CAPE

SOCIOLOGY SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT (SBA)

An investigation into the role social media plays in shaping students academics and
personality at the St. Catherine High School
NAME: ELVIS NESBETH
CANDIDATE #:
CENTRE #:
FORM: 6
DATE: 2016
TEACHER:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people who have assisted me in completing this internal
assessment. First and foremost I want to thank Jehovah God for giving me the knowledge,
strength, wisdom and courage to be able to undertake this tedious task. Also my Sociology
teacher who has been assisting me in completing this IA. She dedicates much of his time to
ensure that we complete the task at hand well. I also want thank my friends and family for their
help and their encouragement. The persons mentioned above were my source of inspiration and
they are the reason why I have completed this assignment.
Thank You

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section One Introduction

Historical Background.
Definition of Research Problem.
Aims and Objectives
Literature Review.

Section Two Research Design

Research Design / Plan.

Sociological Perspective..
The Sample/Selection of Subjects to be Studied..
Data collection instruments/technique.

Section Three Presentation and Analysis of Data

Presentation of Data.
Analysis of Data..
Section Four- Discussion of Findings and Conclusion
Discussion of Findings and Conclusion.
Bibliography..

SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

St. Catherine High School is a Roman Catholic co-educational school in the parish of St
Catherine, Jamaica. It was founded by the nuns of the order of the Sisters of Mercy and the Jesuit
Fathers in 1948. The idea of establishing a Catholic High School in Spanish Town originated
with Father Matthew Ashe S.J. and Sister Mary Mercedes Doorley R.S.M., who saw the need to
establish a school for children in St Catherine -with the potential- who were unable to gain places
in the traditional grammar schools in Spanish Town and Kingston.
The school was originally intended to be a co-educational Catholic High School and it was
established on the Catholic ideal of the total development of the student with a focus on student
centred learning.
Father Matthew Ashe S.J. (19111990) arrived in Jamaica on 27 August 1945, with no inkling
that he would later be involved in starting a high school in Spanish Town. His first assignment
was with the St. Anne's Church located on Percy Street in Kingston. In September 1947, he was
transferred to St Joseph's Church in Spanish Town to replace Father Gildy S.J".
Upon his arrival in Spanish Town, Father Gildy gave him a letter encouraging him to do
"something for the Spanish Town mission".There was a big reception held for him at St.
Catherine Primary. No sooner had Father Ashe arrived in Spanish Town than plans were afoot to
start a Catholic high school.
Around the same time Sister Mary Mercedes-Doorly R.S.M. (18841972), a Jamaican who was
running the St Anthony's Academy, a Secondary School in Port Antonio, was forced to close the
school due to financial difficulties. She left the parish of Portland along with her two assistants,
Mrs. Erma Blackman (ne Campbell) and Mrs. Cynthia Jacobs (ne Hedman), determined to
open a new secondary school in Spanish Town.
Sister Mercedes approached Father Ashe about collaborating to form a school and he
immediately agreed. Although Father Ashe thought the odds were against them in starting the
school, he nevertheless stated: "one had to look at the immediate future ... Spanish Town [had] so
many townships and hamlets clustered about it far and wide [that it] possessed a great potential
for a secondary school.
They sought Bishop Thomas Emmet's approval to start the new school; he was initially reluctant,
but subsequently approved the plan for a second high school in Spanish Town.

DEFINITION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

This paper seeks to investigate a major issue in a governmental organization. In this research, the
researcher will seek to investigate the role social media plays in shaping students academics
and personality at the St.Catherine High School. The increased use of social media has
become a global phenomenon in the past few years.
Social media plays an integral role in individuals lives today. 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).
Social media has a significant impact on individuals lives. As a result, this research was
conducted to examine the impact of social media on students academic achievement at Wolmers
Boys School. During the research the researcher will identify the main uses of social media
among students, the negative and positive effect of the usage of social media on students
academic achievement.
The researcher has observed the increased usage of social media amongst the students at School.
The researcher has therefore chosen to conduct the research at Wolmers Boys School to get an
insight of what are the causes and effects that leads students distracted and also how this issue
can be solved. The Functionalist Emile Durkheim believes that education is related to the
economy and the family (Chinapoo et al. 2014), since all part of society is interrelated and plays
a vital role in society. Durkheim contends that education can only offer positive functions
(Chinapoo et al. 2014).The functions that Durkheim argues that are provided by the school are
that it helps to provide a skilled labour force to society, it provides a space for socialization and
an opportunity to learn different ways of life

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

AIM
To determine how social media affects an individual academically

OBJECTIVES
To investigate how it affects a student personality traits
To highlight the positive and negative effects of using social media
To examine the main usage of social media for the students at St. Catherine high School

LITERATURE REVIEW
In an online article entitled Social Media's Negative Effect on Academic Performance by Sam
Lehman it states that The study looked at students engaged in any form of media use including

texting, music, the Internet and social networking. The study shows an average freshmen woman
spends 12 hours every day engaged in any form of media use. The impact of such indulgence
results in poor academic performance. Researchers, however, excluded listening to music and
reading newspapers as it boosts academic performance unlike other forms of media. "Most
research on media use and academics has focused on adolescents, rather than new college
students, or has only examined a few forms of media. As a result, researchers listed that cell
phones, social networking, television and magazines had severe impact on students' academic
results for their fall semesters. Walsh further noted that students who spent more time engaging
in these forms of media, had "fewer academic behaviors, such as completing homework and
attending class, lower academic confidence and more problems affecting their school work, like
lack of sleep and substance use." Researchers noted that the major use of social media among the
students was found to be more on campus than off. Walsh suggested that professors could use
social media as a means of communicating with their students in reminding of their assignments
and referring them to helpful resources that could fetch them higher grades in academics

A brochure by Denny Carter perception of who you really are which reflects the symbolic
interpretivist theory. This brochure as we know, states that perception is everything; especially in
the world of social media. In terms of perception, we all have an ideal self. We all wish to
maximize our careers, our profession, and aspire to be like those who we find most successful.
As the use of social media continues to evolve; the concept of presenting our ideal selves versus
our real selves has become more and more prevalent on social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn. As research suggests, your
"real self" is what you are - your attributes, your characteristics, and your personality. Your "ideal
self" is what you feel you should be; much of it due to societal and environmental influences.
From a societal standpoint, many of us are driven by competition, achievement, and status;
hence, the creation and portrayal of our ideal selves. Consider the fact that on social media sites,
we consider our profiles to be presentations of who we are. Therefore, through interaction with
the social medium, the real and ideal selves intersect; and the ideal self is at least partially
actualized. In essence, our online selves represent our ideals and eliminate many of our other real
components. The question we have to ask ourselves is: Are we really presenting who we are or

are we presenting a hyper-idealistic version of ourselves? It has been argued that the social media
effect creates a false sense of self and self-esteem through the use of likes, fans, comments,
posts, etc. For many social media users, it is an esteem booster, which explains why so many
people spend so much time on social media. It provides many individuals with a false sense of
self and an inflated sense of who they really are.
Use of technology such as internet is one of the most important factors that can influence
educational performance of students positively or adversely. Shah et al. (2001) proposed that
student users are affected by the internet and this impact is determined by the type of internet
usage. Whittemore School of Business and Economics recently conducted a survey of over 1,000
students. They asked questions regarding which social network sites were used, how much time
they spent on a site, what their grade point average (GPA) was, and what they were going to
school for. It was concluded that there is no correlation between how much time is spends on a
social networking site and grades (Martin, 2009).
In a magazine entitled Youths Today examines the study which found a correlation between
lower GPAs and higher social media use. Researchers found that different types of media use
correlated with different reported academic problems. For example, women who spent more time
watching television and reading magazines reported lower academic confidence, while those
who spent more time on social networking sites reported spending less time on academics, the
study found. Both academic confidence and academic behaviors may be mediating factors that
affect GPA, the researchers wrote in the study. But the study did not find a direct link between
social media use and academic performance. You cant infer causality from our study because
we have no experimental manipulation, said lead author Jennifer Walsh, assistant professor in
the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at the Miriam Hospital. But researchers did
control for past academic performance and demographic factors, she added. We do think this is
stronger evidence than just measuring the two things and saying that they are correlated, Walsh
said.The researchers also found the use of some types of social media has beneficial effects, like
helping adolescents establish a sense of identity and build networking skills. The studys authors
also noted that some forms of social media, like reading books and newspapers, did not correlate
with lower academic performance.The researchers chose to focus exclusively on first-year
women after noticing potential trends in media use in a larger pool of data from a hospital study

on first-year womens health, Walsh said.We collected a lot of data from women about their
substance abuse, their physical activity, their sexual health. And we noticed how much media
these college women were using, Walsh said. We also realized that there hadnt really been any
recent comprehensive study of college media use.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research methods used for this assignment will be quantitative. Quantitative research design
is the standard experimental method of most scientific disciplines. This was chosen because
quantitative research design is an excellent way of finalizing results and proving or disproving a
theory. Questionnaires was used as the instrument for data collection as it provides some
advantages.
Data was also retrieved from books, websites and brochures provided by the institution as well as
information that was collected from members of the institution in occasional visits.
DATE
2ND November 2015

th

14 November 2015

nd

22 November 2015

20th December2015

ACTIVITIES
Issue out questionnaire to the

COMMENT
There was no issue and they

students of St.Catherine

were retrieved in a timely

randomly
Analyze and thought about

manner
It was quite as a challenge as

the data to be discussed

the researcher had a hard

After data was discussed, it

time analyzing the data

Had no trouble/challenge in

was compared to similar

doing so

literatures
Conclude results and came

Took no time

up with recommendation to
solve issues

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Quantitative were employed to obtain substantial information on the research. Quantitative

method was used because according to Emile Durkheim the analysis of statistical data can
indicate correlation and causation.
In positivism studies the role of the researcher is limited to data collection and interpretation
through objective approach and the research findings are usually observable and quantifiable.

THE SAMPLE/SELECTION OF SUBJECTS TO BE STUDIED

The sampling method suitable for this research is the Simple Random method. A simple random
sample is a subset of individuals chosen from a larger population. Each individual is chosen
randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of being
chosen at any stage during the sampling process
A sample of Twelve (12) individuals were chosen from the population in St. Catherine High
School. Twelve (12) students whose age ranged from 12-20 years old was used in the survey.
Through this useful sampling method, the researcher can sample each subgroup of the population
separately

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

In an effort to be successful in this research, several instruments were used both primary and
secondary. The primary source which was used was the questionnaire. The questionnaire was
chosen as it is easily administered and easily analyzed. It also requires less time and sample
information is collected. It also provides more accurate information than interviews because
persons may want to remain anonymous and unknown to the researcher. . The questionnaires
contains 10 questions which are both open ended and close ended. These questions were
structured to achieve the aim and objective of the research.

COVER LETTER

Dear respondents,
My name is Elvis Nesbeth and Im a student at the St. Catherine who is conducting a
research on social media and how it affects academic performances. My topic An investigation
into the role social media plays in shaping students academics and personality at the
St.Catherine high School. In Fulfilment for my Sociology CAPE examination grade, A school
based must be done in order to pass it, so this is very critical as this research has many
issues/concerns that may have been unnoticed by many individuals, to answer the questions
below, put a tick in the box or where you see other write your necessary answer. Remember
everything is right, you cant go wrong.
Questionnaire

1. Sex: Male

Female

2. Age: 11-13 years old

14-16 years old

17-19years old

3. On scale of 1-5, how often do you use social media?

1-2

3-4

4-5

4. What was your last exam average?

A

5. What is your main reason for using social media?

Keep up to date

Communicating

Pass time / entertainment

6. Why do most students use social media?
Get information
Meet new people

Share ideas, thought, feelings

Learn new things

Build groups/ community
7. In what way does using social media affects your academic achievements?
Mostly negatively
Mostly positively
Neither positive nor negative
8. What is the main positive way social media affects your academic achievements?
Allows access to information
Allow students to work together on school projects/ assignments
Allow communication with teachers outside the classroom
Help one to develop creative ways to express self
Other,
please
specify____________________________________________________________________

9. What ways does using social media affects you?

Less time to study
Difficult to stay focus
Easily bored
Less sleep
10. What negative impact does social media have on students?
Over exposed
Become unmotivated
Peer pressure
Become victim of cyber bullying
Other: _____________________________________________

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

Age of the Respondents

2

Male

Figure 1. Showing the age of the respondents.

Exam Average of Respondents

A Average; 20%
D Average; 30%

B Average; 30%
C Average; 20%

Figure 2. Showing the exam average of respondents.

Exam Average Compared to Social Media Usage

Gender
Male

Female

Social media usage on a Student Exam Average

scale of 1-5
1
B average

A, C, D average

B, D average

C average

A, D average

Table 1. Showing the exam average of students compared to their social media usage.

Responents Reasons for Using Social Media

Share thought and ideas; 20%

Communication; 30%

Communication
Entertainment
keep up to date
Share thought and ideas

keep up to date; 20%

Entertainment; 30%

Figure 3. Showing the respondents reason for using social media.

Reasons Respondents Continue to Use Social Media

convenient communication

Acess to information

Learn new things

Build network

Build network; 11%

Learn new things; 11%

convenient communication; 44%

Acess to information; 33%

Figure 4. Showing that the reason respondents continues to use social media.

How Respondents Usage of Social Media Affects their Academic Achievements

Males

Figure 5. Showing the effect of using social media on respondents academic achievements.

Positive effect of using social media on respondents academic achievements.

communicate out of class; 10%
Work together and share notes; 10%

Acess to information; 50%

Develop creative ways of expression; 30%

Figure 6. Showing the positive effect of using social media on respondents academic
achievements.

Negative effect of using social media on respondents academic achievements

Less sleep; 10%
Easily bored; 10%
Multitasking; 40%
Difficult to stay focus ; 10%

Less time and effort in school work ; 30%

Multitasking

Less time and effort in school work

Difficult to stay focus

Easily bored

Less sleep

Figure 7. Showing the negative effect of using social media on respondents academic
achievements.

Negative ways social media affects students that impact their acdemic achievements

Figure 8. Showing the negative ways social media affects students that impacts their academic
achievements.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
The respondents were among the age group of 12- 20 years old. Three of the respondents were
among the age group of 12-14 years of age. Five were among the age group of 15-17; two were
among the age group of 18-20 years old. See figure 1.
Figure 2 shows that 20% of the respondents got an A average for their previous examination.
30% of the respondents got B average, 20% got C average and 30% got D average, none of the
respondents got below D.
Figure 3 illustrates that thirty percentages (30%) of the respondents use social media for
communicating, while another 30% use social media to pass their time or for entertainment, 20%
used it to keep up to date and another 20% of the respondents used social media to share their
thoughts, ideas and feelings.
The majority of the respondents (40%) reported that they continued to use social media as it is a
convenient and cheap way of communication, 30% said that they used it because of the huge
amount of information it gives access to. 10% claimed that they continue to use social media
because it helps them to learn new things. Another 10% said they used it to build groups,
communities or networks. This is presented in figure 4.
Figure 5 shows that the majority of the respondents (60%) are affected mostly positively while
the other 30% are affected negatively and 10% are affected neither positively nor negatively.

Figure 6 shows that the majority of the students (50%) in the community of Fellowship reported
that the main positive ways social media affects their academic achievements is that it helps to
allow students to access additional information. 30% of the respondents said it allows them to
develop creative ways to express themselves and to do their assignments. While, 10% said it
allows them to share their notes and work together and 10% said it allows them to communicate
with their teachers and classmates out of the classroom.
Figure 7 shows the majority of the respondents (40%) stated that the main negative impact of
social media on their academic achievements is that it cause them to multitask while studying or
doing school work. 30% said it cause them to spend less time studying or put less time and
effort in their school work, while 10% said it makes it difficult for them to stay focus while
studying or in class, while another 10% said it cause them to become easily bored. Also, 10%
reported that using social media cause them to get less sleep. This is illustrated in figure 8.
When students were asked of the other ways social media affects their lives that negatively
impacts on their academic achievements 20% said that it caused them to become lazy or
unenthusiastic about school. 40% said that it caused them to develop bad grammar and misspell
words. 30% said it cause them to avoid extra-curricular activities, while 10% said it cause them
to become victim of cyber bullying. This was shown in figure 8.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The survey conducted at St. Catherine shows that majority of the students in the mainly use
social media for communicating (30%) and entertainment or pass time activity (30%). Also,
because of the huge amount of information it gives access to (30%). Therefore, the main reason
students use social media to communicate.. California State in Los Angeles psychology professor
Kaveri Subrahmanyam views the social media as simply a new and more multidimensional
place for teens to do what teens have always done to form their own identities away from their
parents.
In response to how students using of social media affects their academic achievements the
majority of the respondents (60%) said mostly positive. While the others (30%) reported that
they were affected mainly negatively and the minority (10%) affected neither positive nor
negative. (See figure 6) Thus, students academic achievement is impact by using social media
positively and negatively to a lesser extent.
The findings shows that the time spent on social media has no correlation to students academic
achievements. (See table 1) This is because of the 20% of respondents who got an A average
10% uses social media on a much higher scale than some with C and D average. Hence, it is not
how often students use social media it is how and what they use it to do that affects their
academic achievements. Also, respondents who use social media on a scale of 1-3 got an average
of B, C, and D.
The main ways social media affects students academic achievements positively at Wolmers is by
allowing students to access additional information (50%), develop creative ways to do school
task and express themselves (30%) (See figure 7). Students getting access to additional

information can significantly benefit their academic achievements as it provide free books, notes,
additional explanations and more that can help to increase academic success.
The findings shows that the majority of the respondents stated that the main negative impact of
using social media on their academic achievements is that it cause them to multitask while
studying or doing school work Since social media is so addictive students try to spend as much
time on it as possible, therefore many students multitask, that is used social media while they are
simultaneously performing their academic tasks. Most empirical studies suggest that students
either lack multitasking skills or act in the way that has negative influence on their concentration
(ibid, p. 1237). Therefore, students who are constantly multitasking decrease their academic
performance.
Furthermore, since social media is so addictive it cause the students at St. Catherine High School
to spend less time studying or put less time and effort in their academic tasks. In other words
social media cause students to procrastinate and manage their time poorly. Consequently,
procrastination has debilitating effect on students academic performance, as students dont get to
spend enough time on their academic tasks. This is supported by Tice and Baummeister (1997)
who find out that procrastinator received significantly lower paper and examination grade than
none procrastinators.
When students were asked of the other ways social media affects their lives that negatively
impacts on their academic achievements the majority said that it caused them to develop bad
grammar and misspell words. Reports on the impact of short form texting and language on
students English language skills, especially on reading and writing, began to appear in the early
2000s. The findings of these studies assert that the use of textisms shorthand forms lead to less
proficiency in English.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the researcher can say that in any case, Social Media will affect you in every way
possible, as it may be positive or negative. Most respondents indicate that there full capability is
slowed down by the usage of social media, as the distraction will lead to procrastinating and not
finishing tasks on hand. Also from findings discussed and literatures social media will always be
a part of individuals lifestyle. Social Media will amend or shifts individualism which can be
elaborated more in symbolic interactionism