Running Head: DATA ANALYSIS PROJECT

Data Analysis Project

Kayla Dahlberg
Kelly Highum
Ann Kliszcz
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Executive Summary
This qualitative survey has 197 participants. One-hundred and eighty three participants

responded to this survey. Fifty-seven were male and 126 were female. The mean age is 19 with a

standard deviation of 1.27. We analyzed Facebook and Snapchat use, whether or not the

participants or their friends felt stalked on Social Media, if negative experiences online have

decreased their use of social media, and if they have read the terms of service for the apps and

social media platforms that they use. The survey found that the majority of participants used

Facebook and Snapchat several times a day. The majority of participants disagreed or strongly

disagreed that they or their friends felt stalked on social media at WSU. Participants disagreed

that negative experiences online have decreased their use of social media and that they strongly

disagreed and disagreed that they read the terms of service for the apps and social media they

use. Two of the open-ended questions were coded, analyzed and reported on.
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Male 57
Female 126
Total 183
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Open-Ended Question Analysis

For the open-ended question Should There Be a Punishment for Cyberbullying? 180

respondents provided an answer. Of those 180 participants, nineteen answered No. The

argument used most often with that response had to do with real-time bullying, and how it is up

to the parents to discipline their children. Four participants replied that they did not know if

there should be a punishment for cyberbullying. The most-used answer was yes, with 157

participants replying that there should be a punishment for cyberbullying. Of those 157, forty-

three replied with a concrete answer (such as suspension from the social network account or

legal action), and forty replied with an abstract answer (such as something bad). Thirty

participants dodged the question, either replying yes and no or yes, but. The participants that

responded as such were coded as a no answer, since there was both a yes and a no, or none in

the response at all.

The open-ended survey question, What are the most unethical ways that youve seen

social media used? Can you give examples? received one-hundred and twenty-one responses.

Forty-five people responded to the question by saying that cyberbullying was the most unethical

way they have seen social media used. These coded responses mostly discussed bullying, name

calling, and spreading rumors to ruin a persons reputation online. Responses that specifically

discussed incidences of sharing pictures and videos were coded separately, with sixteen people

mentioning the unauthorized sharing of pictures or videos depicting themselves or others without

the persons explicit consent. Two people discussed creating fake accounts; these responses were

coded separately, even though they are within the definition of cyberbullying, because there was

no specific direct contact between the online parties. Four people responded to this open-ended

survey question by referencing the use of social media as an outlet for emotional expression,

ranting, and political arguments. Seven people talked about sexual content on the internet as an
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ever present phenomenon, while seven people specifically mentioned illegal drugs as being a

prominent ethical topic shared on social media. Doxxing, the practice of revealing someones

personal information on an online forum without their consent, was given as an answer in only

one instance. Fifteen people discussed how hateful language (including hate crimes) was a major

ethical issue they noticed on social media; racism and sexism were both specifically mentioned

three times in these comments, with recruitment for ISIS being a response topic once. Blackmail,

acts of violence, and scams were all mentioned only once within the comments, with stalking of

children being the specific instance of violent action on social media. Fifty-eight people did not

respond to the survey question, thirteen said they did not know or were not sure, and nine people

said the question was not applicable to their experiences on social media. Only one person said

social media was a positive thing (an ethical phenomenon), that allowed people to communicate

with each other and gain knowledge about a variety of different topics. The general consensus

from the respondents was that social media presented a variety of ethical issues, and that people

encouraged the negativity and unethical behavior on social media and the internet in general.
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Appendix

Although the majority of participants in this study identified themselves as female, this

survey is a fair representation of social media use amongst young adults at WSU. Forty-three

participants were eighteen years old, eighty-nine participants were nineteen years old, thirty-one

participants were twenty, eleven participants were twenty-one, six participants were twenty-two,

and two participants were twenty-three. The mean age was 19.25, with a standard deviation of

1.2675. There were a total 126 female participants, and 57 male participants that responded to

this survey.

We analyzed how often participants utilized both Facebook and Snapchat as social media

outlets. Participants completed a likert type scale, and chose if they used Facebook several times

an hour (25), several times a day (84), at least once a day (53), once a week (1), and rarely (2).

When prompted about their Snapchat social media use, participants respond that they used

Snapchat several times an hour (41), several times a day (70), at least once a day (29), once a

week (10), and rarely (6). We concluded that the survey respondents used Facebook more

frequently, and more regularly than Snapchat.

Respondents were then prompted to fill out likert-type scales about their attitudes about

social media platform and social media use. We chose to analyze two likert type responses:

While Ive been at WSU, Ive felt stalked by people on social media. and Here at WSU, Ive

had friends who have felt stalked on social media. For the first question on personal experiences

with stalking, participants were asked to rank whether they strongly agreed (4), agreed (16),

neutral (28), disagree (56), or strongly disagreed (65) with that statement. For the second

question regarding whether the participants friends ever felt stalked while at WSU, respondents

were asked to rank whether they strongly agreed (4), agreed (29), neutral (33), disagree (49), or
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strongly disagreed (52) with that statement. We concluded that overall, participants disagreed

with both statements: they did not feel stalked on social media, and their friends did not feel

stalked on social media while students at WSU.

Participants then were asked to rank using a likert type scale if negative experiences

online has decreased their use of social media platforms. Participants responded and strong

agreed (11), agree (19), neutral (43), disagree (62), strongly disagree (31) with that analysis; we

can conclude from these responses that negative experiences on online social media platforms

did not decrease social media for the majority of participants. Thirty respondents categorized

their experiences under strongly agree, and agree, a component of this research that requires

further analysis and discussion.

Finally, students were prompted to answer whether they thoroughly read the terms and

services for the apps and social media platforms they regularly utilize. Respondents were asked

to rank their answer on a likert type scale, within the parameters of strongly agree (9), agree (15),

neutral (21), disagree (56), and strongly disagree (66). We analyzed this question, and concluded

that the majority of people within this sample disagreed or strongly disagreed when asked if they

read the terms of service they are required to sign before using apps or social media platforms.

We can conclude that people of this age group are less likely to read the terms and services

agreement for the apps or social media platforms they use on a regular basis.

Method

Participants were asked to volunteer anonymously to take this survey. Once the survey

was completed by all the participants, analyzers were given the data in the form of an Excel

spreadsheet. Analyzers used Excel functions to study the closed-ended questions, and used the

application to create graphs and final data summaries. The open-ended questions were
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quantitatively coded by hand, with analyzers reading through each response set and recording the

frequency of responses. The first open-ended question was coded for each time a participant

responded with a yes (157), no (19), I dont know (4), and whether or not those who responded

yes gave concrete or abstract solutions. Those who did not answer yes or no were also coded

(30).

The second open-coded question was coded for each time a participant responded with

cyberbulling (45), releasing unflattering photos or videos on social media (16), using social

media as a form of emotional expression (4), sexual content on social media (7), creating fake

social media accounts (2), I dont know, not sure, or N/A (17), hateful language, including overt

racism and sexism (15), blackmailing (1), direct violence (1), scamming (1), doxxing (1),

characterizing social media as a positive societal component (2), yes (1), and no (5). Those who

did not answer yes, no, or otherwise were also coded (58).