Republic of the Philippines

PALOMPON INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Palompon, Leyte

College of Graduate Studies

Sci. 502 Physics for Teachers

PROPOSED TITLE:

“UTILIZATION OF FACEBOOK PLATFORM

IN STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
IN SCIENCE”

Prepared by:
KENNETH ROY I. MATUGUINA
MAEd- Science

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the study:

Social networking sites are used by individuals for various purposes, such as
communication, work related activities, and socialization. According to Perse &
Ferguson [11], the three main reasons people use SNS are for learning,
entertainment, and passing time

Social networking sites have become ubiquitous, especially among the youth
(Lenhart, 2015). There has been abundant research on the implication of Web 2.0
technologies including social networking sites, especially on young people’s health,
socialization, psychology, and education outcomes (Loader, Vromen, & Xenos, 2014;
McHaney, 2011; O'Keeffe, Clarke-Pearson, & Council on Communications and Media,
2011; Valenzuela, Arriagada, & Scherman, 2012). Despite concerns about whether
social networking sites have become an unwelcome distraction for students and
whether they negatively affect students’ academic achievement (Ivala & Gachago,
2012; Jacobsen & Forste, 2011), educators are eager to understand how this
fundamental shift in students’ communication method might as well present an
opportunity for teachers to design innovative instructions to enhance student
learning. Efforts to integrate social networking sites into teaching and learning and
to understand students’ willingness to participate have significantly increased.

With the advance technology in communication, social networks such as

Facebook and my space are perhaps considered one of the most important tools
used to keep in touch or share information with peers. Students have an irresistible
need to connect with their peers because of the development of these 24/7
accessible technologies (Fodeman and Monroe, 2009). Therefore, the usage of
Facebook can become a habit that may affect the academic performance of students
as well as their quality of life. According to Fodeman and Monroe (2009), the usage
of Facebook usage has raised the level of anxiety among students such that they are
apprehensive about being without their cell phones for a few hours. In light of these
findings, we advance the following hypothesis:

H1: The number of hours spent on Facebook will influence both academic
performance and quality of life.

Objectives and Goals of the Study:

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
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Determine whether facebook platform usage improves or deteriorates students’ academic
performance in Science.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

GENERAL OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study is to determine how student involvement in Facebook platform
affects the student’s academic performance in Science.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE:

Determine whether facebook platform usage improves or deteriorates students’ academic

performance in Science.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

The assumptions of the correlation between Facebook platform utilization to that of the
students’ academic performance in Science.

RESEARCH QUESTION

1. What effect does daily use of Facebook have on the attention span of the academically
challenged students?

2. What are the advantages or disadvantages of facebook as educational technology

platform in Science?

3. How does Facebook influences students’ motivation about complete understanding in

Science?

Pass Time
ACADEMIC
Relax/Escape PERFORMANCE
FACEBOOK *Attention Span
Entertainments
USAGE *Self-motivation
(FREQUENCY) *Lack of focus
Socialization
*Health issues
Social *Dependence on online
Information friends

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CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The research is focused on analyzing the effects of Facebook on students’

performance. There are numerous research studies that analyze this topic under and
they are indeed relevant since most of the innovative features offered by Facebook
platform in collaboration with other social media forums have been boosted
especially with the introduction of revolutionary features and platforms. The
majority of these studies chosen have been published in the past four to five years.
According to the comprehensive literature review by Ellison (2007), the role of
Facebook in higher education is attributed to the creation of virtual classes. The
review has analyzed massive research database around the world to make this
review comprehensive in its coverage for almost all aspects of an endeavor to give
an explanation for the diverse roles of Facebook in higher education classes.

The Effects of Facebook Usage on Students’ Academic Performance

Facebook being a social networking site, provides an online platform on which
students create profiles, promote and share information and contents and have
interactions with contacts both known and unknown (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Facebook
have expanded recently, which have led to its use by people of all generations
extensively. Several types of research examine this online
platform attraction and its persuasive character and the reason that cause people of
every kind and different ages to this community. Other studies show that Facebook
extension presence can have effects that are harmful to academic performance. If
students spend most of their time on
Facebook, their academic performance will reduce and thus their grades
(Kirkpatrick, 2010). A day students should spend at least 30-35 minutes surfing
Facebook. They actually surf for only three to four minutes on each visit to be
updated, but they severally visit Facebook a day. Others spend eight hours on the
website. Although students consider Facebook is distracting and consuming a lot of
time, they note that they can’t stop visiting the website because they prefer it and
use it to contact family members and friends, whether or not encounter them each
day. With this research, Facebook is found to be characteristically popular among
other social networking sites as well as among students as indicated by its growing
user capacity that has reached over one billion.

Facebook alongside other social networking platforms ought to be integrated

into learning processes or not. Consequently, this literature survey has established
many reasons for this mix of opinions. Despite many educational institutions having
established infrastructure for the support of Facebook integration into classroom

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learning, building an effective integration methodology poses a major challenge for
the researchers to counter.

In fact, many practitioners have not fully embraced this technology due to
lack of proper skills and training in this area. The technological researchers who are
in support the integration of Facebook into the educational setup have a perception
that conversational procedures that ensure maximum interaction as well as a mix of
reflections are made possible through social networking platforms. In the reflection
of the impacts of Facebook networking on students’ performance, Tess (2013)
argues that there is a variety of correlations that exist in the literature. Other studies
though find a significant negative correlation between a student’s performance and
use of Facebook while others find no correlations or weak correlations. Only a few
studies come up with positive correlations though not with high-level significance.
Interestingly, the negative correlations for the Facebook usage and poor academic
performance have been associated with personality traits or other behavioral or
psychological aspects rather than solely with the use of these platforms.
Other researchers have investigated the effects of using Facebook on
academic performance for undergraduate students at the Lulea University of
Technology Sweden in relation to their personality traits. The suggested research
model examines the effects of Facebook usage on the performance of students with
different personality traits. Furthermore, the research endeavors to justify the
relationship between the three aspects i.e. Facebook usage, personality traits and
academic performance (Ellison, 2007). The comprehensive analysis of 239 students’
data reveals very significant results and establishes that application of Facebook is
associated with negative implications on the academic performance of students with
extrovert personalities. However, the factor of self-regulation amongst students’
population magnificently reduces the negative impacts since they are deemed to
have high levels of effective self-control with Facebook use. Cognitive absorption,
which defines the extent of deep involvement, is another personality factor taken
into consideration while undertaking this research. Many have used Facebook
exclusively as their social life outsource and have a feeling that this online platform
means allowing it to take over their lives, (Kirkpatrick, 2010) which will lead to them
rejecting the platform. Some say that since they started using Facebook, they have
become more organized primarily regarding management contact and sharing
information. A study by
Kirkpatrick (2010) done recently also ask questions on the assumed effects
that are negative on Facebook use on the academic achievements of the students
and it suggested that this interdependency is significantly moderated by learners
interests in the colleges and capabilities of performing many tasks at the same time.
These results with controversy, additional to information from Facebook and
students’ comments on distinguished groups of Facebook, give an indication that
learners with specific profiles aim at the bridging social network, and getting in
touch with old contacts and making new friends. Some spent most times on
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Facebook compare to others; they should have more immersion in tasks related to
the many hours they spend surfing Facebook, so they are distracted likely by parallel
tasks performed. Learners and other users who are active get involved in discussions
that are long on issues trending daily, checking their profiles in Facebook from cell
phones and computers.

Effects of Facebook Frequency of Use on Students’ Academic Performance

Other researchers have successfully made the observation that the extent of
cognitive absorption is an essential determinant of the frequency and duration of
Facebook use. Also, they add that the level of cognitive absorption is defined by self-
control and other personality traits. Although, multitasking skills have little to
contribute towards reducing the frequency and use of social media among students,
they moderate the effects of Facebook on students’ performance by tuning the
cognitive absorption.
Kirkpatrick, (2010) examines the impacts of Facebook as being a social
platform that has significant effects on students’ performance in academic courses.
His research examines data from 1839 respondents studying degrees in residential
institutes of northeastern USA to find trends in the frequency of Facebook visits and
activities, time spent on Facebook, time spent on class preparation and academic
grades of the students under research. Analysis of the collected data reveals that
time spent on Facebook and frequency of visiting Facebook are negatively related to
students’ performance in terms of their GPA. According to Newman, (2013) they get
distraction from their studies, and a load of their working memory make it hard for
them to have a focus and makes effective preparations of their homework. This will
lead to results that are poor and decrease the achievements. Some studies show the
attitudes, interests of students to the internet and their activities vary with their sex,
personality traits and age. Cultural backgrounds and characteristics differences give
the suggestion that there is a need to address the effects of students using
Facebook in various settings, which prompts queries about the impact of Facebook
on students with distinguished characteristics and in distinguished cultural contexts
which is not predictable. Newman (2013) indicates that the study on whether
Facebook use by students affects their academic results, hence doing a theoretical
background review and depicted the research model that was proposed before they
represented the method adopted to examine it. From their results analysis, they
concluded and made recommendations for further research.Because of computers
being popular among students in college many issues on academic performance had
to be addressed. There are suggestions that students in college use Facebook in
chatting with friends and professors as a way of getting knowledge, be informed,
get support and obtain social acceptance that may cause higher levels of their
satisfaction with college life and proficiency in performance consequently. However,
there is a possibility that Facebook quality is relevant to the effect of the Facebook
use on performance in academic. If it is intensively used for the purpose of
academic or on communication that is essential with others, there will be a positive
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impact on academic performance. Elsewhere, if it is used extensively in recreational
purposely use for example, playing games and watching video games, there will be
a negative effect on the students’ academic performances However, there is slightly
negative correlation between time spent on this widely used social medium and the
time spend in studying for class. He further adds that although time spent on social
media and academic performance is negatively correlated, this relationship in real
world scenarios does not seem to be a major hurdle in academic success.

Also, Ellison (2007) emphasizes on further investigation into the issue to find
some more variables like focus and intervention that may be strongly related to
academic performance. The negative correlation between Facebook usage and
academic outcomes may be justified by some negative academic impacts related to
certain ways students use this social medium. He observes that some specific uses
of this social media relate to improved academic performance while others
contribute to lower academic results. Chand (2012) conducted an investigation on
the popularity of famous social media network (Facebook) among university
students with a special concern for the gender-based comparison and the effect of
the selected social medium on their academic performance. The researcher analyzed
the patterns as well as the frequency of using Facebook among college students
with a major focus on gender differences and student opinion regarding the impacts
that this medium has on academic performance.
The research by Ellison (2007) analyzed a random sample comprising of 384
respondents both male and female. Also, the respondents belong to undergraduate,
graduate and postgraduate programs all bearing a mean age of 21 years. The
research analysis indicates that Facebook has equal popularity among male and
female students of the university under study. From the research, the majority of
the users approximately 61% agree that this social medium has adverse effects on
their academic performance. Male comprised a majority of the 61% of majority
respondents. Additionally, the adverse effects of Facebook on academic performance
contribute to the opinion that use of Facebook makes it hard for them to perform
the best on their career performance. However, the researcher is optimistic that the
later opinion is rather unclear and recommends the need for further investigation.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
Quantitative Methods

Usually in the research one of the most basic principles is the

partition between quantitative and qualitative methods. The selection
of both research methods, quantitative and qualitative depends on the
data collections and analysis. It is appropriate to select research
methods in the beginning of research. It is considered that neither
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qualitative nor quantitative methods are universally better or worse.
Simply the selection should be based on the research questions.
Quantitative research allows the researcher to investigate relationships
between variables and generalize real-world settings and it also can
produce the results through the collection of numerical data with the
help of statistical functions. Primarily quantitative research method
has been used for this study and the data was collected through
electronic survey form. Quantitative methods are usually used, when
the research area has already been studied and previous results or
findings are available in the literature it is pointed out that even in
order to verify qualitative research findings among a larger population,
quantitative methods are needed. It is justifiable to investigate the
research topic with the use of quantitative methods.
Data Analysis and Design

After completion of survey, the data was downloaded from Google

Forms. The data is put in Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed using
different techniques. Some data has been analyzed by hand, paper
and pen. Calculators were used for data crunching.
Another technique that has been used for data analysis was
comparisons among findings. For instances comparison between
“Facebook users and Non-Facebook users”, “Male users, Female
users”, and time spent on study related activities and non-study
related activities.
A research design is the logic that links the data to be collected (and
the conclusions to be drawn) to the initial questions of study. A
design is used to structure the research, to show how all of the
major parts of the research project work together to try to address
the central research questions. For this study Cross-sectional
research designed has been adopted. Research design is providing
convenience to choose a group of respondents for collection of data
and eventually analyze data in summaries to answer the research
questions.

Participants and Samples:

Location of sample: Any student currently enrolled in 1st, 2nd and

3rd year in BSS (Hons.) program of Department of Peace and Conflict
Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Sample size: Population at the selected university department is
168 and all (N=158) students have been selected for data sampling.

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 Method of Data collection: All participants (N=168) have been
sent email on their email address for filling the electronic
questionnaire form (Form) with short description and information
about protecting their privacy.
Date of data collection: First email has been sent with E-form link
in April 19, 2017 with the mentioned dead line for E-form filling date
April 30, 2017. Approximated 10 days have been given to students to
fill the E-form (Appendix A,).
Response rate achieved: There were in total of 39 respondents
that gives us a response rate of 23%.

Data Collection and Processing Tools

The web based survey has been used for this study because it is fast,
easy to manage and most suitable for this research work. A web-
based survey is cost effective utility and it has ability to store a high
return rate of answers as compared to a mail-in paper survey. Web-
based surveys offer great flexibility in design, advantage of being
fast, inexpensive and can be conducted in a matter of hours. For
this study, I have chosen Google Forms (Online Electronic form
generator) utility.

Microsoft excel 2007 has been used to process the data gathered
and various charts and tools have been used to analyze and
understand the data.

Survey Questions and Design:

The focus of this research is to discover participants’ behavior,

attitudes and opinions on Facebook use and impacts. Surveys are
beneficial for forming research questions regarding self- reported
beliefs or behaviors. The survey design for this study consists of 15
questions based on four sections:
1. Demographic information
2. Student’s involvement in study related activities
3. Facebook usage and distraction for studies
4. Reasons not have Facebook account

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Some of the questions’ aspirations have been taken from previous
relevant research The demographic section includes eight questions
about age, gender, nationality, grade points etc. These all questions
are being used as independent variables for analyzing the results in
summaries. In the second section there are three questions which
explore the student’s involvement in study relevant activities. This
section has been designed to know the student’s time management for
studies and also his attitudes towards his/her studies. From the
question (Are you Facebook user? Yes/No) questionnaire divided into
two parts. Participants who answers “Yes” directed to complete section
three which has been designed for Facebook users only and participant
who answers “No” directed to complete section four only which is only
for those users who do not use Facebook or do not have Facebook
account. Thus the Facebook users can see Facebook related questions
only and non-Facebook users can see and fill questions regarding to
them.
The section three is about Facebook use and Facebook impact on
study. It includes four sets of 5- point Likert scale items (1 = strongly
disagree to 5 = strongly agree) designed to measure the extent to
which respondents agree or disagree with statements about
intensity of Facebook use and Facebook Section 1 Section 2 Section
3 Section 4 Section 5 impacts on student’s academic performance
and academic lives. In the survey Likert measures, produce
information that is inherently statistical in nature. Last section is for
those participants who do not use Facebook. Participant will answer
the reasons not to be involved in Facebook use and does participant
has intention to use Facebook in the future or not? The survey form
has been designed with such a technique that respondents cannot
feed redundant data in the E-form and also they can fill the form in
minimum frame of time. Consequently, researcher should not face
much difficulty to categorize and analyze data for generating results.

Variables: An important step in designing all quantitative research

projects is defining or identifying the variables that will be used,
measured, described or controlled (Steinberg et al., 2010; p.13).
Researchers frequently use the terms "independent variable" and
"dependent variable" when describing variables studied in their
research. Only major types of variables are described briefly here
which might influence the research findings more than others. The
demographic variables describe the sample characteristics.

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 These are the basic variables which most of the studies used to
categories their data into main categories like age, sex, nationality
and year of admission. The participants have chosen the answers
from the survey form (questionnaire options) that best described
their choice. The closed answer response options are listed in Table
1.

Table 1. Explanation of Independent Demographic Variables

Individual Characteristics Question Response

Gender Female, Male

Age Continuous Variable

Year of Registration in PACS

Degree Program

Country Name where participant

belong
Nationality

Facebook user? Yes (or) No

Dependent Variable (DV) is the factor that is observed and

measured to determine the effect of the independent variable.
Table 2 displayed the outcome variables and with the process of
correlating these variable can predict or find out some useful
results. The student participants recorded their high school GPA,
time spent on internet, Facebook etc.

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 Table 2. Outcome Variables

Outcome Variable Definition Measures

Grade Point Cumulative grade point 1 to 5 (1 is lowest

Average average in all passed and 5 is higher
subjects or exams grade)

In a typical day time spent on

Facebook

Facebook
Internet for In a typical day time spent on

entertainment internet for entertainment Between 0 to 7 hours

(a student time spent

Internet use In a typical day time in a typical day)

for academic spent on internet for

academic

Study and
12
In a typical day time
schoolwork spent on for doing study
or schoolwork
 Independent Variables (IV) “that are selected or controlled by the researcher, to
determine its relationship to the observed outcome of the research—also called
explanatory, predictor, or manipulated variable” (Steinberg et al., 2010, p.13).
Variable regarding Facebook use and impact have been divided into two
categories and measured by 5 Likert scale.
Table 3: Independent Variables for Facebook use and impacts

Independent Variables Definition Measures

Facebook has become part of my daily

routine
I lose track of time when I am on Facebook

I have tried to cut down on my Facebook

use

Facebook is now my recent

most time consuming hobby

Sometimes I go on Facebook while I am in Student’s

attitude

class
towards

It is a good tool to meet new people & make

Facebook

new friends
Particularly I use Facebook to keep in touch
with my friends usage
1) Strongly
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 Disagree

2) Disagree

3) Neutral

I think I might be addicted to Facebook

4) Agree
I use Facebook for break during my
studying or doing schoolwork

The time I spend on Facebook takes away

5) Strongly

from studying or schoolwork time Agree

If Facebook did not exist, I would get a lot

more studying and schoolwork done

Facebook distracts me from Student’s

studying or doing schoolwork

14
 opinion

I would be getting better grades about

if I spent less time on Facebook Facebook

impact on
I am able to control my use of
their
Facebook so that it does not
interfere with studying or doing
schoolwork academic
performan
ce

There has been a considerable amount of research devoted to studying the

relationship between student involvement in activities and student academic
achievement. Although a positive correlation has been shown in many of these
studies, there is still a fierce battle among educators concerning the need for
extracurricular activities.

Reliability and Validity

According to Muijs (2004) the term reliability is explained, the whole process of
research, as being free of measurement error and helped describe the quality of
the survey tool. The term validity figure out whether the questions on the survey
are appropriate to measures of the variables under research (Muijs, 2004).
Survey questionnaire has been discussed with my thesis supervisor (Paivi
Harinen) for further improvement and refinements.. To improve content validity
and reliability in the survey.

Fowler (2002) has proposed following criteria: 1) relevance of items, 2) clarity of

wording, 3) absence of biased words and phrases, 4) use of standard English, 5)
clarity of instructions, and 6) formatting (Fowler, 2002). Based on the feedback
provided by the supervisor and students, the survey has been revised before it
was administered to the subjects. Special attention has been given to relevance
of survey questionnaire and clarity of instructions for this research. Before
launching the survey questionnaire, it has been verified that survey was going to
fulfill the research purpose

15
REFERENCES:

Kashif, M. (2013). IMPACT OF FACEBOOK ON STUDENTS´ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Analysis through the social capital. Joensuu, Finland: Faculty of Social Sciences ,
University of Eastern Finland.

Kirschner P & Karpinski A (2010). Facebook and academic performance. Journal of

Computers in Human Behavior, 26, Page.1237–1245.

Facebook facts (2013). News room Facebook key facts. Retrieved Feb 20, 2013, from
http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts

Valenzuela S, Park N & Kee K F (2009). Is there social capital in a

social network site?: Facebook use and college students’ life satisfaction,
trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Wallman, N. (2006). Social Research Methods. London: Sage Publications 2006

Pasek J, More E & Hargittai E (2009). Facebook and academic performance:

Reconciling a media sensation with data. Retrieved April 1, 2013
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2498/2181

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, 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: 1143–1168. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.

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APPENDICES
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is your Age:

2. What is your Gender:

3. What is your Nationality:

4. What Year are you studying in?


1st

2nd

3rd
5. When did you start your program?

YEAR:

6. On a typical day, how much time do you spend

studying or doing schoolwork?

Hours

7. What is your average grade (in all subjects which you have

passed already) in your degree program?

o 3.75 and above

o 3.50-3.75

o 3.00.3.50

o 2.50-3.00

o Below 2.00

7A. If you are in 1st year then what was your GPA?

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Student’s involvement in study related activities: -

8. On a typical day, how much time do you spend on the

Internet for study related activities?

Hours
9. Please evaluate the following statement from your personal

point of view. (Yes/No)

Yes No
I am going to take some extra courses for increasing my
knowledge
I usually make a plan or list, what to do daily for my studies

I have clear idea how much studies I am going to cover during

every month
I rarely find myself working on the assignment on the due date

My friends think I am a very punctual student

I am able to manage my course load without any difficulty

during the
semester

10. Are you a Facebook user? Yes / No

Please answer the following questions about

your use of Facebook:

11. On an average day, how much time do you spend on

Facebook? Hours

12. Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with

the following statements about your use of Facebook:

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 (1) Strongly Disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neutral, (4) agree, (5) strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

Facebook has become part of my daily routine

I lose track of time when I am on Facebook

Facebook is now my recent most time consuming hobby

Sometimes I go on Facebook while I am in class

It is a good tool to meet new people & make new

Friends
Particularly I use Facebook to keep in touch with my
Friends
I think I might be addicted to Facebook

13. Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the

following statements about how your use of Facebook

impacts you academically:

(1)Strongly Disagree, (2) Disagree, (3)Neutral, (4)agree, (5) strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

I use Facebook for break during my studying or doing

Schoolwork
The time I spend on Facebook takes away from
studying or schoolwork time
If Facebook did not exist, I would get a lot more
studying and schoolwork done
Facebook distracts me from studying or doing
Schoolwork
I would be getting better grades if I spent less time on
Facebook

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 I am able to control my use of Facebook so that it does
not interfere with studying or doing schoolwork

The following questions ask you about your

reasons for not being involved on Facebook.

14. Please indicate the reason(s) you have chosen not to

be involved on Facebook. (Mark all that apply)

o Not Interested

o I have no Time

o Don’t know how to use Facebook

o Don't Want to Put Personal Information Online

o I use other similar services

o Others:

15. Would you like to start using Facebook in future?

Yes / No / Don’t Know

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1