College of Business and Economics

MBA Program

The effect of social media usage on academic performance of private

Secondary school students in Addis Ababa

Author: Amare Mengist

Advisor: Temesgen Belay (Ph.D)

Research proposal Submitted To the School of MBA Program CPU College in Partial
Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business administration
(MBA)

August, 2021

Ethiopia

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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background of the study .................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Statement of the problem ................................................................................................. 7
1.3. Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 9
1.4. Objectives of the study ..................................................................................................... 9
1.5. Significance of the study ................................................................................................ 10
1.6. Scope of the Study.......................................................................................................... 10
1.7. Limitation of the study ................................................................................................... 10
1.8. Definitions of key terms ................................................................................................. 11
Review of Related Literatures ...................................................................................................... 12
2.1. Concept of social media ................................................................................................. 12
2.2. The occurrence of social media ...................................................................................... 13
2.3. The rise of social media in Ethiopia ............................................................................... 14
2.4. The extent of social media usage ................................................................................... 15
2.5. Extent of social media usage by gender ......................................................................... 16
2.6. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................... 18
2.6.1. Social cognitive theory ........................................................................................... 18
2.6.2. Uses and gratification theory .................................................................................. 19
2.6.3. Dependency theory ................................................................................................. 20
2.6.4. Social information processing theory ..................................................................... 21
2.7. Purpose of social media usage by high school students ................................................. 21
2.8. Social media usage and age difference .......................................................................... 22
2.8.1. Social media usage and its effect on academic performance .................................. 23
2.9. Conceptual framework ................................................................................................... 26
Research Design and Methodology .............................................................................................. 27
3.1 Research design .............................................................................................................. 27
3.2 The study area ................................................................................................................ 27
3.3 Source and types of data................................................................................................. 27
3.4 Population of the study................................................................................................... 27
3.5 Sample size and sampling techniques ............................................................................ 28
4. Work Plan and Cost Breakdown ........................................................................................... 30
4.1. Work Plan....................................................................................................................... 30

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 4.2. Cost Breakdown ............................................................................................................. 31
Reference ...................................................................................................................................... 32

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 Introduction
1.1.Background of the study
Enhancements of internet technologies have spurred on compelling changes in how we
communicate, learn, interact and build knowledge. For much of the connected world, it permeates
nearly every aspect of our existence from shopping and banking, to communication and education
among many other pursuits (Tariq, Mehboob, Khan, & Ullah, 2012). Today in general worldwide
internet users have increased rapidly from time to time. In 2014, there were 6.5 billion internet
users around the world and in 2015 they become 7.2 billion (Singh, 2017).

Social media is that means employs mobile and web based technology to create highly interactive
platforms via which individuals and community share, co-create, discuss and modifies user-
generated content (Kietzmannn, 2012). Social media is a phrase being tossed around a lot. It is a
website that does not just give you information but interact with you while giving you information.
It is a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of users generated
content. In addition, Andreas and Michael (2010) are of the opinion that social media is a group
of internet based application that builds on the ideological foundation and allows the creation and
exchange of users – generated content. Social media has become one of the major channel of
chatting through platforms such as 2go, BB chat, blogger and wiki a.

The Internet and in particular social media applications such as Facebook, Imo, You tube and
many others, are obviously ―overtaking the world‖ and could be regarded as ―a global consumer
phenomenon‖ (Camilia, Ibrahim, & Dalhatu, 2013). Since the emergence, social media has
developed from particular to a group of online endeavor; in that of millions of user were engaged
in their free time and at work place (Asemah et al., 2013). Social networking is a trend that lived
ever since the society was created. Because of human being always required living in social world.
So the development of social media and its penetration in day to day life is currently touching how
students are running their studies (shabir et al, .2014).
In today‘s society, especially for the young generation, social media has become a part of everyday
life. Students may have access to all types of information across the globe in the palm of hands
using materials that facilitate use of social media, such as Facebook, imo, Skype, messenger,
whatsapp messenger, viber, etc., has taken the technology world to a completely new level
(Vorderer, 2016). Social media accessed using mobile applications and smart phones, which were

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easy access to people, can go online in their home, school, workplaces and even cafes. Peoples are
now logging on to social media on mobile devices everywhere at any time making it a common
everyday activity and this can be confirmed which estimates that about 2.4 billion users of smart
phones make use of their devices for social media in the world (internet world stats, 2017).

The rapid development of social media has accelerated the trend of globalization in recent years
which may have greatly influence every facet of human society; including the way people use
freely, the perception of media, and the abilities to control the usage of media (Chen, 2012). Thus,
the scholars have started recently to examine the effect of social media on human life.

(Pertoric, 2013), the rapid emergence of the internet as a communication venue for adolescents
has been accompanied by diametrically opposed view about its social consequences. In addition,
using social media such as Facebook, whatsapp, imo and Viber, have become dominant factors
from numerous social media in today‘s digital world for an individual users affecting how social,
psychological, communication and academic aspects positivity as well as negatively (Yeboah and
Ewur, 2014). Among those websites the most popular online social network is Facebook.
Launched in 2004 at Harvard University, Facebook is the fastest growing online social utility with
in worldwide (―Facebook IPO,‖ 2012,). The initial purpose of the website was to connect students
at Harvard University, but this purpose was soon expanded to connect high school students,
college students, and adults worldwide.

In Ethiopia, among social networking sites, Facebook has been the prime among highly visited
social networking sites (Jibat, 2012). Based on Internet World Status (Internet world status, 2012)
in Ethiopia, in December 2012 among 960,331 total internet users, 902,440 have Facebook
account.

Worldwide, the use of social media is believed to have both benefits and risks on teenagers ‘well-
being, including their safety and academic careers (Barth 2015; Jung et al. 2017; Levon2017;
Tartari 2015; Tsitsika et al. 2014). To start with its positive aspects, there are studies that highlight
the roles of social media in building positive personality traits and increasing the academic
opportunities for teenagers (Akcaoglu and David 2016; Kaya and Bicen 2016; Lee and Horsley
2017; Marino et al. 2016). A study by Lee and Horsley (2017), for example, reported that using
Facebook among teenagers facilitates the development of six important personality traits:
competence, confidence, connection, character, compassion, and contribution, which are bases for
student’s better academic performance. Likewise, there are findings that show social media can
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contribute to the social and emotional maturity of teenagers (Behler 2017; Błachnio et al. 2016;
Lee and Horsley2017).

In addition to their contribution to the positive teenagers personality development, through closer
monitoring by parents and teachers, social media can certainly contribute to students‘ academic
progress (Ahn 2011; Akcaoglu and David 2016; Lambic 2016; Manasijevic et al. 2016). Students
can share academic information, give and receive academic scaffoldings, and get connected to
each other through social media platforms. A study by Akcaoglu and David (2016) further shows
that social media can play considerable role to engage students in learning processes, feeling closer
to the given course contents, and perceiving their instructors as more involved.

Last, social media also have a potential to facilitate collaborative learning among the students and
with faculty (Sharma et al. 2015) and motivate students to learn at their own pace and place for
educational purposes (Delcore and Neufeld 2017); some authors firmly emphasize the risks related
to their use. For example, there are various undesired effects and uncertainties associated with
excessive use of social media such as peer humiliation, cyberbullying, depression, isolation, and
academic fluctuations (Kokkinos and Saripanidis 2017; Patton et al. 2016; Tsitsika et al. 2014;
Woods and Scott 2016). There are also studies that claim social media have significant negative
impacts on students educational, emotional, and psychological well-being particularly for
teenagers (Ahn 2011; Jung et al. 2017; Lev-on 2017; Tartari 2015; Tsitsika et al. 2014). Comparing
the benefits of social media with their risks, some authors argue that their disadvantages are far
greater than their advantages (Ho et al. 2017; Lev-on 2017; McCrae et al. 2017; Sarabia and
Estevez 2016; Young et al. 2017).

These risk behaviors can be viewed from three points of view: personal, academic, and emotional
(Ahn 2011; Levon 2017; Smith et al. 2017). The personal risks that frequently happen to teenager
students on social media involve uploading unintended information in certain contexts; uploading
negative information about oneself and the others; hacking others accounts and being hacked; and
using information for retaliation purposes, privacy problem, safety, and psychological well-being
of teenagers (Ahn 2011; Błachnio et al. 2016; Lev-on 2017; Smith et al. 2017; Woods and Scott
2016).

Academically, the excessive use of social media has counter effect on the students‘academic
pursuits by diverting their attention from education-oriented activities to recreational oriented
activities (Cassidy 2006; Junco 2012b; Tsitsika et al. 2014). Emotionally, the extensive use of

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social media can reduce peer interactions and may lead users to feel loneliness overtime and lead
teenagers develop distorted image of self (Błachnio et al. 2016). Instigated by appearances of other
users in the platforms, teenagers may enter into comparing their own physical appearance with
those of other peers, which may inevitably cause dissatisfaction with one‘s own standard of beauty
(Błachnio et al. 2016; Ferguson et al. 2014; Reid and Weigle 2014). This may eventually lead
teenagers to emotional depression and social withdrawal (McCrae et al. 2017; Tartari 2015; Woods
and Scott 2016). Furthermore, if teenagers are obsessed with their own physical appearance, they
may develop narcissistic personality disorder (Kaya and Bicen 2016). Research findings further
illustrate that due to addictive social media use, there are major mental health problem, sexting,
and suicide among adolescents (Luxton et al. 2012; Reid and Weigle 2014).

A studies regarding to the improvement of academic achievement (Gafni & Deri, 2012), concluded
that using social media such as Facebook by students is spending time and thus negatively
influencing academic performance. There is a disturbance and alienated attention between social
media activities and school work. Social media‘s were considered as a disturbance and no
facilitated learning benefit.

Other studies results concluded that the effect of social media usage among students indicated that
a statistically significant negligible correlation between time spent by students on social media and
their academic achievement (Paul et al., 2012). Spending the time on social media is indicated
negatively influence academic achievement. As the time spends on social media increases, the
academic achievement of the students is seen to drop. This finding also confirmed that the finding
stated that excessive-involvement or compulsion with social media by students would have
negative influence on academic achievement (Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010).

The impact of social media usage yet increasingly considered and debated among higher education
scholars, administrators and stakeholders on learning, learners and teachers.McLoughlin & Lee
(2010) stated that using social media networks in the educational process could help educators to
apply the inquiry-based approach and encourage the collaboration between the instructor and the
students, thereby encourage engagement.

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Similarly, other studies also encourage the usage of social media for education purposes. Its
importance is potential for encouraging independent, self-directed learning as well as encouraging
students‘ as active producers of knowledge (Dumpit & Fernandez, 2017).However, this studies
result revealed that, if social media is used in a positive way, it can help students and youth to get
knowledge that can be used to improve their academic performance. Nevertheless, lack of
ordinance of the Internet has led to its unmanaged use. It is observable that students are chatting
via social media at sensitive and genuinely organized places like class, church, and mosque.

The production and spreading of advanced mobile phones has complicated the situation, as
students not need to go cyber/Internet café to send and receive the messages. The attention of
students shifted from physical to virtual friends, while the essential exciting activities like reading
and writing are influenced in the process (Asemah et al., 2013). This situation has become a source
of trouble to many who suppose in knowledge and skill attainment.

Although a very large community exists online, including on social media, that focuses on
education, this might not be the case for university students (Tariq et al., 2012); even though the
majority of students are active users on social media networks, yet 70 percent of them do not use
social media for academic purposes (Jones, et al, 2010).

According to Tariq et al. (2012) are some of the researchers that emphasize that the affordances of
technologies might have severe negative consequences on ―social networks addicts.‖ They, for
example, fear that ―social networks grab the total attention and concentration of the students and
divert them towards non educational, unethical, and inappropriate actions such as useless chatting,
time killing by random searching. Scholars similar to, Jeffrey and Adams (2015) and Wilkins et
al (2015) found out that social media has a damaging effect on students overall academic
performance. They reiterated that social media affects students efficiency as well as students’
academic performance negatively. Hurt et al (2012) also agrees that time spent on social media
affects academic performance negatively.

Social media usage is affected by the demographic variable of sex which exhibits some difference
between men and women. Women are more preferred than men to have a personal profile of

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Facebook, but men are more preferred than women to carry on a profile on LinkedIn (Lenhart e.al.,
2013). According to the theory of social roles, sex variations can be realized by engaging of the
social duties of males and females. More specifically, as a result of theory of social roles, males
and females acquire different possession of abilities and viewpoints , based on what they act
socially, which males are likely to be genetic (i.e. autonomous, intellectual, and competitive),
women are likely to be communal (i.e. obedientt, reliant, and calm). The duties of the males and
females thus grace the involvement in the social interaction activities. So, the theory of social role
allows a theoretical background as to why females highly preferred to social media compared to
male‘s to strength interpersonal interactions (Misra et al., 2015).

In Ethiopian context, the number of Facebook users has been increasing in faster rate from time to
time (socialbakers, 2014). Recently internet world statistic (2014) reported that there are more than
1.3 million Facebook users in Ethiopia. Thus, from the total Facebook users, the age group (15-
23) has been increased from 38% in 2010 to 51.6% in 2011 (internet of some developmental aspect
among adolescents. Besides, from the total Facebook users in the globe, Ethiopia is 12th in Africa
and 80th in the worlds that are living in the urban areas of the country (Socialbakers, 2014).

High school students in Addis Ababa are within this age group and they live in the area where
Internet service is available. These students are also found in the age ranges (15-19) of active
Facebook users group in Ethiopia. The main concern of the present study is that students who
spend a longer time on Facebook may share related challenges of academic performance.

The researcher supposes that there is an enormous needs to conduct studies to increase the society‘s
consciousness of the how to use social media for the better activities. Without such endeavors,
social media usage related academic performance problems will be major challenges of the
productive-society who constitute the majority of the population in Ethiopia. In such away this
study would examine the effect of social media usage on academic performance of high school
(secondary school) students in Addis Ababa.

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 1.2.Statement of the problem
As findings from various studies show, the use of social media is increasingly becoming popular
among the youths worldwide due to their interactive features (Ahn 2011; Carter 2013; Lev-
on2017; Reid and Weigle 2014; Tartari 2015); Today usage of social media teenager students and
young generation are not limited to desktop computers but it‘s now accessed largely through
mobile device and smart phones. the study conducted by Negussie and Ketema (2014) in Jima
University, Ethiopia, revealed that most students use their personal laptops and smart phones to
access social network sites which were Facebook, YouTube and Imo. The study result concluded
that this leads students spend most of their time on Facebook rather than reading and working
homework. Masoro erdiollo (2019) According to study findings, the extent of social media usage
by preparatory school students ‘averagely spend their study time 1-2 hours on social media per
day. Thus, the researcher concluded that social media usage of preparatory school students were
high. Generally, students are sent to school to learn, but are exposed to numerous experiences
which has impact on their academic performance either positively or adversely (Owusu-Acheaw
& Larson, 2015).

The engagement in the social media has changed many aspects of preparatory students ‘academic
performance similarly, in modern day society, the use of social media is taking a vital part in
students in everyday live and there has been a wide spread abuse of its usage among students.
Studies conducted by Asemah,& ,Okpanachi, (2013) indicated that students who spend more time
on social media are likely to perform poorly in their academics this is because instead of reading
books, they spend time on chatting and making friends via social media and this will definitely
have negative effect on their academic performance.

Besides that, active as well as frequent partaking on social media may affect their studies, and may
hinder their journey into the world of work. Today students give more attention to social media
rather than for their academic purpose due to that they easily fail to pass their examination
(Osharive, 2015). It has been observed that students devote more attention and time to social media
than they do for their studies and they cannot pass their examinations well. Also, study conducted

7
by Maya (2015), revealed that media use contribute to lower academic performance, low self-
perceptions and less interest in academic oriented carriers.

Among the aims of education is a change in behavior in a desirable direction so that one behaves
according to the accepted values and norms of the society. Thus, learning is a behavioral change
which reflects in cognitive reasoning, physical development and manipulative skills. Morrison and
Gore (2013), found out that people who use social media excessively (identified as internet
addicts) showed significantly develop more symptoms of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and
loneliness than those who did not use. Similarly, Andreessen (2015) investigated that being an
individual concerned about social media, strongly motivated to use social media and devote such
amount of time to use social media that it negatively affect psychological well-being, health well-
being, social and academic activities.

The researcher motivated to conduct this study on the effect of social media usage on the academic
performance of high schools because now a day the access of social media growing day to day the
same as the usage in everywhere either in school, work place and at the home is increasing from
time to time. The researcher start on that need to assess the effect of social media usage, the
relationship between usage of media and academic performance ,risk and benefit of social media
and the extent of exposure of the students to it. Since there are no previous studies have been done
as an expected on this issue, particularly (secondary school) high school levels.

In addition, recently education institutions as well as parents have great fear those (teenager
students) high school students (age 15-19) academic performances might affect adversely because
they are paying more attention towards social media rather than to academic purpose. Many
parents are worried over their children‘s habit on Facebook, What Sapp, 2go,tik taok and other
social media sites because they are the opinion that their children now hardly have time to read
(Flad, 2010).

According to social bakers (2013), Ethiopian urban adolescents (16 -20 years) spent their studies
time an average of 18 hours online every month on face book. These indicate that high school
students are major users group of social media in Addis Ababa.

Consequently the stage of high school (secondary school) is main stage to students because it is
the base to prepare them self for preparatory, higher education and make a good achievement.
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Thus, these achievement is just as the decision tools what the students want to study after joining
the higher education.

The main aim of this study is expand on previous research; explore the effect of social media usage
on students ‘academic lives. In addition, to see in Ethiopia context that social media usage is
related with students ‘academic performance or to find out the effect of social media usage and to
fill gap of research work relating social media usage with high school students ‘academic
performance.

This study designed to examine the effect of social media on academic performance of high school
students. Specifically aimed to (i) investigate the effect of social media usage on academic
performance of high school students; (ii) investigate the extent of social media (like Facebook)
usage and its effect on academic performance of high school students, and (iii) to examine the
relation between social media usage and academic performance of high school students,.

1.3. Research Questions

• To what extent do privet high school students use social media?
• Is there a significant benefit and risk the usage of social media and academic
performance?

• Are there ages, sex, and grade level differences in frequency of social media usage
among high school students?

1.4. Objectives of the study

General Objective

The general objective of this study was to examine the effect of social media usage on academic
performance of high school students in Addis Ababa city.

Specific objectives

Specifically, the study is focused on the following objectives

• Examining whether there is a significant benefit and risk the level of social media
usage and high school students ‘academic performance. :

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 • What are the perceived benefits associated with the use of social media for teenager
students?

• What are the perceived risks associated with the use of social media for teenager
students?

• Examine the extent of social media usage and its effects on high school students
‘academic performance.

• Identify if there is gender, age and grade level differences of frequency of social
media usage on academic performance.

1.5. Significance of the study

This study will be a good academic source for researchers, and the way students to know the effect
of social media on academic performance. Particular this study results will provide information
for different beneficiaries such as parents, students, teachers, schools, media organization, and the
community at large. Moreover, it will serve as a source of data for schools, media organizations,
institutions and for future researchers.

As a pilot study in a developing country, this study may raise awareness of schools, teachers, and
parents about the benefits and risks of using social media for teenager students on the academic
performance. Thereby, there will be future researches that enable them to effectively monitor their
students to use social media primarily for academic purposes.

Generally, this study contributes to the creation of a conscious information to the society with the
risks related to social media usage by high school students (teenager).

1.6. Scope of the Study

The study is delimited in to selected three high schools students in Addis Ababa city due to
financial, and time constraints. This study focused on six types of social media usage which are
Facebook, YouTube, telegram, Imo, whats‘up and tik tok.

1.7. Limitation of the study

The study focused on the private high schools students ‘who can clearly understand and measure
issues related to usage of social media. Though the research generated useful findings and
recommendations that could help trigger the needed data/information in-depth which influence
academic performance; it has not managed to incorporate views of the public high schools

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students‘. So the researcher is forced to narrow the scope to only private high schools students in
line with six types of social media; Facebook, imo, tik tok, youtube,telegram and whats‘up due to
scarcity of time, finance and other necessary logistic.

1.8. Definitions of key terms

Social media; they are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on
certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology.

Academic performance; refers to participant of average point/score of all subjects which is

achieved at the end of the semester.

Students; private high schools students ‘of grade 9th and 10th, academic year of 2020/21in Addis
Ababa, and age between15-19.

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 Review of Related Literatures
This chapter critically reviews the theoretical background of social media. Its emphasis is on
social media platforms, the emergence of social media; the ascend of social media in Ethiopia;
extent of social media usage; purpose of students social media usage, Social media usage and its
effect on academic performance, social media usage differences in demographic features;
theories and orientations of social media usage; and theoretical frameworks of the research.

2.1.Concept of social media

As findings from various studies show, the use of social media is increasingly becoming popular
among the youths worldwide due to their interactive features (Ahn 2011; Carter 2013; Lev-on
2017; Reid and Weigle 2014; Tartari 2015; Williams and Ricciardelli 2014). Social media
constitute websites that are designed to enable users to share information, exchange ideas, and
participate in content modification online. These involve the platforms Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, and other similar interactive websites. They are widely in
use among public services and students in different levels of education (Dhir and Tsai 2017).
Reports indicate that the number of users of social media is increasing from time to time and
exceeding billions.

Recently, the use social media amongst students is so prevalent because of the rise of the portable
devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops that are easy to access using Wi-Fi connectivity
(AamoIorliam and E. Ode, 2014). Through the study of the impact of social media to the students,
there is an evidence to show the existence of some impact on student‘s life whether in their
academic or social life.

Social media means employs mobile and web based technology to create highly interactive
platforms via which individuals and community share, co-create, discuss and modifies user
generated content (Kietzmannn, 2012). It is a website that does not just give you information for
somebody; however, social media is interacting with you while giving you information. It is a
group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of users generated
content. It is easy to confuse social media with social news because we often refer to members of
the news as the media (Kietzmannn, 2012).

Exchange and comment among themselves in different networks. Andreas and Michael (2010) are
of the opinion that social media is a group of internet based application that builds on the

12
ideological foundation and allows the creation and exchange of users – generated content. Social
media has become one of the major channel of chatting through platforms such as 2go, blogger
and wiki a. There has been an increase in the mobile social media which has created new
opportunity for browsing.

Nonetheless, social media become increasingly being used for educational purposes (Delcore and
Neufeld 2017); some authors firmly emphasize the risks related to their use. For example, there
are various undesired effects and uncertainties associated with excessive use of social media such
as peer humiliation, cyberbullying, depression, isolation, and academic fluctuations (Kokkinos and
Saripanidis 2017; Patton et al. 2016; Tsitsika et al. 2014; Woods and Scott 2016). There are also
studies that claim social media have significant negative impacts on students’ educational,
emotional, and psychological well-being particularly for teenagers (Ahn 2011; Jung et al. 2017;
Lev-on 2017; Tartari 2015; Tsitsika et al. 2014). Comparing the benefits of social media with their
risks, some authors argue that their disadvantages are far greater than their advantage.

The internet usage effect of social media, in views of Nielsen (2012) is that, students continue to
spend more time on the social media than any site. The total time spent on social media across
mobile devices increased by 37%, 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes
in July 2011.This indicate that students spent most of their study time on the using of social media
which indirectly affect their academic achievement.

2.2. The occurrence of social media

The social media was first emerged in 1997. The emergence of social media helped its users to
create profiles. The period of six degrees of the internet helped to precede blogging and instant
messages and people to exchange information through communication with others. The ―Robot
Wisdom‖ edited and ―Web blog‖ was made by an early blogger John barge. The most members
of Generation X remember ICQ which was newly borne. When the American AOL‘s online instant
massager became popular in social media in 2000, Myspace was set up as a profile and leading
many to Facebook. But LinkedIn was created to achieve people to connect with each other to be
socialized and find jobs. It was quite common that around 100 million users accessed to internet
to be engaged socially during the year 2000 (Stephen et al., 2016).

Facebook is world‘s largest social network become so popular for young people that they hardly
use email or other way of communication. People use Facebook to stay associated with friends

13
and family, to be informed and entertained in their social circle, and to share and express what
matters to them. It is most interest able all over the world in society, especial in the young
generation as the many study revealed. Due to that the students were waste large times using
Facebook to different purposes rather than academic purpose. Haq and Chand (2012) ―one of the
largest social networking sites like Facebook has become so popular, especially among students
that it reflected many other traditional features of society. Facebook users share ideas and pictures
with friends and family members. Facebook is also used to keep in touch with previous high school
classmates and work mates. It creates new relationships and friendships or simply a way to unwind
with one of the many Facebook applications that include games and quizzes‖.

Facebook was the first found by Mark Zucherberg and his college with his college roomies and
fellow student of Harvard University Eduardo Saverin in February, 2014 (Carlson, 2010). Before
expanding to known university in Canada and United States (Rosemarin, 2006) and Boston area
the Ivy League college (Company & Timeline, 2007) it confined to Harvard students. Twitter had
the unique distinction of helping user to send tweet of 140 characteristics of less while both
Facebook and twitter were known messaging and SMS.

2.3. The rise of social media in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one part of the world society and the reflection of the world extended that inspired way
of most people live in world via internet. In 1997 Ethiopia became an information technology
society by setting up the Ethio- telecom computer network. The state owned EthioTelecom
provides internet service for the country. However, the trend of communication and relationships
changed due to the emergence of social media. It has also changed the magnitude of relationship
and communication (Social bakers, 2012, as cited in Tesfaye, 2013).

Now a day every parts of Ethiopian society have been engaged in the phenomena of social media
activities. Local researcher (Tesfaye, 2013) suggested that the major reason for the expansion of
social networking users is directly related with the expansion of Internet cafes in the urban areas
of the country. A simple indication of this is that Internet cafes have had a considerable number of
customers before Internet became accessible on cell phones (Tesfaye, 2013). The number of
licenses issued by Ethio-telecom for Internet cafes since the year of 2010 has now reached 2363
(Ethio Telecom, 2013/14).

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Recently, in Ethiopia user of social media indicated by (World stats, 2017 by country); Face book
(74.6%), Pinterest (12.58%), Twitter (4.59%), Tumbler (2.26%), LinkedIn (2.1%), and Google+
(1.86%). Facebook users in Ethiopia there were 6808000. The number of social media users
increased by 500 thousand (8.1%) between2020 and 2021.there were 44.86 million mobile
connection in January 2021( January 2021Napoleoncat.com statistics).In terms of age
demographics of Facebook users in Ethiopia are more than half of the users are young people
particularly who lives in urban areas of the country. Following the preamble of Facebook, it
opened up membership access to any one in the world over the age of 13. As a result of this
Facebook is continuously attracting younger people and may become a source of addiction. Studies
reported that young people found within the age range of 13-24 are found to be the leading
Facebook user age group in the country (Social bakers, 2014).

2.4. The extent of social media usage

The extent of social media usage is not the same for different individuals. The time spending on
social media might be related with the reason of individual engaging with social media and that
vary in age category, sex and others. Various study findings have indicated that the usage of social
media per day is varying depending on the situations and which was indicated as less, minimum,
excessive use of per day. According to Lenhart et al., (2010) the 18-29 age groups (57%) engaged
with multiple social media websites on their personal profiles. A similar study revealed that a
variation of time spending on social media per day among the users which showed that the evening
hours between 9 pm and 12 am are mostly used by participants for approximately 30 minutes. On
average participants spend 47 minutes per day on social media of Facebook (Pempek et al. 2009).

A study conducted by Quan-Haase and Young (2010) more than half of college students (82%)
search social networking sites many times logging into Facebook per day. According to Camilia
et al. (2013) the studies conducted in Nigeria were speculated that most of students of higher
institutions use social media 2 to 4 hours daily and also according to Kietzmann (2011) an average
Nigerian youth spend about 6 -7 hours on the internet daily, some do all night browsing.

The internet technology has clearly impact on human face-to-face communication, academics and
others. Baym et al. (2014) the interaction through other media were not threatened by social
internet sites only. Social interaction is not only influenced by media; rather it is a part of the total
of multimedia social relationship. Face-to-face contact is common in local social relationships than

15
internet communication. As a telephone the internet is highly used to maintain long distance
relationships. So, people prefer to stay long time on internet sites like social media to maintain
distance social interaction instead of face to face communication.

2.5. Extent of social media usage by gender

Numerous studies have conducted to investigate the differences in the extent (level) of social media
usage and its effect on the academic performance between sexes. 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 students opinion regarding the impacts that this medium has on academic performance.

Besides that, a study conducted on secondary school students reported that male students use social
networking more than female students do. They also found that the male-to-female ratio for social
networking use was almost five to one (Hsu & Chuang, 2008). According to Young (2004), also
reported the opposite gender effect, that females became Internet dependent more often than males.

For instance, according to Brenner, (2013), in December 2012, indicated that 71% of women were
engaged with social media compared with 29% of men. Unlikely a study conducted on internet
usage indicated that men were higher in number of internet usage than do women because of
focusing on privacy issues. The finding of this study confirmed by the study of Cho et al. (2009)
showed that older female internet users from an individualistic culture are more fretful about online
privacy than males. Similarly, Akyildiz and Argan, (2012) found that Facebook more used by male
students than female students and also males spend more time on it than females (as cited in
Salvation and Adzharuddin, 2014, p.133). The study finding of Lenhart et al. (2010) also stated
that among students both boys and girls equally prefer to join online activities. In contrarily, the
study finding of Tufekci (2008) founded that women were four to five times more likely to use
social networking sites than men; and according to Perrin (2015), starting 2009, in America women
started using social media slightly higher than men. The research conducted by Mohammed (2014)
in Ethiopia, the finding which showed a significant difference in the mean frequency use of SNM
sites within a week between males and females. The study conducted by them & Ahmed (2011)

16
on the usage and implications of social networking sites of students indicated that the difference
between sex and rate of SNS usage was significant.

A study conducted by Gina (2017) males and females use social media at similar rates, however,
the purposes are vary based on gender. For females, primarily to reinforce pre-existing friendships,
chatting and downloading, sharing their personal information and post pictures of themselves
whereas for males offer a way for sexual activities, making new friends and task oriented.

Similarly, Male and female generally show different attitudes and preferences toward the use of
communication technologies. Prior research also indicated that female prefer using computer
technologies to expand their social networks and keep in touch with others. In a ten-year follow
up study by Joiner et al. (2012), findings indicated that female use the Internet and SNSs for
communication much more than male. In addition, female are more satisfied with the features
embedded in the SNSs that help them to maintain relationships (Hargittai & Hsieh, 2010; Special
& Li-Barber, 2012). Male, however, are found to spend more time on the Internet for entertainment
and leisure (Joiner, et al. 2012) reported that male have greater breath of Internet use and are more
likely to use it for gaming and entertainment. Similarly, we believed that the effect of relationship
maintenance on satisfaction will be stronger for female, whereas the effect of entertainment on
satisfaction will be stronger for male.

Additionally, disconfirmation of relationship maintenance will influence satisfaction more for

female while disconfirmation of entertainment will influence satisfaction more for male. Similarly,
Lim, Heinrichs and Lim, (2017) females perceive social media differently than males. Social
media corporations found out that interest and curiosity are the main factors that affect the social
media usage of females, whereas variety of contents is the main factor that affects the social media
usage of males. There are also several researches mentioned that there are gender differences in
the social media usage. For example one of the conducted studies to analyze this phenomenon
showed that females listen to less music on social media sharing platforms than males (Putzke,
Fischbach, Schoder & Gloor, 2014).

Unlikely, a research conducted by Gina (2017) conclude that Males and Females use social media
at similar rates. Also, the research conducted 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

17
research analysis indicates that social media (Facebook) has/have 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.

2.6. Theoretical framework

There are four main theories that most scholars considered when analyzing the use of social media
by students, particularly on internet. These are social learning theory/social cognitive theory, uses
and gratification dependency theory and Social information processing theory.

2.6.1. Social cognitive theory

The social cognitive theory‘s of observational learning has been employing on media research
which concentrates on cognitive and psychological processes as they share to how media
characterizations impact learning and performance of observed behavior. As Social Cognitive
theory, when people focus and think about the information from media, they get hold of new
knowledge or amend presented mental representations. The observed, learned, or performed
characteristics depend on the model of display (Bandura, 2002, as cited in Lernner & Stienberg,
2004).

According to this theory, students who frequently view models on the social networking sites and
who perform behaviors that are rewarded, or not punished, are more likely to imitate those
behaviors. This theory also suggests that media influences both students ‘worldviews and their
behaviors.

Social learning theory (Bandura, 1997), explain that three factors such as individual learners,
peers, and situations, potentially affect individuals' learning outcomes. For instance, social
learning theory, which is also known as social cognitive learning, affirms the significant of
learning via observation and modeling. To add on, this theory basically explains how the
environmental and cognitive components collaborate to affect an individual learning and behavior
pattern. Social learning theory views learning as a social process that individuals will self-initiate,
regulate learning and actively construct knowledge by acquiring, generating, and structuring
information (Yu et al., 2010).

This theory emphasized that individuals' cognition and behavior are influenced through
observation and interacting with peers and the situations (e.g., learning the environmental norms,

18
cultures, policies). This theory emphasize that it is individuals' interaction with the environment
that causes their behavioral consequences. Therefore, individual interaction with peers, social
support from peers and their understanding of situations are important factors which effect
individual learning outcome (DeAndrea, Ellison, LaRose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2012). As a result,
it is essential to allow students to interact, communicate and collaborate with one another through
Facebook as this will foster a better relationship between the students and their teachers. Thus,
students can have an opportunity to be engaged with their course materials which is related to their
studies.

2.6.2. Uses and gratification theory

As long year the coordinated social scientific research has been began in western world on the
influence of media. Those studies focused on the bad influence of media on societies.

This is because the emergence of media as a familiar bunch delight and source of information
during the 1950s happen a serious concern for harmful effects of the media, especially in relation
to young audiences (Gunter, 1994, as cited in Rodman, 2007). Several scholars researched Uses
and Gratifications theory to investigate contents of the media and its effect on the audience. The
studies have begun by raising a need and looked at how it was indebted by media, while others
begun with a gratification and worked backward.

The Uses and Gratification theorists noted that the audience is viewed as active. Their main view
is that accumulation of communication is practiced by persons to tie or not to tie themselves via
26 instrumental, affective, or integrative relations with themselves and the rest of the community
(Kats et al., 1973, as cited in Vivian, 2003). This view is honestly related with students who use
social networking to keep in touch with friends and family. In addition, messaging helps students
to sense linked even if they are not capable to have a talk with someone in person. Usage of social
networking lets students to tie or not to tie directly based on their attention. This is a key element
for that Uses and Gratification theory is purely linked to students’ social media usage. Students
engaged with social media for multiple reasons.

A lengthy experience of uses and gratifications study has pointed out a broad list of particular goals
pleased by the media. Among the particular goals; having fun (entertainment), relief of tension,
keep in touch with dominant culture, exploring about the globe, looking for awareness and getting

19
free from loneliness are declared as the major intention of adolescent to be engaged with the media
(Dominick, 1996, as cited in Mohammed, 2014).

2.6.3. Dependency theory

Based on the dependent of people on social media, the dependency theory identified the impact
of media on society based on their dependency model. According to Ball-Rokeach and Defluer
(1976, as cited in Alpizar, 2010) stated that the extent of audience dependence on media
information is a key variable in accepting when and why media messages change audience
views, feeling or behavior. This model presumes that as societies and social networking become
more sophisticated, media accepts more responsibilities for holding out specific and unique
information function.

Dependency is defined as an association in which the satisfaction of one‘s need or goal is

determined on the imagination of another party. This indicate that the dependency by the media
information is all over the place and widespread in society. Individuals need of the information
that they expected to be linked to their larger social world, and this is similar with social media
service. Besides, the need to agree is naturally a piece of student‘s world.

This requires a student to mirror the activities of his or her peers and what is acceptable within
their society. It is quite possible that students will seek out the information they need through
social networking to fit in and stay connected.

Moreover, to keep their relationship students talk via social networking because not only this
way of conservation is socially accepted, but it also may strengthen current relationship.

Engaging on social media is not to depend on it, rather fairly contribute to maintain relationship.
The need is to be connected as well as to obtain advantages from social media which may direct
students to be relying on a particular medium.

According to Sun et al. (2008) pointed that it is rational to define Internet dependency as a
relation reflecting one‘s dependence on the Internet to reach goals. People are dependent on the
Internet as a home for information, entertainment and interpersonal connection. Researchers
traditionally conceptualized media dependencies as demonstration of one‘s dependence on media
for have fun, course, and understanding.

20
2.6.4. Social information processing theory
Social information processing theory explains online information. The theory was developed by
Joseph wither in 1992 (Asemah, 2011).Social information processing theory is an interpersonal
communication theory which suggests that online interpersonal relationship development might
require more time to develop than face-to-face relationships, but when developed, it has the same
influence as face-to-face communication. This means, the more students use social media, the
more they influence their disposition to studies, given the fact that friends from social media will
begin to exert influence on each other.

2.7. Purpose of social media usage by high school students

Many studies revealed that individuals have their own reason to be engaged in social media. The
most common and known activities of social networking sites are; searching for someone here and
there, looking at the profiles of one other, updating one‘s own profile, and following other
activities on social media and analyzing their post. Social media has multiple facets that lead
students to use it for various reasons as indicated by different research findings. According to
Charlene et al. (2007) the activity of students on social networking sites focuses on communicating
with one another (as cited in Khan, 2013, p.62).

According to Lenhart et al. (2007) social networking websites provide practical life to those who
want to produce new friends even-though there is unreal and real contact with other users of social
networking websites. Students get registered and develop new friends wanting to increase a
number of friends and seek others to know about them, but unfortunately it gives them to have an
opportunity to provide virtual contacts.

Mingle & Adams (2015), on the social media network participation and academic performance in
senior high school in Ghana, the purpose of the students‘ social media usage for entertainment
(12.3%), simply chatting (30.5%), making friends (41.4%), and discussions with friends on school
matters (15.8%). Friendship making was therefore identified as the main purpose for which
students use social media networks.

Similarly, according to Morallo (2014) stated that the purpose of the majority of students using
social media to be connected to friends and like/share the videos. As he stated that only 17.6% of
students use social media for educational purposes.

21
Generally, students use social media to keep in touch with friends and family, to watch videos,
like /share the posted images and pictures, to exchange ideas and information and to access
academic information.

2.8. Social media usage and age difference

Social networking sites are utilized by people of all the age groups but the adolescents and youth
use it to the fullest for various purposes (mainly communication). The Internet as a medium of
research has changed drastically since it has become more complex, virtual, social and physical
such that the youth participates and co-constructs something, rather than just simply watching on
the television or personal computers. Hughes et al. (2012) determined that younger users are more
likely to use social networks for social purposes, whereas older users tend to use social networks
more for information purposes. All age generations arguably find social networks useful if they
can communicate and stay in touch with others, but they do so differently (Bolton et al., 2013). It
is therefore possible to segment social network users into age generations as there is evidence that
shows they use and behave differently on social networks. Hayes, van StolkCooke and Muench
(2015) propose that the most significant way in which age generations differ in their social media
usage, is their frequency of status updates, photo sharing and browsing through friend‘s photos.

According to (Deshmukh al., 2014) online mediums also connect people in a person-to-person
manner which is more direct and interpersonal. The levels of verbal and affective intimacy can be
known through observing the frequency of posts on popular SNSs (Kross et al., 2013). The
popularity of social networking sites is not just based on how many people it has but on how many
hours or time a user spends on it daily. Some social aspects like family pattern, age, communication
among the members play a vital role in the youth‘s web usage. Adequate parenting plays the role
of a catalyst in serving the social and emotional needs of the youth, devoid of such parenting they
result in fulfilling those needs from online sites. Social media usage behavior is developing and
transforming at a rapid rate leaving its effects on the youth. (Lee, Lee, Kwon, 2011)The dark side
of social Medias that its excessive usage affects all the facets of a youth‘s life including
psychological, emotional, physical well-being and social development.

Also the study indicated that the older people usage frequency and visiting of social media is less
when compared with young and adult age people. According to Mohammed (2014) showed that a
significant difference in the mean frequency use of social media within a week based on age

22
categories and overall significant difference among each age categories, especially the 19 to 21
years old students frequently visited SNM sites within a week than the other age categories.

The study conducted by Tham & Ahmed (2011) on the usage and implications of social networking
sites of college students indicated that a significant difference between age and the use of SNS
which showed the time spent on SNS decreased as the age of the respondent increased.

2.8.1. Social media usage and its effect on academic performance

Studies revealed that the engagement of students and adolescent people on social media may have
both negative and positive impacts on their academic performance and studies. Hence, their
academic performance should be handled efficiently keeping in view all the factors that can
negatively and positively affect their educational performance. According to Mehmood and Tawir
(2013), the use of technologies such as social media and the Internet is one of the most important
factors that can influence educational performance of students positively or adversely‖.

Negussie and Ketema (2014), study in Ethiopia also indicated that there is no significant
relationship between times spent on social networks such as Facebook with students ‘grade point
average (GPA). Similarly a study conducted by Ahmed and Qazi (2011) in Pakistan among six
universities have been shows that the same results. They discovered that there no much difference
occurred between times spent on social media and students‘ academic performance.

On the contrary, a number of studies have also revealed that the usage of social media have a
negative impact on students’ academic performance. According to Kirschner and Karpinski
(2010), they found a ―significant negative relationship between Facebook use and academic
performance. Facebook users reported lower mean GPAs and also reported spending fewer hours
per week studying on average than Facebook non users. A majority of students claimed to use
Facebook accounts at least once a day. Malaney (2005), found that 8.9% of students in 2000, and
4.4% in 2003, reported that their grades had suffered as a result of too much time spent on the
Internet as well as on social media networks.

The findings of an investigation conducted by Mingle and Adams (2015) among undergraduates
in Nigeria showed that majority of respondents experienced negative effects i.e. poor grammar and
spelling, late submission of assignment, less study time and poor academic performance because
of too much use of social media like Facebook. Similarly, Heffner and Tara (2016) conducted a
study among undergraduates at Rowan University of the USA. The study results indicated that

23
social media do not have a positive effect on the students' academic achievements. The study
suggested the undergraduate students should manage and monitor their time spent using social
media.

Junco (2012) in his article named too much face and not enough books: The relationship between
multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance. Found that time spent on Facebook
and checking Facebook were negatively related to overall GPA, and time spent on Facebook is
slightly negatively related to time spent studying. In addition, the ability of time spent on Facebook
to significantly predict overall GPA shows that there may be negative academic effects for students
who use Facebook in certain ways.

In addition, Paul et al, (2012) wrote an article named effect of online social networking on student
academic performance. The researcher‘s results revealed a statistically significant negative
relationship between time spent by students on SNS and their academic performance. Time spent
on SNS is shown to negatively impact academic performance. As time spent on social networking
sites increases, the academic performance of the students is seen to deteriorate. This ties in well
with the findings presented in Kirschner and Karpinski (2010), which reveal that over-involvement
or obsession with social networking by students can have negative impacts on academic
performance (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010).

Moreover, Rosen, Carrier, and Cheever (2013), wrote an article named Facebook and texting
made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. They believe that this area is a
technologically rich world, where multitasking is the norm and is more prominent among youth
and college students. In their research they found out that students manage to do their work and
also interact with the virtual environment effectively. Facebook has nearly one billion users
worldwide (Smith, 2012) with more than 90% of teens (Common Sense Media, 2012) and students
(Junco, 2011) actively engaged.

Furthermore, Wang et al, (2011) claimed that social media is entirely affecting students
‘effectiveness as well as their academic performance. Therefore, educators, parents and concerned
body such as stakeholders need to be anxious for these problems and attempt to find better ways
to solve these problems. Though, framed within an academic context, the concepts outlined here
can be used to examine the use of communication technology not only at school, but also at

24
workplace, home and any other settings, and for a diversity of different viewers such as
adolescents, teenagers, elderly and families.

Summary related literature

After a presentation regarding the usage of social media usage and its effect on academic
performance of high school students ‘and historical overview of the emergence of social
networking sites, four theoretical frameworks to adolescents‘ social networking usage were
described. The four theories, namely Uses and Gratification theory, Social Cognitive theory
Dependency theory and social information processing theory were presented as the basis for
understanding social networking usage.

A preliminary definition of social media use in this study is also develop from these four
approaches because they exhibit similar core components for social media usage with students ‘at
the age of adolescent. In addition, the academic performances of teenager school students ‘in
relation to social media usage have been discuss based on the effect (positive or negative). Besides
that, studies which were conducted in the area of this study have been assess in order to see how
their research findings relate to the objectives of the current study. According to these studies
social media and amount of time spent on it seem to have a significant effect on the academic
performance of high school students‘.

Accordingly, effect of social media usage, both risk and benefit, which was stated by previous
researchers, was examined. It was reported that social media use can help to improve relationships
among its users, friends, and family. But, inappropriate usage and the amount of time spent on the
site can also cause negative consequences on the academic performance of high school students‘

25
2.9.Conceptual framework
The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of social media usage on academic performance
of high school students. This conceptual framework shows the dependent variable which is
academic performance and the independent factors which are age, sex and grade level in school.
The usage of social media depends on above stated variables which are age, sex and grade level in
schools, which allows researcher to use academic performance as dependent variable. Therefore,

Time
Appropriateness

The extent of
Social Media
social media
(Facebook ) usage Students’
Academic
Performance
Level of social
media usage

this study will examine social media usage and demographic variables (independent variable)
effect on the dependent variables (academic performance/

26
 Research Design and Methodology
This section focuses on the methodologies employed in the entire study. The framework of the
research design is stated under this section. The procedure that is followed and the entire process
of data collection and analysis are also included under this section.

3.1 Research design

In this study mixed research design will be used. Because there is no single method can grasp the
subtle variations in ongoing human experiences. Consequently, this study will deployed different
interconnected approaches to emphasis on the strength and minimizes the weakness of one method
with the others as well as to cover the weakness of one method with the strength of another.
Therefore, good research will often include multiple method of data collection technique, which
is known as triangulation. According to Hanson et al. (2005), and Yauch and Steudel (2003), in
concurrent triangulation the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data will be done
simultaneously, forms of data are given equal priority, data analysis is usually will be conducted
separately, and integration usually occurs at the data interpretation stage. So triangulation of the
data permits the verification of data.

3.2 The study area

The study will be carried out in Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia which
the administrative structure of the city Government at the top, 10 sub-cities and 110 woreda
administrations at the bottom. In the study site (Addis Ababa), there are public, private and other
types (religious) of secondary schools those are distributed throughout the ten sub-cities. This
study will be focused on selected private secondary school students. From Gulele secondary school
and Arada sub-cities of secondary school will be selected randomly by using lottery method.

3.3 Source and types of data

The researcher used both primary and secondary data. The primary data will be collected from
Arada and Gulele sub city selected private secondary school students and secondary data will
gathered from reference books, internet, and previous researches.

3.4 Population of the study

The target population of this study will be selected from private secondary school (grade 9th and
10th) school students who will be enrolled at the academic year of 2021/2022 in Addis Ababa city
Gulel and Arada sub-cities Secondary schools.

27
 3.5 Sample size and sampling techniques

In Addis Ababa city there are 10 sub-cities.in ten sub city there are 103 private secondary school.
Out of 10 sub-cities two sub-cities such as Gulele and Arade sub-cities are selected randomly by
using lottery method. In the selected sub-cities there are 26 private secondary schools. Also from
those secondary schools ten schools will be selected simple randomly for the study by lottery
method. The total number of grade 9th and 10th students in 10 schools from arada sub city has1716
students which are 768 male & 948 female Guleli sub city has 2089 students which are 1104 female
and 985 male based on the academic year of 2021/22.

With regard to sample size determination, Neuman (1997) pointed out some guiding principles
that are followed by conventional social science researchers for selecting representative samples
for quantitative studies. As stated by Neuman, if the study population is 1000 or under, the sample
ratio would need to be 300 (about 30%) individuals, for a population of 10,000 the sample size
would be 1000 (about 10%); and for populations over 150,000, smaller sampling ratios (1%) are
acceptable. What this guideline makes clear is that as the target population increases, the sampling
ratio decreases.

Thus, on the grounds of homogeneous, following Newman’s (1997) suggestion that as the size of
the target population gets larger, the sampling ratio decreases, which yields small sample size and
based on the assumption that large samples tend to just add costs to the study with little return for
the effort, the sample size is determined to be 2% for the quantitative component of this study.
Hence, the sample size will determined to be 10% for the quantitative part of this study.

Accordingly, out of 3805 populations of the sampling frame, 10% (approximately 381) of the
participants will be selected as representative participants of the present study.

Hence, to select participants for this study the probability sampling techniques of stratified
sampling is used.

In a stratified random sample, the population is divided into groups or strata. A random sample
will selected from each stratum based upon the same characteristics that each subgroup represents
in the population. Following this, the researcher stratified the participants based on grade level,
age and gender.

28
Last, participants for the interview is selected using purposive sampling to secure the most key
informants with the help of school teachers. In interview session, seven informants are involved.
The existing literature (e.g., Bazeley, 2004; Onwuegbuzie & Collins, 2007;Marshall, 1996) shows
that in mixed methods studies, because of the complexities of data it generates, samples for
qualitative investigations tend to be smaller, and drawn purposively.

29
 4. Work Plan and Cost Breakdown
4.1.Work Plan
S.No. Activities Time to finish the activities
August Sep. Oct.
W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4

Approval
1. of research title and
proposal
Literature
2. Review
Developing
3. and adapting data
collection materials
Data
4. Collection
Cleaning,
5. editing, coding,
entering and organizing data
Analysis
6. and interpretation of
Data
Report
7. writing
Submission
8. of the first Draft
Submitting
9. the final draft of the
paper
Open
10.Research defense

30
 4.2. Cost Breakdown

S.N Items Description Unit Of Qty Unit Cost Total Cost

Measurement In Etb In (Etb)

1. Transportation Cost Trip - - 100.00

2. Paper Rim 100 1 100.00

3. Rewritable Cd (Sony) Packet 3 10 30.00

Refreshment Cost During Focus Group Birr - - 300.00

4.
Discussion

5. Meal Allowance Birr 2 100 200.00

6. Flash Disk 4 Gb (Genex) Piece 2 100 200.00

7. Binding Birr 3 50 150.00

8. Typing Birr 100 5 500.00

9. Printing Birr 300 1 300.00

10. Photocopying Birr 200 1 200.00

11. Internet Birr - - 200.00

Total 2,080.00

31
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