Running head: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 1

The Relationship between Social Media and Academic Performance

Faezatul Syafinah Binti Mohd Fauzi (1516850)

PSYC 2999 Research Methodology (Section 2)

Dr. Lihanna Binti Borhan

Semester 2, 2016/2017

International Islamic University Malaysia

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 2

Abstract

Social media has always been widely used as a platform for socialization and communication

in daily life whether in personal and professional use. This study aims to investigate the relationship

between social media and academic performance. A sample of this study is a number of 200

undergraduate students in order to get a big sample to ensure the representativeness of the

population from the International Islamic University Malaysia. Participants will include eight faculties

in Gombak campus, ranging from 18 to 24 years old students. This study is using the close-ended

questionnaire which the students will be given a multiple choice question for them to answer based

on their experience on the usage of the social media. A five-point Likert scale (1 strongly agree to 5

strongly disagree) is use in order to get a quickly response from the respondents. It will be expected

from the result that students who spent their time more on social media will have lower result in

their academic performance while the students who spent their time less in social media will have

higher result in their academic performance. Hence, it will shows that there is a relationship

between media social and academic performance.

Keywords: Media Social, Academic performance, Academic Achievement.

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1) Introduction

Social media has always been widely used as a platform for socialization and communication

in daily life whether in personal and professional use. With the advancement of technology, there

are multiple platforms for social media including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Also, sharing

unlimited information (e.g. blogs, videos, pictures, and files) has always been effortless without the

limitations of geographical boundary. Moreover, it can be seen when Facebook was created by

Zuckerberg in 2005 has obtained its popularity over the years and its usage also has gained

momentum particularly among students, since its creation (Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman and

Witt, 2010).

Other than that, social media users also are largely from the generation Y at range age 18-32

and among students Guptha, Singh and Marwaha (2013). According to Abro, Li and Chhachhar

(2014), the use of social media is mainly for entertainment and communicating. Yet, it can be proven

by the past research that young adults especially have embraced these sites as a way to connect

with their peers, share information, reinvent their personalities, and showcase their social lives Boyd

(2007). Besides, the past research indicated that social media has both positive and negative effect

on student’s academic performance. According to Al-Rahmi and Othman (2013), social media has a

big potential to improve students’ academic performance by having this collaborative learning

interface. The class experience cannot be satisfied students’ understanding, so, they use social

media like Facebook to access their understanding and experience for their learning discussion.

The present study aimed at evaluating the effects of social media on student’s academic

performance. More specifically, it examined whether the frequent use of social media has a huge

impact to the student’s academic performances either positively or negatively in comparison to

those who does not use the social media frequently.

1.1) Problem statement

Social media should aim to have more advantages to the students as they are able to use it

for broader range such as for education purpose. Yet, it has become a current trend with the
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advancement on technology, as one is able to communicate and socialize with a click of a button.

Also, be used to obtain information needed and discover new general knowledge such as news on

student representative election from Twitter. Thus, students should to be in balance between time

management using social media for leisure and academic purposes in order to obtain the excellence

in academic performance.

In fact, with the improvement of technology, social media has been deemed addictive by

the students since it has many new features (e.g. wall post and event reminder) that attract one to

constantly use (Gemmill and Peterson, 2006). According to Quan-Haase and Young (2010) today’s

society especially students has been highly dependent of social media to communicate and socialize

which leads to plenty of cons, as they reported logging into Facebook several times a day.

As a result, with the regularly and the growing number of students use social media, it is vital

to identify the factors either social media has a positive or negative effect towards student’s

academic performance.

1.2) Research objectives

To investigate the relationship between social media and academic performance among IIUM

undergraduate students.

1.3) Hypotheses

i. Research Hypothesis - There is a relationship between the use of social media and excellent

academic performance.

ii. Null Hypothesis - There is no relationship between the use of social media and excellent

academic performance.

1.4) Definition of Terms

i. Social Media - The forms of electronic communication (i.e. as Web sites for social

networking and microblogging) through which users create online groups to share information,

ideas, personal messages, and other content (e.g. videos) a category of online discourse where
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 5

people create content, share, bookmark and changing the way we interact face-to-face, as well as

how we receive information (Asur and Huberman, 2010).

ii. Academic performance - Performance outcomes that designate the extent to which a

person has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in instructional settings,

specifically in school, college, and university. It is also concerns how students deal with their studies

and how they accomplish different tasks given by their teachers (Loo and Choy, 2013).

2) Literature Review

Junco (2012) have reported that every year’s the numbers of the use of social media become

high and more popular among students. Due to the increased numbers of the users of social media

among students, Choney (2010) has stated that the lecturers professors are questioning whether

grades of students are not being affected by how much time is spend on the social media.

Guptha, Singh and Marwaha (2013) stated in their study that the use of Facebook for

academic purposes does not play any significant role in academic performance. Pempek,

Yermolayeva, and Calvert (2009) also have claimed that, they indicated the amount time of students

spent approximately thirty minutes daily on social media can affect the students’ academic

achievement. Supported by Owusu and Agatha (2015) which revealed that social media sites had

affected academic performance of the students negatively and that there was direct relationship

between the use of social media sites and academic performance. San Miguel (2009) stated the

average social media user had a GPA of 3.0, while the non-social media user had a GPA of 3.5 to 4.0.

Therefore, it can be seen that social media have a negative correlation with students’ academic

performance as well as achievement.

In contrast, Sheldon (2008), indicated that there were more than 50% of college students go on a

social media several times a day in order to search the information. Thus, it shows the students

would save loads of their time attempting to obtain information via other sources such as books,

journals and magazines (Ellison et al, 2007). Meanwhile, Mazer, Murphy, & Simonds (2007) stated

that social media like Facebook can be used as a device to generate and encourage students stay
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have connections between students and lecturers. Yet, social media also would be an effective

approach in students learning process. For instance, as many other students could post their notes

and ideas simultaneously (e.g. task, assignments and quizzes) via Facebook which is indirectly

enhance the entire learning process.

In addition, Al-Rahmi and Othman (2013), claimed that social media can positively influence the

students’ academic performance. This is because social media can improve students’ understanding

and promote students interaction towards their studies. For instance, online group learning can be a

medium for students especially those who are introvert in order to ask some question that they do

not understand. Furthermore, students would do assignments online or on social media more

effectively, especially those who have skills to use computer confidently. Hence, social media bring a

progressive effects on students’ academic performance (Al-Rahmi and Othman, 2013).

3) Methods

3.1) Research Design

The correlational research design will be used as to identify the relationship between the

usages of social media on students’ academic performance. Since the hypothesis for this research

aim at finding a correlation between these two variables, this design would make it possible to

determine if the hypothesis was true. Moreover, this method is employed because the variables are

measurable and are not manipulated for any purpose.

3.2) Sampling

A non-probability sampling strategy that will be used in this research is quota sampling.

Quota sampling selects the participant with the characteristics that researcher want. However,

quota sampling does not randomly select a subset of population. The researcher would continue to

enlist participants until the fixed quota is reached (Salkind, 2014). The intended sample are 200

undergraduate students in order to get a big sample to ensure the representativeness of the

population from the International Islamic University Malaysia with average ratio of 60% females and

40% males. Participants will include eight faculties in Gombak campus, ranging from 18 to 23 years
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 7

old students. Thus, the questionnaires will be distributed to the categories students who have been

determined for them to answer until the number of students reach 200 people. The informed

consent and participant’s information sheet will be compile together with the questionnaires.

3.3) Instrumentation

A set of questionnaire will be used to identify the relationship between social media and

academic performance among 200 undergraduate students of International Islamic University

Malaysia, Gombak. The questionnaires contained one section only by using five-point Likert scale (1

strongly agree to 5 strongly disagree) in order to get a quickly response from the respondent. The

questions from the section were to examine whether their academic performance related to the use

of media social in their daily life. The questionnaires consist of 25 sets of questions which was set by

the researcher after it was approved by the supervisor who will supervised this research. According

to Salkind (2014), questionnaire are cheaper than other techniques. He stated that questionnaire

save time because individuals can complete them without intervention from the researcher.

Questionnaire can gather straightforward information relating to people’s behavior and to look at

the basic attitudes of a group of people relating to a particular issue.

3.4) Data-Collection Methods

This research was conducted in non-experimental study among 200 undergraduate students

from eight departments of IIUM Gombak Campus ranging from 18 to 23 years old. This study is using

the close-ended questionnaire which the students will be given a multiple choice question for they

to answer based on their experience on the usage of the social media. A five-point Likert scale (1

strongly agree to 5 strongly disagree) is use in order to get a quickly response from the respondents.

The questionnaire is conduct to examine the students’ academic performance with the usage of

social media. The 200 participants will be given questionnaires consist of 25 set of questions. The

data of this study was collected based on the answers from the students for the questionnaire

regarding the use of media social and their academic achievement went frequently used it in their
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daily life. The participants who take part in this research will received a chocolate bar as a token of

appreciation.

3.5) Analysis Procedures

Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be used in this study in order to measure the strength

of the relationship between media social and academic performance. It must be linear to represent

the strength of the relationship between two variables adequately. In this study, the Pearson’s

correlation coefficient was used to study the correlation between media social and academic

performance of IIUM undergraduate students.

3.6) Predicted Results

In this research proposal, it will be expected that students who spent their time more on

social media will have lower result in their academic performance while the students who spent

their time less in social media will have higher result in their academic performance. Hence, it will

shows that there is a relationship between media social and academic performance and the used of

media social will affected students’ academic negatively.

However, the past research also showed that the relationship of social media usage on

academic performance also has a positive result based on the students’ management on how they

use the social media for their learning.

4) Ethical Considerations

Participant will be asked to provide their consent to be involved in research whenever they

are likely to have sufficient competence to do so. The consent of the child should be sought in

addition to the consent of the parent or guardian. The participant will be given a consent form to be

sign by them and their parent or guardian. All information provided is treated as confidential and

will not be released by the researcher to a third party. The participant data or information are

appropriately anonymous and cannot be traced back to them by other parties even after the

research. No person should be subject to coercion or pressure in deciding whether to participate.

Prospective participants should voluntarily provide their informed consent without feeling any
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 9

pressure to agree to a request to be involved in a research project. Participant has the right to

participate or withdraw from the research at any time. There will be no harm during the research

neither physically nor psychologically. There will be no physical activities involve during the research.

In addition, there will be no question that might hurt the participants feelings or as such.

5) Proposed Supervisor

The Proposed supervisor for this research is Dr. Lihanna binti Borhan from Psychology

Department of IIUM. This research is highly related to educational academic performance and how

students affected went using media social. Thus, it is appropriate for the researcher to choose Dr.

Lihanna as a proposed supervisor since she is specialised in educational psychology and believed she

is expert in this field of study. Everything that related to the research will be refer to her for

consultation and she will supervised this present research until it is completed. The questionnaires

used for this research only can be use until Dr. Lihanna approved it and only then it can be

distributed to the sample of the study.

6) Proposed Timeline

Task Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Name ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17 ‘17
Literature
Search

Data
Collection

Data
Analysis

Testing and
Working
with the
Hypothesis

Reporting
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 10

7) Estimated Costs

PRICE PER
NO. ITEMS UNIT TOTAL (RM)
UNIT (RM)

1 Goodies (chocolate bar) 200 1.50 300

2 Stationary (pen) 20 2.50 50

Copies of paperwork (questionnaire, consent

3 210 0.50 105
and informed letters)

5 Transportation - 150 150

TOTAL 605
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8) References

Al-Rahmi, M. W., and Othman, S. M. (2013). The impact of social media use on academic

performance among university students: A pilot study. Journal of Information Systems

Research and Innovation, 4, 1-10.

Asur, S. and Huberman, B.A. (2010) Predicting the future with social media. Social Computing Lab:

HP Labs, 1- 8.

Aydin, S. (2012). A review of research on Facebook as an educational environment. Education

Technology Research Development, 60, 1093-1106.

Choney, S. (2010, July 15) Facebook use can lower grades by 20 percent, study says. Retrieved from

http://www.msnbc.com/id/390385m81/ns.technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/.

Ellison, N., Steinford, C., and Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends":

Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of

Computer Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-1168.

Guptha, C. A. P., Singh, B. and Marwaha, T. (2013). Relationship between social media and academic

performance in distance education. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 185-190.

Junco, R. (2012b). Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices

of Facebook use and academic performance. Computers in Behavior, 28(1), 187-198.

Loo, C. W., and Choy, J.L.F. (2013). Sources of self-efficacy influencing academic performance of

engineering students. American Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 86-92.

Mazer, J. P., Murphy, R. E., and Simonds, C. J. (2007). ‘‘I’ll see you on Facebook’’: The effects of

computer teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom

climate. Communication Education, 56(1), 1–17.

Owusu, M. A. and Agatha, G. L. (2015). Use of social media and its impact on academic performance

of tertiary institution students: a study of students in Koforidua polytechnic, Ghana. Journal

of Education and Practice, Vol.6, No.6, 94 -101.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 12

Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., and Calvert, S. L. (2009). College students’ social networking

experiences. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(3), 227–238.

Quan-Haase, A., and Young, A. L. (2010). Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of

Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 30(5), 350–

361.

Roblyer, M. D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J., and Witty, J. V. (2010). Findings on Facebook in

higher education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social

networking sites. Internet and Higher Education, 13(3), 134–140.

Salkind, N. J. (2014). Exploring Research (8th ed.). England and Associated Companies throughout

the world: Pearson Education Limited.

San Miguel, R. (2010) Study on Facebook and Grades Becomes Learning Experience for Researcher.

Retrieved from

TechNewsWorld.http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/66805.html?wlc=1286985

671&wlc=128719 5471.

Sheldon, P. (2008). Students favourite: Facebook and motives for its use. Southwestern Mass

Communication Journal, 23(2), pp. 39-53.

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9) Appendices

9.1 Participants Information Sheet

The Relationship between Social Media and Academic Performance

I would like to invite you to take part in a research study. Before you decide to take part in

this research, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for

you. Please take time to read the following information carefully. Ask questions if any information

given is not clear or if you would like to know more information about this research. Take time to

decide whether or not to take part.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between social media and academic

performance among IIUM undergraduate students. You have been chosen to represent participants

within the undergraduate students and represent the whole population of IIUM. Your decision to

participate in this research is your right. You have to be voluntarily involved to participate in this

research. We will describe the study and go through the information sheet, which we will give to

you. We will then ask you to sign a consent form to show you agreed to take part in this research.

You have the right to withdraw yourself from participating in this particular research at any time

without giving a reason. Questionnaire will be distributed for you to answer all of the questions

provided within 30 minutes. Your personal information will remain private and confidential. There is

no harm in participating in this study.

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9.1 Informed Consent Form

Study Title: The Relationship between Social Media and Academic Performance

Experimenter (to be filled by researcher):____________________________________________

Description of Experiment: This research is to investigate the relationship between social media and

academic performance among IIUM undergraduate students.

In order to participate in this research study, it is necessary that you give your informed

consent. By signing this informed consent statement you are indicating that you understand the

nature of the research study and your role in that research and that you agree to participate in the

research. Please consider the following point before signing:

● You understand that you are participating in psychological research ;

● You voluntarily agree to participate in this research;
● You have been given the opportunity to ask questions about the project and your

participation;

● You understand that your identity will not be linked with your data, and that all information

you provide will remain confidential;

● You understand that you need to answer the questionnaire given consist 25 set of questions.

● You, along with the researcher, agree to sign and date this informed consent form.

By signing this form you have read and understood the information provided above.

Subject’s Name : _______________________

Subject Signature : _______________________ Date:__________________

Investigator’s Signature: ______________________ Date: __________________

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 15

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear respondents,

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between social media and academic

performance of students in International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak.

Please read carefully and tick ( / ) at the appropriate column for each statement as promptly as

possible. All information gathered shall be used purely for research purpose and shall be treated

with confidentiality.

Thanks,

i. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Kuliyyah : __________________________________

Majoring : __________________________________

Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ]

Age: 18 – 20 [ ] 23 and above [ ]

21 – 22 [ ]
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1 – Strongly Agree, 2 - Agree, 3 - Neutral, 4 - Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree

S/N ITEMS 1 2 3 4 5

1. Addiction to online social networks is a problematic issue that

affects my academic life.

2. Online social networks distract me from my studies.

3. Hours spent online can never be compared to the number of

hours I spend reading.

4. There is no improvement in my grades since I became

engaged into these social networking sites.

5. I usually have unlimited access to Facebook and this has

affected my academic performance negatively.

6. I engage in academic discussions on twitter and this has

improved my academic performance.

7. I make use of WhatsApp to disseminate knowledge to my

class mate.

8. I Solely rely on information gotten from Wikipedia to do my

assignments without consulting other sources.

9. The usage of Wikipedia for research has helped improve my

grades.

10. Engaging in academic forums on yahoo reduces my rate of

understanding.

11. I use materials gotten from blogging sites to complement

what I have been taught in class.

12. I will not perform well in my academics even if I stop using

social media.

13. Male and female students use social media networks

differently in different frequencies.

14. Female students use social networking sites more to explicitly

foster social connections.

15. Gender determines the level of social media network usage.

16. Males are more effective at using social networking sites for
non-academic purposes.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC 17

S/N ITEMS 1 2 3 4 5

17. Age has impact on the use of social media.

18. Social media become boring has I grow older.

19. Social media is not relevant to people of older generation.

20. The younger generation are the most active users of social
media.

21. The usage of media social made students to be more

interested to study.

22. The group discussion in WhatsApp helped students in their

study.

23. Students frequently download and upload pictures and videos

in their social media.

24. Students frequently engage with social media while

multitasking with homework.

25. The amount of time I used for media social has affected my
Grade Point Average (GPA) negatively.