1

Table of Contents:

CHAPTER I 3
INTRODUCTION 3
Background of the Study: 3
Statement of the Problem: 5
Objectives of the Study: 5
Significance of the Problem: 6
Research Questions: 7
Limitations of the Study: 8
Delimitations of the Study: 9
Mode of Communication: 9
Social Media Usage: 10
Stress: 11
CHAPTER II 13
LITERATURE REVIEW 13
Social Media: 14
Stress: 14
Source of Stress: 15
Causes of Stress: 16
Different platforms of social media: 17
Use of social media: 18
Negative and positive association of social media use: 20
Relation of social media and Stress: 24
Facebook use: 26
Effects of Facebook Usage (Facebook Intensity Scale): 27
CHAPTER III 30
METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE 30
Research Type: 30
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The population of the Study: 31

Sample and Sampling Technique: 32
Research Instrument: 33
Administration of Research Instrument and Data Collection: 34
Data Analysis: 34
Ethical Considerations: 35
References: 37
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This study is assessing the effect of social media on stress level of prospective

teachers of the Institute of Education and Research (I.E.R.). This chapter describes the

impact of social media on stress. It comprises the Study's background, statement of the

problem, the objective of the study, the significance of the study, research questions,

limitation of the study, and delimitation of the study.

Background of the Study:

Social media is everywhere; for many, it is one of the first and last activities of

the day. It is where time is passed, statuses posted and friendships are made. It is a place

to stay in touch with friends, communicate with distant family and even find love, but is

social media all positive? A considerable amount of research tells of a darker side to

social media, one where constant social comparison is made, a place where happiness is

dependent on the number of likes.

Keefe and Clarke-Pearson (2011) define social media as; "Any Web site that

allows social interaction is considered to be a social media site” (p.800). Social media

comes on several platforms some of the best known are; Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and

Instagram. One of the commonalities these platforms share is an approval system where

friends may “Like,” “Retweet", "comment" or "share" your input into the network this

may come in the form of status, photo or video.

 4

Social media is now a massive part of daily life for many people, particularly in

western countries; "Multi-platform use is on the rise: 52% of online adults now use two

or more social media sites, a significant increase from 2013, when it stood at 42% of

internet users” (Nicole B.Ellison, 2015 p.2). This may be due to the introduction of

popular new social media apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter. The mass appeal

of social networks on the Internet could be a cause for concern (Kuss, D.T., & Griffiths,

2011). This mass attraction to social media is a multi-factor appeal, the low cost, high

stimulation means it is readily accessible to anyone with a screen and internet connection.

More than one billion people are active on Facebook today, a social network that grew

from a college campus in 2004, this mass growth and interest in an online service has

never been seen before. Due to this swift influx and development, psychology has found

itself in unchartered waters in terms of social media and its effects either positive or

negative.

This study examines the sources and Effect of Stress on Prospective Teachers.

Statement of the Problem:

The World Today is a global market in which Social Media is the essential sort of

information. But it has a positive and negative effect on them. Stress is any situation that

evokes negative thoughts and feelings in a person. The same problem is not evocative or

stressful for all people, and all people do not experience the same negative thoughts and

feelings when stressed. This particular study aims to assess the effect of social media and

the stress level of Prospective Teachers.

 5

Objectives of the Study:

The objectives of the study were:

1. To assess the Effect of Social media on the stress level of Prospective Teachers.

2. To find out the difference in opinion of prospective teachers regarding the

effect of social media on stress level w.r.t different demographic variables (gender, age,

department, program, semester, and shift).

Significance of the Problem:

As social media use are rapidly replacing some of the time that adolescents

previously spent reading, sleeping, being active, watching T.V., and having face-to-face

conversations it is increasingly important to study how social media is impacting

prospective teachers (Twenge et al., 2017). Social media lends itself exceptionally well to

activate the limbic system, or pleasure-seeking part of the brain, potentially leading to

social media addiction a notion reinforced by the creation of the Berge Facebook

Addiction Scale (Whiteman, 2015).

Use of social media is growing. Currently, almost 95% of teens have access to a

smartphone, up from 75% in 2015 (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Approximately half of the

prospective teacher’s report checking social media and being online e almost always,

rising from 24% in 2015 (Anderson,2018).

Mojtabai and Han (2016) cite the problematic use of mobile phones and social

media applications as one of the trends aligning with the increase in major depressive

episodes. A review of the literature links social media platforms, specifically Facebook,
 6

with low levels of self-esteem, and increase the stress symptoms and loneliness (Chassia

et al.,2016). With the majority of young people using a wide variety of social media, a

vital brain development stage and easy access to mobile technology, it is essential to

understand the different outcomes that are expected to identify the necessary individual-

related interventions on prospective teachers. Can be Social media platforms, most

platforms cited by teenagers using the most (Arain et al., 2013).

The purpose of this study is to compare the positive and negative impacts on

wellbeing of the top 4 social media platforms used by prospective teachers age 17 – 25(or

above). This study aims to compare the components of wellbeing including; access to

health information, emotional support found, feelings of stress, presence of stress

symptoms, feelings of loneliness, ability to find self-identity, finding and forming real-

world relationships, bullying, self-expression and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). Each

measure of wellbeing is evaluated on an individual basis, for each of the four platforms

teens cite using the most including Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube.

Research Questions:

The research questions of the study were:

1. What is the stress level of prospective teachers due to social media?

2. Is there any difference in opinion of future teachers regarding the effect of

social media on stress level w.r.t different demographic variables (gender, age,

department, program, semester, and shift).

 7

Limitations of the Study:

There are some limitations in research work which are as follows:

1. The researcher faces problems during data collection due to the pandemic

of COVID-19, so the researcher uses Google forms for data collection.

2. Some respondents did not give a response to the questionnaire due to

online data collection.

3. Due to the short time, the researcher faces problems for the data collection

on online Google forms.

Delimitations of the Study:

The study was delimited to the Prospective Teachers of Institute of Education and

Research (I.E.R.).

Mode of Communication:

Although its advent can be traced back to the electricity revolution, the global

communication network has expanded with the economic system as of the 1960s and

paved the way for a new communication model when combined with other technological

developments. Although the Internet emerged with different specialty requirements, its

entrance into the lives of individuals took place with the visualization of data transfer.

Windows and Macintosh provided the users with great convenience with their usages

which did not require expertise and were based on image and paved the way for the

spreading of W.E.B. technology (Abbate, 2011). As personal computers became

widespread towards the 1990s, the Internet has entered into the daily lives of individuals.
 8

Interactive communication transformation which would fundamentally change the lives

of individuals and patterns of history started in the 1990s (Gonchar & Adams, 2000).

Social media applications which have such examples as Facebook, Youtube,

Twitter, and Wikipedia position the user differently and, users have varying expectations

from these platforms. It is possible to categorize such applications as Facebook, Twitter

and Instagram, which are based on interaction with other people as a social network

platform under social media applications.

Social Media Usage:

There have been arguments made that social media is, in fact, addictive, some say

that because of its draw and seemingly pleasurable outcomes, that it can quickly develop

into an addiction.

Kuss and Ding (2011) note that induvial prone to egocentric behaviour may be at

higher risk of becoming addicted to social media. This is due to social media acting as a

vehicle to project themselves in a positive light to a broad audience of friends and

followers, which gives them an emotional high. Kuss and Ding (2011) argue that this

may lead to the cultivation and facilitation of learning behaviours that drive the

development of social media addiction. Social media addiction, like substance addictions,

manifests in several ways and varying degrees of intensity. These include mood

modification, salience, tolerance, conflict and relapse. Understanding these motivators

are crucial to understanding why some people continually use social media even why it

begins to impact their lives negatively.

 9

Sriwilai, K., (2016) state that people who are highly addicted to social media

tended to have lower mindfulness levels and tended to use emotion-focused coping to

deal with stress.

Stress:

Stress is a reactive mechanism that has developed in humans as a survival tool to

allow us to make quick decisions regarding immediate threats. However, experiencing

long term stress can lead to chronic illnesses, both physical and mental. To understand

how social media might affect priority, it is essential to understand what focus entails.

Pressure, similarly to anxiety is something most people will experience at multiple stages

throughout their lives. Baum (1990) defines stress as an emotional experience

accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological and behavioural changes. These

physiological changes can be developed through the use of social media, and there are

several theories as to why social media use may cause stress. First is the constant

highlight reel effect seen on friends Facebook pages, this is apparent when one might

look at a friend's page or posts and only see the best moments in his or her life – creating

a pressure to do more with their life or buy a more excellent car.

Another possibility for stress presenting in social media usage is pressure to

portray the "ideal self" this pressure may be conscious or unconscious be either way it

can pressurize people into getting on the latest trends with music, fashion, cars and even

homes. These items can also cause considerable financial strain on the individual leading

to further stress. In a two-part study conducted by Duggan and Ellison, (2014) interested

with social comparisons made on Facebook and the correlation of this phenomena and
 10

depression found that both studies provided substantial evidence to support the notion

that social media negatively impacted its user's emotional state having been logged in for

extended periods because they felt terrible about themselves when comparing to others`

on their Facebook page. Another cause for concern around social media and stress is how

engaging in social media at bedtime can cause people to stay up later than they usually

would. Due to a "blue light" emitted from the laptop and smartphone screens, this results

in less sleep.

Minkel et al., (2012) conducted a study to examine the effects sleep deprivation

has on stress levels and found that those who had less sleep experienced higher levels of

stress in a test that those with a healthy amount of sleep. This may be another

contributing factor in the way social media affects stress levels.

 11

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Social Media:

Social media (S.M.), also known as Social Networking Sites (S.N.S.) have

increasingly become a source of discussion among researchers. The growing presence of

S.M. in the lives of young adults and the effects of S.M. on mental health among this

population has garnered negative attention in the eyes of parents and teachers (Alt, 2017).

Public outcry and media outlets have also called attention to the adverse outcomes

believed to be associated with the overuse of social media among younger generations.

Social media has functions which decrease depression due to a sense of social

capital. Yet, there is ample evidence to suggest that social media is associated with

depression and other problems, such as classroom disruption, sleep disturbances, anxiety,

jealousy, and low self-esteem (Dwairy et al., 2013).

 12

Stress:

According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), stress is a mental or physical

phenomenon formed through one’s cognitive appraisal of the stimulation and is a result

of one's interaction with the environment. The existence of stress depends on the presence

of the stressor.

Feng (1992) and Volpe (2000) defined stressor as anything that challenges any

individual's adaptability or stimulates an individual's body or mentality. Stress can be

caused by environmental factors, psychological factors, biological factors, and social

factors. It can be negative or positive to an individual, depending on the strength and

persistence of the stress, the individual's personality, cognitive appraisal of the stress and

social support.

Source of Stress:

Sources of Stress Sources of Stress can vary among individuals; what one

perceives as stressful may not be to someone else (Whitman et al., 1 986). One of the

everyday stressors of universities students is the greater academic demand of the

university setting (Kumaraswamy, 201 2).

Hurt and Daniel (2013) studied the sources of stress of university students using

the qualitative measure. They found eight major categorical themes which included:

academics, relationships, lack of resources, expectations of self and from others,

environment, transition, diversity, and "other" which had stress related to career,

extracurricular activities, and personal appearance. Ross et al. (1999) conducted a study

using the Student Stress Survey to determine the significant sources of stress in the lives
 13

of university students. From the survey, Ross et al., (1999) found that of their

participants, 38% reported intrapersonal stressors, 28% environmental, 19%

interpersonal, and 15% academics. Out of the highest category, interpersonal, change in

sleeping habits, vacations/breaks, a change in eating habits, new responsibilities, financial

difficulties, changes in social activities, and increased class workload were the top

reported interpersonal factors of stress (Ross et al., 1999).

Causes of Stress:

Academics: The worry about academic performance can cause stress symptoms

such as anxiety, insomnia or changes in your appetite and overall mood.

Finances: All young people feel stress about money! Most young people do not

have jobs, or the jobs that they do have don't pay as much as they would like for them

too. They want to maintain the lifestyle and fulfil the demand for articles like mobile,

bikes and cars etc. If they fail to satisfy the requirement, then it creates stress.

Relationships: Relationships are another significant aspect of stress. Everyone

wants to have friends, whether they are close friends or just acquaintances. If a person

finds that making friends is a bit harder than he/ she had expected, stress is present here

as well.

Career: Job Stress is a chronic disease caused among the current youth that

negatively affects an individual's performance and overall wellbeing of his body and

mind. The high competition, an inconsiderate work colleague, a lack of job security,

there are many causes of job stress. The students have a fear of not getting the job

opportunity and competition in the market.

 14

Time Management: A lack of time management also causes stress on youth,

whether secondary or tertiary. Balancing academics, peer activities, and home life can be

difficult. Toss in a part-time job and the challenge increases.

Different platforms of social media:

An important consideration concerning the Study of social media is the wide

range of effects observed between different platforms. Due to the varied nature and

functions of popular media, different results appear when individual platforms are

examined for specific products. For example, certain venues such as Facebook, Snapchat,

and Instagram are more likely to elicit increases in problematic use of S.M. than other

platforms (Kircaburun, 2018). The tendency for a young adult to make use of specific

functions over others may also be related to innate personality traits (Steers,2018).

Introversion and extraversion were expected to predict different types of S.M.U.,

such that introversion leads to more anonymous interaction, and extraversion was less

likely to be associated with new businesses (Best, 2014). Extraversion has also been

linked to an increase in S.M.U., but not necessarily S.M. addiction. One study found an

association between introversion and problematic use (Blackwell et al.,2018). Introverts

were anticipated to use social media to satisfy their need for communication, given that

they are more likely to avoid face to face interaction to the same extent as extraverts

(Rosalez, 2018).

Though the hypotheses were similar to those who experience loneliness, Jin and

Park (2010) found that loneliness had no association with cell phone use. Further, those

who scored higher in loneliness were less motivated to use cell phones for interpersonal
 15

reasons. The directionality of these effects needs further Study; do people become lonely

because they do not use cell phones for interactional purposes, or are lonely people less

likely to engage in social media? There are likely some mediating effects that the

literature has yet to explore.

Use of social media:

There have been arguments made that social media is, in fact, addictive, some say

that because of its draw and seemingly pleasurable outcomes, that it can quickly develop

into an addiction. Kuss and Allan (2011) note that induvial prone to egocentric behaviour

may be at higher risk of becoming addicted to social media. This is due to social media

acting as a vehicle to project themselves in a positive light to a broad audience of friends

and followers, which gives them an emotional high. Kuss and Allan (2011) argue that this

may lead to the cultivation and facilitation of learning behaviours that drive the

development of social media addiction. Social media addiction, like substance addictions,

manifests in several ways and varying degrees of intensity. These include mood

modification, salience, tolerance, conflict and relapse.

Understanding these motivators are crucial to understanding why some people

continually use social media even why it begins to impact their lives negatively. People

who are highly addicted to social media tended to have lower mindfulness levels and

tended to use emotion-focused coping to deal with Stress (Caporella,2007).

While it is unrealistic to say that all users of social media are addicted, it is worth

noting that these addictive variables are present and can impact on the duration and

regularity in which we use social media. It is in the platform provider's interest to suck
 16

people in and get them to keep coming back, much like a casino, and they stand to make

money by just having users logged on to their site in the form of advertising. Social

networking sites have grown and developed from desktop applications to refined mobile

apps on smartphones. Prompts in the way of messages, comment alerts and friend

requests now arrive in real-time making putting the phone away from a considerable

challenge for many people today, in particular younger generations.

Negative and positive association of social media use:

Stress appears to be one of the significant concerns among professionals, given

the associations with suicides, the cost to society, and the effects on the overall

functioning of the individuals who experience its symptoms. The recent increase in stress

seen in today's youth is a target of media speculation, as is the idea that social media is at

least partially at fault. However, the literature paints a complicated picture of this

association. Specific aspects of social media, rather than the blatant consumption of

social media itself, can predict stress in young adults who exhibit particular risk factors.

For example, multitasking with social media is but one of the predictors of stress and is

characterized by the use of social media while engaging with other activities such as

socialization, studying, or attending class. The authors concluded that multitasking is a

unique variable which may present its own risks factors in the mental health of young

adults; however, the findings from this study were accurate only for individuals who

scored high in Neuroticism. A study which focused on the use of multiple (7-11)

platforms compared to a few (1-2) found that the number of outlets was significantly and

positively associated with stress in young adults (Primack et al., 2016). Similar results

were found in that the amount of social media used and the level of emotional attachment
 17

to social media was positively associated with insomnia, depression, anxiety, and low

self-esteem (Woods & Scott, 2016).

The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) has also been associated with increases in the

use of social media among young adults and has gained considerable traction as a topic of

Study within colonial media literature. FoMO has been defined as a desire to continually

stay connected with friends, events, interactions, and comparisons to others through S.M.

It has been characterized by a sense of concern over missing out on the sharing of

information, missing out on the rewarding experiences of engaging with S.M., fear that

others are engaging in enjoyable conversations or events without the user, or a

compulsive need to maintain a presence on online platforms to compare oneself to one's

peers (Alt & Liss,2017). Through quantitative work, this Study collected several

underlying reasons that may cause many students to engage in social media during class

time. Cultural and language barriers played a role for students whose native language was

not the same as their teacher (Alt, 2017).

When the students felt uncomfortable asking for more clarification during class,

they consulted friends via social media to gain a better understanding of the material or

specific phrases. Such reports from student’s supper the notion that FoMO is predictive

of social media addiction. However, some may interpret these statements to indicate that

the students are presenting problematic use of social media rather than FoMO. Some

studies have found associations between FoMO and social media addiction, in addition to

deficits in energy, sleep, stress management, and wellbeing (Blackwell & Wei, 2018).
 18

Another focus of the literature is a tendency for those exposed to social media to

compare themselves with their peers or the unrealistic standards of beauty maintained by

young professionals who use social media to gain popularity. In an examination of social

comparison to moderate the effect of time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms,

the moderation of social comparison was insignificant (Chow & Wan,2016). Given the

prevalence of shared images on social media and the increased likelihood of specific

platforms to spread idealized or unrealistic standards of beauty, researchers need to

consider the effects of users being subjected to making comparisons between themselves

and these images. The authors concluded that the exposure to these images has led to a

decrease in the ability of adolescents to distinguish between realistic and unrealistically-

edited photos, and has subsequently led to reductions in body satisfaction.

A low sense of wellbeing is yet another variable that has been linked to heavy

usage of social media as the literature has presented mixed or no associations

( Manktleow & Taylor, 2014). However, more recent studies have shown more clarity

through mediating variables. One study, which found a negative association between

Facebook use and wellbeing, also found that social comparison and self-objectification

mediated this relationship. This result held for both men and women (Hanna et al.,2 017).

FoMO was negatively related to wellbeing in another recent study (Milyavskay &

Koestner, 2018). In a longitudinal examination of participants, lasting one week,

researchers found that those who took a break from using Facebook reported increased

wellbeing over time (Tromholt, 2016). The results were more substantial for those who

used Facebook more frequently before the trial, those who used Facebook passively, and

those who were susceptible to feelings of envy when engaging in social comparison. A
 19

study of passive Facebook use over the course of one week showed a decrease in

wellbeing over time in a lab setting and a field setting (Verduyn et al., 2015). True or

false self-presentation behaviours were among one of the variables which did not yield a

significant association with wellbeing (Wright & Obst, 2018).

Though certain features of social media have been found to produce adverse

effects, there is other evidence to indicate potential benefits of unproblematic S.M.U.,

regardless of time spent using social media. So pervasive are the negative beliefs about

social media that the research has less of a tendency to focus on its benefits outside of

obvious utilizations of online functions for underserved or disabled populations.

However, several authors have found that Facebook use decreases symptoms of

depression in some individuals in its ability to foster increases in social capital among

young adults (Steers & Lampe, 2007).

Relation of social media and Stress:

(Yõlmaz and Civan 2015) studied the relationship between social anxiety level

and mobile phone addiction and reported that adolescents with high social anxiety levels

avoid face-to-face interpersonal relations and head towards to mobile phones. These

platforms can turn into media where some individuals who are shy in their daily lives

find the opportunity of expressing themselves. As distinct from interpersonal

communication, social media is a non-audible mode of communication; it does not

convey a tone of voice, emotions, gestures and mimics. Thus, people can generate

messages that are constructed and planned deliberately in the cyberspace. They can create
 20

a new personality. Therefore, they can lead two separate lives in real and cyberspaces

(Gonchar & Adams, 2000).

This situation acquires a different dimension and functionality in the social media

applications where individuals are not only targets but also play the roles of prey and

source in a simultaneous manner. Individuals feel pressure in terms of their images

presented in social media. Furthermore, actions that an individual needs to take in real

life for the presence of the image created in the cyberspace might be a severe source of

stress.

Individuals’ purposes of using social media were examined by many researchers,

including John (2008), in consideration of the Usage and Satisfaction model and results

were assessed in this regard. However, Usage and Satisfaction model accepts the

audience/user as an object that always makes conscious preferences and ignores

individuality, coincidence and content (McQuail & Windahl, 2005).

Usage and Satisfaction model was developed by Rencstorf and presented as

Social Action Dogan Aydogan and Ozan Buyukyilmaz 255 Model. According to this

model, social impacts and individual requirements come together and produce an

impulsive action. Human beings need to think about the world they share with the others,

interpret this situation and act accordingly (McQuail & Windahl, 2005, p. 179). This

model which takes interaction with others, continuity and psychological needs of

individuals into consideration, is more appropriate to explain the usage of social media

applications. The business the individual enters into with the society and other subjects is

of great importance in terms of use of social media applications.

 21

Facebook use:

The purpose of Facebook is to maintain relationships with others online while

creating a personal profile that includes demographics ranging from employment,

relationship status, age, and residence. Tong and Walther (2011) stated that maintaining

relationships on Facebook can consist of updating statuses, posting pictures, instant

messaging, and learning what other friends and family are doing daily.

Hunt and Krishnan (2012) stated that Facebook users take up to a quarter of their

time browsing the site, especially teenagers and young adults. According to Johnston and

Hauman (2013), seven motives explain the purpose of using Facebook. Specifically,

individuals use Facebook to maintain relationships, meet new friends, for enjoyment,

gain popularity, express oneself, for learning purposes, and to voice opinions.

Maintaining existing relationships as well as developing new relationships online

have been the main reasons for using Facebook (Sheldon, 2008). Students who have large

social networks on Facebook are likely to feel satisfied with their lives and are less likely

to experience feelings of loneliness (Campisi et al., 2012). Research that has examined

Facebook as passing the time, or for escape purposes, explained that those motives were

used by individuals who preferred less face-to-face contact (Sheldon, 2008). Sheldon

further examined how individuals who lack interpersonal skills will gravitate towards

Facebook to fill the need for escape from face-to-face interaction. Zhang and Leung

(2011) conducted a study examining what drives individuals to use Facebook. Emotional

openness, or expressing feelings, is one reason why people use Facebook. People who

consistently used Facebook felt motivated to express liking, but also post information to

grab the attention of those who would respond (Zhang et al., 2011). Thus, Facebook is
 22

not only used to keep in contact with friends and maintain relationships, but it can also

serve as a medium to initiate a call for an emotional connection.

Effects of Facebook Usage (Facebook Intensity Scale):

Facebook was one of the founding social networking sites has many popular

features and is held in high regard among many social media users; features such as

member profiles that contain personal information, displays friends list. Photo sharing

which provides quick and easy updates on whoever's page one chooses. This coincided

with tagging features, and the ability to comment on others friends` content makes for

enjoyable experiences, Facebook one of the most popular social networking site (S.N.S.),

with 96% of students reporting use of the site (Smith & Caruso, 2010).

Concerns for Facebook impact on the mental health of young people, in

particular, has been raised by researchers, one problem is the sites ability to promote the

“ideal self-image” this can include anything from altering photos to unrealistic self-

promoting which can have a lasting impact on interpersonal relationships with others. A

study conducted by Wickham and Acitelli (2014), supported the notion that the long one

spends using Facebook the greater the likelihood that they will engage in spontaneous

upward social comparison and as a result experience negative emotional states regularly

and thus increasing their risk to depression. Within this research they state several

contributing factors to this experience which include; high-status individuals only sharing

the best parts of their lives (self-enhancing which creates the highlight reel effect

mentioned earlier, they even found a negative impact on wellbeing between downward

social comparisons and the individual, stating it may be indicative of defensiveness. In

 23

contrast, a study published by Ferrucci and Duffy (2015) found that Facebook uses on its

own does not directly lead to depression they produced findings stating that Facebook

may have the opposite effect, lessening the likelihood of depression by using Facebook as

a way of alleviating boredom and even loneliness. While this Study offers an attractive

alternative view to Facebook and social media, in general, the review was not without

limitations one of which was the non-generalizable nature of their population sample

which was drawn from one class of college students studying introductory journalism.

Facebook as a social media platform and the Facebook Intensity Scale will be used as a

representative service for other forms of social media the participants may be involved in,

and the current research will generalize the Facebook Intensity Scale results across

different social media platforms to understand the individual's relationships to social

media services.
 24

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

This chapter deals with the methodology and procedure adopted to conduct the

Study. This chapter includes a description of Research Type, Population of the Study,

Sample and Sampling Techniques, Research Instrument, Administration of the

questionnaire, Collection and analysis of data and Ethical considerations.

Research Type:

The research design adopted for the Study was quantitative descriptive research

aim to explore the effect of social media on the stress level of prospective teachers.

"Quantitative research is explaining a phenomenon by collecting numerical data

that are analyzed using mathematically base methods (in particular statistic)" (Alliaga &

Gunderon,2002,p.161).

The current research is quantitative in nature because data from prospective

teachers were obtained in the form of numbers and analyzed it with the statistical

procedure to find out the effect of one variable on the other.

 25

The population of the Study:

The population of the study considered all the 1000 Prospective Teachers of the 9

different Departments of Institute of Education and Research of University of the Punjab

in order to conduct research on Assessing the Effect of Social Media on the Stress level

of Prospective Teachers. Table 3.1 shows the list of departments under study.

Table 3.1 : List of departments under study

Sr. No. Name of Departments

1 Science Education

2 Business Education

3 Secondary Education

4 Technology Education

5 Islamic Education

6 Elementary Education

7 B.ED (1.5)

8 M.E.R.A

9 M.A ELTL
 26

Sample and Sampling Technique:

Sampling technique was random sampling. The population was 2151, the sample

must be drawn about 30% which in current case was 645, But on the safe side 1000

sample was drawn.The breakdown of the sample is displayed in Table 3.2. While 59.2 %

of the participants are female, 40.8 % of them are male. In terms of age breakdown, it is

seen that the majority of the participants are aged between 21-24 (59.7 %). The majority

of the participants are from the Department of Technology Education (59.5 %) ..

Table 3.2:

Regular degree Programme

S.# Degree 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year Total

Programme Male Female T Male Female T Male Female T Male Female T

1 B.Ed.(1.5 99 91 190 34 53 87 277

Years)

2 B.S.Ed. 2 34 36 2 38 40 4 39 43 3 28 31 150

(Hons) 4

year

3 M.S.Ed. 6 23 29 1 40 41 70

4 M.A 14 21 35 9 26 35 70

Education

Elementary
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5 M.A

Education

Secondary

6 M.A 7 26 33 2 35 37 70

Education

Islamic

7 M.A 8 26 34 4 35 39 73

Education

Early

Childhood

8 M.B.E. 13 23 36 6 28 34 70

9 M.T.E. 11 24 35 10 23 33 68

10 M.E.R.A. 8 29 37 5 27 32 69

11 B.Ed. (hons) 3 29 32 0 31 31 2 30 32 3 28 31 126

Elementary

4 years

12 M.A. ELTL 6 32 38 3 34 37 75

Sub Total 185 385 570 90 487 577 06 69 75 06 56 62 1284

Research Instrument:

In this study questionnaire as a research instrument, we used for data collection.

Questionnaire on "Assessing the effect of Social Media on the stress level of Prospective
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Teachers" was adopted. The tool consists of 29 statements. The questionnaire form

consists of two sections. The first section of the questionnaire consists of questions for

determining the demographic attributes of the participants. The second section has

questions concerning the effect of social media on the stress level of Prospective

Teachers".

Five-point likert scale was used to identify participant’s perceived level Assessing the

Effect of social media on stress level on prospective teachers using the options:

Strongly Agree (S.A.), Agree (A), Undecided (U.D.), Disagree (D), Strongly

Disagree (S.D.). 5-point Likert scale was used in which 5 means Strongly Agree, and 1

means strongly disagree.

Administration of Research Instrument and Data Collection:

The researcher personally collected the data to assess the effect of social media on

the stress level of prospective teachers. The questionnaire was upload on google form due

to COVID-19 and was requested to fill the questionnaire with patience and care properly.

Data Analysis:

After collecting data, each questionnaire was given a code. After coding, data

were entered into the SPSS (Software of Statistical Package for Social Sciences).

Cronbach Alpha (Į) statistics were used to determine the internal consistency of the

scales. Regression analysis was employed to assess the impacts of duration and frequency

of using social media and the average time spent in using social media on stress levels.

Pearson-r test was used to explore the relationship between Social media and stress.
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Independent sample t-test was used to find out the effect of social media on the stress

level. Whether the stress levels of students vary by the type of social media used was

analyzed through ANOVA analysis.

Ethical Considerations:

Following were some ethical consideration of the current Study:

❖ Data were used only for research purpose and will not use for any

purpose other than research in future.

❖ Personal information of the participant was kept secret.

❖ The students were given code to hide their identity.

❖ Participants were treated with respect.

❖ Those participants who were not willing to fill the questionnaire were not

forced.
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