UWG Research

Research Assignment

Dissertation

Sesterhenn, S. M. (2012). NetGENgagement: How the net generation college student uses social media in academic and social college experiences (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1012121543)

Research Question

This study will seek to understand and describe how does Net Generation college students use social media in their academic and social college experiences?

Theoretical Perspective

The theoretical orientation of this study was based around the constructivist point of view.  The constructivist theory basically states that one’s reality is socially constructed and there can be multiple interpretations of one single event.  Individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work.  

The researcher argues that the constructivist lens “aligns itself with social media technologies and their influence on the college student academic and social experiences” (Sesterhenn, 2012, p. 49). Individuals can reflect on the content presented in various social media formats and can construct meaning from simple “tweets” or “posts”.

Methodology

This action research study was designed around the researcher’s current job at the time.  Having worked in higher education for fifteen years, Sesterhenn wanted to better understand the 21st century college students’ technologies and how they influence their academic and social lives.  From her perspective, she was aware of the new forms of communication in their daily correspondence with peers, professors, and practitioners.  This translated directly into a dissertation topic that was relevant to her profession.

Sesterhenn conducted a quantitative study by emailing a sample population an online survey.  The participants were given approximately two weeks to complete the 50 question survey.  QuestionPro was the online tool that was used to collect and analyze the data.  

Findings

After collecting the data, the researcher looked for patterns such as the basic understanding of social media and how the respondents used social media throughout their college experiences. Demographic data was cross-tabulated with the types of social media used in preparation for classes.

The basic findings showed that the college students surveyed had a high adoption rate of various technologies.  In addition, the racial breakdown showed higher adoption rates in some segments of the population than others.  Blackboard and Facebook were found to be the top social media mediums used by the participants.  Google Docs and YouTube were a close second.  The final conclusion from the research showed that most students used social media in the academic setting to share documents and to create online discussion groups.

Conclusion

The final conclusion found that college students significantly use social media as a primary means of communication for academic endeavors.

How it relates to my research
This dissertation relates very closely to my research concerning social media and it’s impact on education.  Although this study, and most of the current research, focuses on higher education, I have used it to loosely design my research with high school students.  It is my hope to add to the existing scholarly literature about how social media can have an impact on the educational community.