Survey

The group chose to use a survey as a method of collecting quantitative data in order to understand the way societies work and to test theories of behaviour (Groves et. al. 2009:3). Wyse (2012) argued that surveys conducted anonymously provide an avenue for more honest and unambiguous responses, and this is why the group’s survey was made anonymous.

The survey looked into how social media plays a part in people’s lives and how it affects them. Having collected 71 responses, a number of valuable information has surfaced. The group asked individuals of all ages to complete the survey, people aged 19-25 being taking up the majority with 56.3%, followed by 26-40 (23.9%) and 7 persons accounting for the 41+ age group. Out of these individuals, 52 were female, 17 male and 2 preferred not to state their gender. Facebook proved to be the most used social network, with 64 people (90.1%) choosing it as their preferred platform, followed by Instagram (57.7%). Given this information, the group has chosen to focus their research on these two social media platforms.

It has also been found that 40 individuals said they spend between 2 and 4 hours on social media; 28 people believe social media has had a positive impact on them, while 9 believed it was a negative one.

In terms of the positive impact, the majority of the respondents said they enjoy keeping in touch with friends and family (62%), made professional connections (62%) and made more friends (58%). Concerning the negative impacts, 18 individuals said it affected their sleeping schedule, 16 believed it decreased their productivity and 8 agreed that they compared themselves to others, while 3 people said it lowered their self-esteem.

The participants also recognised sharing personal information on their social media profiles, such as: phone number, email address, age, occupation and images of themselves.

The survey can be viewed here.

 

References:

Groves, Fowler, Couper, Lepkowski, Singer, and Tourangeau, (2009). Survey Methodology. 1st ed. Wiley-Blackwell.

Wyse, S. (2012). 4 Main Benefits of Survey Research. [online] snapsurveys. Available at: https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/4-main-benefits-survey-research/ [Accessed 6 May. 2017].