higher on reading skills test and had higher grades as well (Linda et al., 2006). An ever
increasing growth rate of SNS not only calls for the parental and teacher monitoring of student
users but also attracting the focus of academicians and researchers towards this phenomenon.
Students use of social networking continues to create challenges and issues for higher education
professionals and keeping abreast of these challenges has proved difficult because of the speed at
which new technologies are being introduced (Bugeja, 2006; Cariccioso, 2006; Finder, 2006;
Quindlen, 2006; Shier, 2005).There is evidence that higher education institutions have taken
initiatives in disclosing information about online social networking involvement to their
students(Read et al., 2006). An example is Cornell Universitys Thoughts on Facebook, which
creates students awareness about the responsible use of online social networking (Mitrano,
2006). Following Cornell University, many institutions have adopted this approach to informing
students by using anecdotal literature to guide their actions (Kord, 2008). The study looks at
Social networks in relation to its impact on academic needs. Social networks are studied with an
educational context; they are part of a virtual learning environment. The classroom is shifting in
time and space with e learning. The rampant use of social networks for learning purposes by
students makes this study imperative. SNS are part of this virtual learning environment where the
classroom is shifting in time and space.
2.2 Definition of terms
The followings were the key terms used in this research and their constitutive and operational
definitions:
Social Networking Sites Social networking is web-based services that allow individuals to
create a public profile, to create a list of users with whom to share connection, and view and
cross the connections within the system. Most social network services are web-based and provide
means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Social
network sites are varied and they incorporate new information and communication tools such as,
mobile connectivity, photo/video/sharing and blogging. Online community services are
sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network
service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are
12
group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities,
events, interests with people in their network.
Academic Performance Academic performance refers to the extent to which the student of
university of Dhaka is successful in the academic results in terms of CGPA and SGPA.
Academic Achievements Academic achievements refers to the extent to which the student is
successful in the extra-curricular activities as in Competition, Debate, Cultural etc.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Time
limit
(Day)
3-4
Literature review
4-5
Methodology
Data collection
4-5
Data analysis
5-6
Presentation of findings
2-3
13
Discussion of findings
2-3
1-2
Editing
2-3
Total
Table: Gantt chart of the research work (Own task)
30 days
FBS
Arts
Science
IER
Valid
16
36
Excluded
Total
30
14
1. Everyone in DU has access to new media. (And we know that is not true, especially to
university students.). Almost 60% of the students of DU have access in Internet. This
60% includes both heavy users and light users.
2. Every sample has good intension and will not harm others. (We know that is not true
because some pretty bad people use new media to pursue evil ends.)
3. Everyone can correct each other. (We know that is not true because education levels vary,
ignorance persists on the Web, information access varies etc.)
4. Everything is transparent. (We know that is not true because manipulation goes on,
identities get hidden, advertisers make bloggers support products without owning up to
being paid and so on. See "Truth in Advertising, Offline or Online".)
5. Everyone can connect with each other.
3.7 Scope and limitations
In this report we have taken the samples from the DU. We have covered almost all the
departments and tried to make it balanced. Our main limitation is we havent covered all the
university students of Bangladesh. We only have taken 30 samples from different departments of
DU and our sample size is not so big. There were time and resource limitations.
CHAPTER IV Results
4.1 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
To explore the relationship between social networks and impact on students academic
performance, we chose a sample of 30 students who were in the age bracket of 18 to 25 years.
The students were chosen from the different departments of DU. Gender Percentage Male 40%
Female 60%.
15
16
11
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
17
People in these days uses many types of social media and their number can be like more that 3 or
4. People are very excited to uses different types of social media to communicate with others.
For different purposes they use different types of social media. Downloading music and videos
were not only educational but consisted of several genres. The highest score revealed that the
students used it for chatting. Downloading music/videos, posting photos and chatting can be
categorized as entertainment use. Educational activities like publishing articles, participating in
quizzes/poll, communicating with teachers comprised of a lesser score.
They spent on social networks per day. 10% spent half hour, 17% spent one hour per day 23%
spent two hours per day and 50% spent more than two hours. They were no respondents who
spent zero hours on the social networks. The consumption levels for more than two hours are the
highest (see Fig). Time Spent on Social Network 0 hour 1/2 hour 1 hour 2 hour 3 hour 4 hour.
30min
1
7
1 hour
2 hours
3 hours
More than 3 hours
0 hours
18
13
17
No
19
20
0
1
21
9
8
7
5
4
3
4
3
2
1
0
1
6
5
4
3
22
Social media can also be used as an E-learning medium. As it is very interactive medium so that
can be as useful for learning purposes of the students. Samples of the research have also agreed
to that issue. Only 3 samples of 30 have disagreed to that fact that is not useful medium for E
learning. Yes No Social Networks Effective as E-learning tool Yes No.
The students who supported the use of social networking as an e-learning tool gave suggestions
of how the SNS could be used to help them; which are as follows:
Special social networks for understanding assignments.
Download supporting information in images on SNS to help with assignment
Students should be able to exchange information and experiences with teachers
Form specific groups related to each major
Special pages where teachers can upload material related to specific topics that students
can read while using SNS.
Forum where students can clear doubts
Online trouble shooting for practical projects etc.
4.2 Reporting of Data
We have used some statistical tools to analyze the data, like mean, standard deviation, regression,
correlation.
Variables
Correlation Analysis
.83
Collaborative Learning
.52
Academic Performance
.55
Academic Achievement
.73
23
Correlation analysis is actually tells the strength of relationship and the degrre of relationship
between the dependent and independent variables. This results shows that the variables are
positively correlated with each other. The correlation between the social media usage and the
interaction with the peer and faculties is .83 which implies a significant strong positive
correlation between the variables. Then the .52 correlation also refers to a positive correlation
between the collaborative learning and the social media use. Then academic performance has a
positive but much less positive correlation than the academic achievement with the social media
use.
Dependent
Independent
Variables
Variables
Social
Media Academic
Use
SE
R-Square
t-Stat
.3424
.538
.290
2.119
Performance
2.464
Academic
Achievement
Regression analysis is done and results are shown in the table above. Independent variable the
social media use and the dependent variable the academic performance and achievement are
measured. All these results are consistent and the t-stat is more than 2 which shows that the data
are consistent.
CHAPTER V - Conclusions and recommendations
5.1 Summary of the study
The students, on a whole, gave a more scoring response to using online networks to write their
class assignments and inclusion of college related student focused groups and social networks.
The observations drawn from empirical data showed that students have started using social
networks for academic purposes. While some students perceived SNS as a distraction and were
hesitant to share their feelings, a high percentage of respondents found it an avenue to search for
information, join educational networks and look for career opportunities. The use of SNS gave
them a sense of belonging to an academic community, as their online friends were mostly those
24
who they met in college. Two step flow interactions, student to student and teacher to student
favored academic learning through social networks. The use of these networks has to be
disciplined as it can lead to distraction from education. The research also concludes that a large
section of students capitalize on the importance of human classroom face to face instruction, the
social networks used for educational / tutoring should be able to apply these principles in a
virtual classroom.
5.2 Discussion explanation of findings
Technical factors like low speeds, poor network connectivity may impede this process on a social
networking site and may cause gaps in communication.
According to the responses it can be concluded that social networks if designed and tailored to
the specific educational needs of each student SNS can be a useful instrument in improving
academic performance of University of Dhaka.
5.3 Recommendations
The recommendation from our research findings are given below It was found that these social networking sites are acting as great medium for view
mobilization. People are feeling free in sharing their thoughts on any issue and even
youth is raising their voice against social acts like violation of Human Rights, corruption
etc.
These social networking sites are proving themselves a boon at least in bringing thoughts
of people on these social issues.
It is also being generated from the information so obtained that people are getting more
aware about the social issues mainly from Facebook. But instead of getting this
knowledge the people generally dont discuss them and if they do, they just sign off the
sites after discussion and the issue just remains focused on web only.
It was found that womens are spending less time on these sites mainly for 10-30 minutes
yet they are more sensitive towards these social issues.
Most of the people think that youth can play a positive role in changing our society which
is represent in most of the responses to different queries.
25
REFERENCES
Ahmed, I., & Qazi, T. F. (2011). A look out for academic impacts of Social networking
sites
(SNSs):
student
based
perspective. African
Journal
of
Business
26
Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J., & Hooley, T. (2009). Facebook, social integration and
informal learning at university:It is more for socialising and talking to friends about
work than for actually doing work. Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 141-155.
Marketingcharts. (2010). MarketingCharts: charts & data for marketers in online, Excel
and PowerPoint formats. [online] Available at: http://www.marketingcharts.com
[Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].
Narayanan, A. and Shmatikov, V. (2009). De-anonymizing Social Networks. 2009 30th
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.
Oskouei, R. J. (2010). Impact of non academic websites usage on female students
academic performance (a case study). In 2010 International Conference on Educational
and Network Technology (pp. 29-33).
Palfrey, J., Gasser, U. and Boyd, D. (2010).
Edinburgh:
Churchill
Livingstone/Elsevier.
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