REPORT WRITING OF RESEARCH METHODS IN EDUCATION

(AUTHOR: HANIA ASIF).

Article #1.
Bulletin of Education and Research December 2012, Vol. 34, No. 2 pp.19-28
Pattern of Facebook usage and its Impact on Academic Performance
of University Students: A Gender Based Comparison
Authors: Ahsan ul Haq & Sohail Chand.

Introduction:
The use of the Internet has become a central part of the developed and
developing societies around the world. Approximately 78.1 percent of the
United States population use Internet on a regular basis (Internet World
Stats, 2012).
This research focuses on finding the influence of the Internet usage,
Facebook usage, online media usage for education and non-education, and
students interest in university on students academic performance and their
face to- face communication. Prior research (Anderson, 2001; Brignall& Van
Valey, 2005; Coyne et al., 2013; Hargittai, 2007; Jones & Fox, 2009; Neu,
2009; Pierce, 2009)has extensively focused on the influence of the Internet
and social networks on either student academic performance or face-to-face
communication (social engagement). Factors such as, student interest in
university, and use of online media for education and non-education have
not been studied earlier together in the current context.

Review of Literature:
Pempek et al., (2009) found that students spend approximately 30
minutes on Facebook throughout the day as part of their daily routine.
Facebook was used most often for social communication, mostly with friends
with whom the students had a pre-established offline relationship. They
discussed suggestions through the use of social networking sites for the
development of identity and peer relationships.
Aghazamani (2010) studied the students motivations for Facebook
usage. The results of his research suggest that male spend more time on
Facebook than females. The appraisal showed that undergraduate students
login their Facebook account more times per day than graduate students.
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Friendship was named the most favorite activity among male undergraduate
students.
In the study of Kirschner and Karpinski (2010), they found a significant
negative relationship between Facebook use and academic performance.
Facebook users reported lower mean GPAs and reported spending fewer
hours per week studying on average than Facebook nonusers. A majority of
students claimed to use Facebook accounts at least once day.
Junco (2011) studied the relationship between Facebook usage and
student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes.
Facebook was found negatively correlated with engagement scale score and
positively correlated with time spent in co-curricular activities.
Junco (2012) examined the relationship among numerous measures of
frequency of Facebook use with time spent preparing for class and overall
GPAs. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that time spent on
Facebook was strongly and significantly negatively correlated with overall
GPA.
Roblyer et al.,(2010) reported that Facebook have the potential to
become an appreciated source to support students educational
communications and associations with faculty. A comparison between faculty
and student responses indicates that students are more open to the
possibility of using Facebook and similar technologies to support classroom
work while Faculty members are more likely to use more traditional
technologies such as email.
Hargittai (2008) studied a sample of 1,060 students and found that
overall 88% students use social network site, 74% report using at least one
social network site frequently and only one student have not heard any of
the six social network sites included on the survey. Over 12% respondents do
not use any of them. Facebook is the most popular service among these
students, with almost four in five using it, and over half of the overall sample
doing so repeatedly.
Lenhart and Madden (2007) found that youngsters use social networks
for the creation and the maintenance of friendships. 7% of the teens were
using the Facebook, 22% use social network sites several times a day, 26%
once a day, 49% use social network sites to make new friends, 91% using to
stay in touch with existing friends. Youngsters from middle and lower income

families were more likely to say that they use the sites to make new friends
than higher income teens.
Khan (2009) found that 65 percent of Facebook users accessed their
account daily in several times to see if they had received new messages. The
amount of time spent varied from just a few minutes to more than an hour
on Facebook at each login. The Ohio report shows significant lower GPAs
among students who use Facebook than those who didnt use the site. 79
percent students using Facebook believed that the time spent on site had no
impact on their academic performance. According to the study, teens spend
an average of 31 hours a week online.
Ellison et al., (2007) conducted research to examine the relationship
between use of Facebook, and the establishment and maintenance of social
capital and ones ability to stay linked with members of a previously settled
community.

Conclusion:
In order to conclude we can say, majority of the students use Facebook
and it is equally popular among male and females. Male students though
spend more time on internet browsing as compared to female students but
female students spend more time on the Facebook. Moreover, Facebook
usage more adversely affects the academic performance of male students as
compared to female students.

Article# 2:
Of Farah.
The effects of Facebook on students academic performances.
By:
Anas Farah.

Introduction:
A new set of research deals with the topic of social media networks
effects on performance and productivity. Indeed, much research done by

universities highlight a potential distraction created by social media, which

affects students performances.
Writers on the topic are split into two groups. The conservatives
defend the case that social media indeed affects performances and
decreases the productivity of its users. On the other hand, the modernists
argue that social media do not have any effect on performance and
productivity and could potentially be used in order to increase users
productivity and performance. While the surveys are indeed a very common
way to get information on some of the practices on social media, in the case
the distractions created by social media, the users tend to overestimate or
underestimate the time spend on social media and how it could potentially
has an effect on them.
Facebook encourages users to multitask and therefore decrease their
cognitive resources and attention span. And finally, that Facebook represents
a real distraction from potential productive activity and it is an enabler of
procrastination. This is important because we can understand better how
students could increase their productivity.

Review Of literature:
Much of the research on social media focused on the effects of social
media on identity. Scholars argued that people are getting addicted to social
media networks. Marche Is Facebook making us Lonely? (2012),
argues that social media provide us with a platform where we can control
how we want our social life. This control is what makes the users addictive.
The literature on the topic of students performances and its relation to social
media use compromises two groups. On one hand the modern optimists
argue that social media doesnt impact students performances. Syarif
Husin Lubis and all argue that the time spent on Facebook did not have
correlation with CGPA(p.2). In other words, Facebook use doesnt impact
students performances. Syarifs research group findings imply that addiction
to Facebook has no impact on students productivity and academic
performances. On the other hand, the conservative skeptics think that social
media networks like Facebook negatively impact students academic
performances. Reynol Junco claims that time spent on Facebook was
strongly and significantly negatively related to overall GPA (p.1). For Junco,
the time spent on social media networks like Facebook has a negative impact
on students performances. Thus, the addiction to social media networks like
Facebook negatively impacts the productivity of students. On the same line,

Kirschner and Karpinski claim that Results show that Facebook users
reported having lower GPAs and spend fewer hours per week studying than
nonusers(p.1), this means that Facebook is indeed responsible for the
decrease of students performances. Junco, Kirschner and Karpinskis findings
all tend to imply that social media addiction is negatively impacting
students productivity.

Conclusion:
Hence, to conclude we can say that there are two different groups
related to impact of Facebook on students performance. On these basis, the
two different groups i.e. the modernists and conservatives have different
opinions related to impact of face book on students academic performance.

Article # 3:
JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND INNOVATION.

http://seminar.utmspace.edu.my/jisri/
The Impact of Social Media use on Academic Performance among
university students.
http://seminar.spaceutm.edu.my/jisri/download/G_FinalPublished/Pu
b12_SocialMediaAcademicPerformance.pdf

Introduction:
The social media has become one of the most important
communication means in recent times. However, social networking exists so
as to provide communication among people regardless of the distance,
making it open to people easily share information. The favorite in the realm
of internet sites are Facebook, Twitter and others. These websites and social
forums are way of communication directly with other people socially and in
media. An additional benefit of social technologies provided on the internet is
that they are frequently free or require marginal investment, eliminating a
potential barrier to adoption. There has been various overview and opinions
which recognized four major advantages of social media use in higher
education. These include, enhancing relationship, improving learning
motivation, offering personalized course material, and developing
collaborative abilities. This means that social networking activities have the
possibility of enhancing student contact and is used to improve their
participation in class, particularly where introverted students are involved.

Students can function in online group learning, with less or no anxiety of

needing to raise questions before peers at school.

Review of Literature:
Earlier studies, such as examined the general usability of social media
among young students in higher level of education. Similarly, examined the
use of social media and maintain that, the appropriation of social
technologies is not an easy and straightforward process. At higher level of
education more complex academic tasks are handled and the new
generation of students is perceived to understand that social media and
social technologies are influential to learning. A number of earlier studies
have shown evidence that efforts are required in order to start using social
media in order to influence educational activities. According to students
ought to be given careful scrutiny to check their use of the tools they feel at
ease and acquainted with which they feel are viable in accomplishing
academic tasks. In connection with this, the social affordances of utilizing
social networking may not be provided in a single particular social
technology but instead within the mixture of several social technologies.

Effects of social media on the Academic Performance of

Students:
The social media engages students and have to be examined as
entrepreneurs of understanding. According to Khan U (2009), Facebook users
often time experience poor performance academically. Similarly, posit that
social media is negatively associated with academic performance of student
and is a lot more momentous than its advantages. Internet addiction
consequently gave rise in internet usage within the last couple of decades
recommended that addicted users prefer using internet setting back their
personal and professional responsibilities which ultimately leads to poor
academic performance. According to Karpinski A (2009), pointed out that
Facebook users devoted lesser time to their studies in comparison to
nonusers did and subsequently had lower GPAs. Also mentioned that among
various unique distractions of every single generation, Facebook remains a
major distraction of current generation. According to Kubey, Lavin, and
Barrows (2001), Impairment of educational performance and internet
dependency are correlated by utilizing synchronous communication
programs including internet sites and forums. There are benefits and risks
associated with using any social network. There have been reports regarding
its effect on students academic performance. Some researchers investigated
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the end result of social networking usability among College students and
with their academic performance. They found a poor effect and influence
when the media is overuse in such a way that do not academically improve
learning or its process. Other researchers examined this same problem but
found either no significant relationship between using social networking and
student academic performance, or really a factor in students academic
performance.

Conclusion:
In this article the benefits of using social networks has been discussed
but the other aspect of using social networks has also been discussed on
students academic performance that Facebook users often time experience
poor performance academically. Also, Internet addiction has negative effects
on students performance that addicted users prefer using internet setting
back their personal and professional responsibility which ultimately leads to
poor academic performance. According to some researchers the negative
impact of Facebook and other social networks on students performance is
due to when the media is overuse in such a way that do not academically
improve learning or its process.

References
1. Ahsan-ul-Haq & Sohail Chand. (2012). Pattern of Facebook usage and
its Impact on Academic Performance of University Students: A Gender
Based Comparison. Bulletin of Education and Research, 34, 19-28.