FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY HCMC CAMPUS

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Major: International Economics

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MISCONCEPTIONS

ABOUT PEER PRESSURE: ASSESSING THE CASE OF
STUDENTS IN FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY II

Name - ID’s Van Nhat Nguyen - 2211155013

Students Pham Nguyen Quynh Anh - 2212155035
Class K61CLC4
Department of Economics and Law, Foreign Trade
University HCMC Campus
KTEE206 Research Methodology
Lecturer Dr. Le Hang My Hanh

Ho Chi Minh City, February 16, 2023

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Effects of Social Media on Misconceptions about Peer Pressure: Assessing the

Case of Students in Foreign Trade University - Ho Chi Minh Campus

Name 1: Van Nhat Nguyen

Student 1’s ID: 2211155013
Name 2: Pham Nguyen Quynh Anh
Student 2’s ID: 2212155035
Class: K61CLC4
Department of Economics and Law, Foreign Trade University HCMC Campus
KTEE206: Research Methodology
Lecturer: Dr. Le Hang My Hanh
February 16, 2023

Grade (in number) Grade (in words)

Examiner 1’s signature Examiner 2’s signature

Invigilator 1’s signature Invigilator 2’s signature

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Table of contents
Table of contents.............................................................................................................2
Abstract............................................................................................................................4
Introduction.....................................................................................................................4
Literature review.............................................................................................................7
Peer pressure.............................................................................................................7
Misconception about peer pressure...........................................................................9
Social media and the deluge of misinformation......................................................12
Research questions........................................................................................................13
Model.............................................................................................................................13
Methodology and Data Collection.................................................................................14
Contribution of the research..........................................................................................16
Structure........................................................................................................................17
Chapter 2.................................................................................................................17
Chapter 3.................................................................................................................17
Chapter 4.................................................................................................................17
Chapter 5.................................................................................................................17
Expected result..............................................................................................................18
Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................19
Limitations.....................................................................................................................19
Timescale.......................................................................................................................20
References.....................................................................................................................21
Appendix A...................................................................................................................29
Appendix B....................................................................................................................30
Appendix C....................................................................................................................30
Appendix D...................................................................................................................31
Appendix E....................................................................................................................31
Appendix F....................................................................................................................32
Questionnaire..........................................................................................................33
Introduction.......................................................................................................33
Personal Information.........................................................................................33
Section 1: About the peer pressure assumptions in general..............................33
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Section 2: About the orientation of social media in general.............................34

Section 3: About the effect of social media on the cognition of people about
peer pressure. ....................................................................................................35
Thank you..........................................................................................................36
Sources for Questionnaire.......................................................................................36
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Abstract
Peer pressure affects individuals, especially young adults, directly or indirectly
and creates the tendency to conform to the majority. Meanwhile, it provides two-sides
effects, which are proved to be both worth-considering. However, the dark side is
emphasized too much, people (including the public and the academics) regularly
mention peer pressure as a traumatizing hindrance which should be eliminated as soon
as possible while the bright side is overshadowed. Through social media, misleading
beliefs and misinformation is spread intensely, therefore, worsens the misconception
about peer pressure and makes that term gradually lose its original meaning. This
research is conducted to explore the causal relationship between the misconceptions of
peer pressure and the effects of social media. Literally, questionnaires are the main
tools to collect the data, which the application of Likert scales as well as the multiple
choice section. Following that, the methodology chosen to conduct the research will be
quantitative methodology, which can evaluate and measure the relationship between
variables. Also, the groups of students selected will be the large scale of Foreign Trade
University’s students in Ho Chi Minh city campus. Furthermore, in the last section,
researchers will suggest certain solutions to solve this issue, acknowledge the public
about the correct comprehension of peer pressure and the awareness of social media’s
effects on misconceptions.
Key words: peer pressure, social media, misconceptions, effects.
Introduction
Peer pressure has become a noticeable phenomenon in today's modern society,
with its own definition as a psychological literature term since the 1950s (Pittman,
2018), and is mentioned in the Cambridge Dictionary as "the strong influence of a
group, especially of children, on members of that group to behave as everyone else
does" (Steegman & Greenway, Cambridge 1954). Peer pressure on social behaviors
appears noticeably prominent during adolescence (Dishion et al., 2004; Steinberg &
Monahan, 2007). In terms of experience from college students, this phenomenon
appears more vividly and prevalently, affecting them more significantly (Chen &
Deng, 2022). Therefore, knowledge about this term should be spread accurately, and
individuals should also have the right comprehension.
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Peer pressure has the ability to have both positive and negative effects (Chen &
Deng, 2022). While better, fulfilled, healthier feelings can be gained from positive
peer pressure, the opposite is true for negative peer pressure (Maina, 1970). However,
regarding Vietnamese students, the misconception appears when the majority of them
would contend that this phenomenon only leads to bad feelings and even mental
issues. Thus, students may not be able to make full use of peer pressure and, more
terribly, worsen their mental state if they are experiencing the negative side of peer
pressure. Meanwhile, a number of studies mainly conveyed the reasons and roots of
peer pressure, how groups of people can experience peer pressure more easily, and the
results of it; but hardly mentioned the bright sides and dug deeper into the reasons for
people’s negative assumptions about peer pressure.
Meanwhile, social media, which simply refers to how people interact by
communicating, sharing and exchanging information virtually through online
communities and networks, is believed to have the powerful ability to impact or even
form human behaviors and beliefs (Tang & Chan, 2020). In the era of information and
technology, social media gradually becomes an indispensable part of human’s lives,
which also means that social media can affect people significantly in general. To be
more specific, assessing a survey about the penetration rate of social media in
Vietnam, which was conducted in 2021, it is apparent that in 2021, the rate stood at
73.04%, which was predicted to increase drastically and reach 85.74% in 2030
(Nguyen, 2021).

Figure 1: Forecast social network user penetration in Vietnam from 2021 to 2030.
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Source: Adapted from Nguyen, 2021, published on Statista (2021).

Social media is viewed as “a real double-edged sword” (Smith, 2016; Shu,
Sliva, Wang, Tang, & Liu, 2017). Beside the positive impacts and standing out of the
negative ones, misinformation in the Internet age is caused accidentally or
deliberately, sometimes maliciously through social media (Lazer et al., 2018), which
can also be considered a serious effect as those kinds of misleading information can
reach anybody, especially in the era of information deluge. However, while it has
become difficult to detect the accuracy of facts, people gradually have the tendency to
build their perspectives and even reach conclusions based on the believability of
information given rather than its veracity or its truthfulness (Cone, Flaharty, &
Ferguson, 2019). This alarming phenomenon has become a public concern in recent
days, which is proved through a survey conducted in the US to test the concern level
about the accuracy of news on social media. It revealed that 42% of adults who aged
18 or more expressed huge concerns, followed by 24% of respondents who showed
some concerns. In contrast, the figure for people with no concern made up merely 12%
(Watson, 2022).

Figure 2: Level of concern about the accuracy of news seen on social media in the
United States as of February 2022.
Source: Adapted from Watson, 2022, published on Statista (2022).
Misconception regarding peer pressure - an emerging problem currently - is a
sort of information that is rendered deceptive by social media when it comes to the
sources of misinformation and individual inclinations when approaching news. As a
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result, resolving this issue is critical for society, not only to alleviate the flood of fake
news or disinformation, but also to get a better understanding of peer pressure in the
technological era. The purpose of this study is to delve thoroughly into the link
between social media and the misperception of peer pressure. It also proposes answers
to misguided actions or false information. With these objectives, not only researchers
in relevant fields and academics but also people who feel relatable to this topic
(students, parents, or even society members) may have an interest. In other words, this
research will gain attention from a large number of people in general, which proves
this topic is important enough to be examined.
Literature review
Peer pressure
Beside the mentioned definition, peer pressure has also been defined in other
various researches. To be more specific, it refers to “the influence of a group on
behaviors of individual members of that group such that the individuals tend to follow
what everybody does” (Hejase, 2018), or “a change in behavior that tends to conform
to peer norms as individuals feel the influence of peer groups on their attitudes” (Chen
& Deng, 2022). The term could be described more clearly as “influence from a peer
group or an individual to change their attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors so as to
conform to the expectations of the group” (Baruah & Boruah, 2016). While using
different words and various ways to express ideas, those definitions are similar to a
certain extent as they usually mention how people who are at the same ages affect each
other and furthermore, the correlation among people and the external circumstances.
Interestingly, the origin of this phenomenon can be found in the prehistoric
period, when people needed to rely on each other to survive. From humans’
fundamental and basic needs to be accepted into relationships with one another, until
now, the feelings of rejections and or the fear of missing out (FOMO) when being
excluded are still a deep cause of peer pressure - the effect drives people to copy
others’ behaviors and sometimes inner thoughts (Otto, 2021).
In the middle of the 20th, one of the earliest experiments related to peer
pressure was conducted when Solomon Asch showed a group containing eight
participants a card with a single line and another one with three lines with various
lengths. The participants were assigned a simple task that each person needed to
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decide which of the three lines was as long as the single line. However, 37% of the
participants did not answer correctly when there were actors disguised as participants,
trying to answer in advance, forcing the real participants to answer after and providing
the wrong answers consistently. In other words, the experiment forced the participant
to choose between being honest and conforming to the group. Throughout the 12 trials,
the proportion of participants siding with the majority at least once was 75%, which
was interestingly high. Since then, peer pressure has been acknowledged more
carefully (Asch & Rock, 2016).
It was found that peer pressure can affect a wide age range but mostly impact
the adolescents and university students in general. While adults may experience peer
pressure when adopting goals, beliefs, and behaviors shared by peers (Costello &
Hope 2016), children do not change their actual judgment of the given circumstance
after the mentioned process, but solely their visible public expression (Haun &
Tomasello, 2011). Meanwhile, the significance of influence from peers in each other
gets higher from the age of 12 in terms of favorite tastes, styles, appearances or even
perspectives, ideologies and values (Baruah & Boruah, 2016). Since moving to
adolescence, children spend a greater amount of time with friends, and that transition
leads to more peer pressure (Graber et al., 1996). Following that, peer groups play a
crucial role in influencing students’ behavior in making decisions (Mapesa, 2013). The
reason is detected as students and adolescents are at the stage when they have a mental
tendency to imitate their peers without being aware which is good or bad for them as
they seek comfort from their peers (Moldes, Moneva, Gonzaga, & Biton, 2019). Take
an experiment in Ethiopia as an example, more than one sixth of the high school and
university students in Ethiopia smoke cigarettes, and ones who got peer pressure were
more likely to smoke (Leshargie et al., 2019). Likewise, regarding alcohol
consumption, studies revealed that young adults are likely to imitate the drinking
behaviors from people at their same age with them (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Larsen,
Engels, Granic, & Overbeek, 2009). Interestingly, peers who are more sociometrically
popular are noticeably more influential, which means they are more likely to trigger
peer pressure (Zingora et al., 2019).
This phenomenon is usually categorized through the reasons that lead to itself.
To demonstrate, five types of peer pressure were stated in a sample of nearly 700
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young adults and adolescents from two Midwestern communities, namely “

involvement with peers, school involvement, family involvement, conformity to peer
norms, and misconduct” (Clasen & Brown, 1985). Another way to classify can be
found in a later survey, and there are four types: “social belongingness, curiosity,
cultural-parenting orientation of parents and education” (Moldes, Moneva, Gonzaga,
& Biton, 2019). Meanwhile, there is a simpler approach to the categorizing part, which
divides peer pressure into three types based on how it impacts people: negative,
positive, and no perceived peer pressure (Keyzers et al., 2020). It can be said that
among those mentioned researches which were conducted in different periods of time,
the latter is simpler to understand and the number of types is lower. That new
categorizing method is also used in many recent studies, which proves its
effectiveness. Therefore, this research also follows the same understanding and
perception.
Assessing the positive and negative impacts that peer pressure brings to people
or especially students, both are available to a certain extent. In terms of the bright side,
after two experiments in a kindergarten class, Carden Smith & Fowler (1984)
concluded that children could be considered mediators in a behavior management
program. Furthermore, children who had severe behavioral and learning issues could
effectively be managed by their peers. In another experiment, Brown, Lohr &
McClenahan (1986) mentioned that peer pressure does not appear as a force to
constrict or misdirect individuals. A more recent study showed that peer pressure can
influence participants at the age of 15-24 (adolescents and university students) to feel
guilty or negative about food wastage (Goh & Jie, 2019). On the other hand, the
negative side can be witnessed through the relationship between peer pressure and
bullying perpetration; and more noticeably, with adolescents, the higher peer pressure
they experienced, the more likely they show the signals of bullying perpetration (Gao,
Liu, Hua, Yang, & Wang, 2022). More severely, negative peers influence students on
poor self-regulation, substance use and risk proneness, which furthermore lead to risky
sexual behaviors (Crockett, Raffaelli, & Shen, 2006). Therefore, from an overall view,
peer pressure shows both positive and negative sides and can affect individuals,
especially students, in various ways.
Misconception about peer pressure
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Peer pressure has been receiving a huge amount of attention from the public.
Certain studies have been conducted to fully investigate this phenomenon. However,
while those researchers noticed that peer pressure has two-side effects, the public
mainly assumes that this one has only negative ones. Besides, those researchers have a
tendency to bias the negative side due to the amount of time they devote to it (it
appeared to favor the bright side). Consequently, the opposite side is neglected while it
is still helpful in some cases. To be more specific, there are merely a few researches
discussing both sides, not to mention that they only investigated briefly and did not put
theirs into the context of Vietnamese society or their societies in general. Therefore,
the solutions for the misconception have not been discovered fully as well.
To begin with, while there was still research mentioning the positive and
negative sides of peer pressure, maybe due to the misconception from people
surveyed, those either hardly discussed in detail or had a tendency to bias the negative
side, not to mention that some studies were even fully indifferent to the bright side. To
be more specific, it was found that approximately one-third of involved people
considered peer pressure to be one of the hardest things they experienced at a young
age (Brown, 1982). Interestingly, the relationship between the feelings of anxiety and
peer pressure was discovered and explored through a self-report questionnaire of
Huppert & Cretella (2020), and it is known that “Peer pressure has always been a
common stressor for adolescents” (Yelishala et al., 2022). Turning to Vietnamese
society context, peer pressure can affect negatively crucial choice in life, such as
choice of future school of students, that they tend to choose what others opt for, not
what they are suitable or comfortable with (Huyền et al., 2022). In the same context, in
a report conducted by a group of Vietnamese university students, peer pressure visibly
has a negative impact on youngsters or students when they notice that their peers are
much more outstanding than them in academic performance, knowledge, skills,
goals,... That excellence makes many students feel diffident, stressed and anxious,
which worsens their physical health (causing headache, vomit, insomnia,...) and
mental health (depression, anxiety,...). While the negative side is mentioned carefully
in detail (as discussed), the positive one is paid a little attention or completely
overshadowed. Likewise, regarding another study of Vietnamese students conducted
in their school, National Economics University in Vietnam, it reached the conclusion
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that peer pressure appeared as the comparison of scores when people are still students
at school, the comparison of incomes when they are adults and networking when they
become seniors. In other words, people spent their whole lives wondering whether
they are inferior to others and feel insecure (Tuấn et al., 2022). It is easy to understand
from the aforementioned research that peer pressure is the root of negative feelings
and even illnesses of people, and therefore, should be eliminated. Briefly, many
researches revealed that negative effects can be seen from peer pressure while the
positive ones are often discussed succinctly, ignored or even fully overshadowed.
In reality, there has been some research conducted with the purpose of
clarifying the reasons for the formation of those misconceptions. In a recent paper,
Isaac Muffett wrote: “Adults have a few common misconceptions about peer pressure
among teens; namely believing that peer pressure is always an ultimatum, peer
pressure is one-directional (an individual is influenced by a group to do something
they do not want to do, and they do not influence others in the same way), and peer
pressure is an excuse for bad behavior.” (Muffett, 2021) Or in other research, it is said
that peer pressure can push ourselves and create huge effects for our performance,
“Peer pressure can be good if it pushes a person out of their comfort zone and gives
them an opportunity to discover new things.” (ASO Staff, 2022) Another example
about the merits of these positive effects can be taken: “Peer pressure is not always
very negative as portrayed by many [...] Peer pressure can make you competitive and
perform better professionally. [...], it has been observed that peer pressure brings the
best performance from the students.” (Halder, 2022) Although these researchers had
intention to make the bright sides of this phenomenon clear, it appears that those
words are not enough to convince the public’s perspective. For instance, there are
several reasons why assumptions are made, which were conducted as research
previously. According to the Oxford dictionary, “guessing is the supposition that
something is true without sufficient information.” In other words, people have an
instinct to guess and discover facts or truths; which means assumptions can be easily
made in the reality about the world or even a tiny atom. Taken from Vietnam’s
society, binary thinking has been researched and considered as a big reason of the
misconception about LGBTQI+ Community (Verlezza, Fishman, D’Apice, &
Blanchard, 2021). But not just about the LGBTQI+, this can also affect other
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phenomena such as modernisation-related issues (cohabitation, gap year,

globalization,...) and peer pressure as well. Most importantly, the misconception can
originate from the lack of receiving feedback. In other words, a person will not realize
that they are wrong if they can not approach the truth or be acknowledged. “Self-
regulated learning rarely happens in isolation. Learners are, at least indirectly, often
confronted with other people’s knowledge, opinions and judgments.” (Schnaubert,
Krukowski , & Bodemer , 2021). Additionally, peer pressure is not a pretty prevalent
issue that all people can thoroughly research or discover in general; this leads to the
lack of acknowledgement as well as the self-assumptions as an apparent result.
Social media and the deluge of misinformation
Turning to social media, which has various definitions and causes serveral
different understandings, it can be simply considered to be “any digital technology that
allows users to instantly generate and share information with the public” (Team, 2023)
and categorized by “the potential for real-time interaction, reduced anonymity, a sense
of propinquity, short response times and the ability to “time shift” or engage the social
network whenever suits each particular member” (Kent, 2010). A more abstract and
inductive definition is “Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically
interact and selectively self-present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with both
broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the
perception of interaction with others'' (Carr & Hayes, 2015). Throughout some recent
decades, social media has experienced many developments, namely changes in
infrastructure, interactions and organizing (Carr & Hayes, 2015).
When it comes to two opposite sides of social media, it has a positive impact
when it is considered to be a place to widen the circle of friends (Ellison, Steinfield, &
Lampe, 2007), share stories and catch up with the news (Luttrell, 2022), or even a
social cure during the COVID-19 pandemic (Pandey et al., 2021). On the other hand,
the dark side is revealed when social media can severely affect the way we maintain
our well-being (Hunt, All, Burns, & Li, 2021), manage our time (Giunchiglia, Zeni,
Gobbi, Bignotti, & Bison, 2018; M. Talaue, AlSaad, AlRushaidan, AlHugail, &
AlFahhad, 2018), multitask (Maqableh et al., 2015), handle our relationships in reality
(Rasmussen, Punyanunt-Carter, LaFreniere, Norman, & Kimball, 2020), etc.
Noticeably, misleading content uploaded frequently on social media makes people
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form inaccurate opinions or even trigger them to spread those contents to others. For
example, anorexia (an eating disorder causes the loss of appetite and obsession about
weight) is promoted as a healthy lifestyle through a huge number of videos on
Youtube (a social platform belonging to social media), highly favored and rated as
informative. Audiences supporting that formed a community and intensely spread
misleading information (Syed-Abdul et al., 2013). The situation became more severe
when, surprisingly, exposure to general warning tags such as “disputed” or “rated
false” decreased belief in the accuracy of appropriate contents (Clayton et al., 2019).
While there are many studies reaching the conclusion about the phenomenon of
extensive spread misinformation, many surveys detecting the effect of fake news on
the audiences and their tendency to spread inaccurate information in various topics, the
topic of peer pressure, which was proved to be alarming, is hardly mentioned.
Research questions
As the literature review section has shown in the previous part, there is a lack of
research and acknowledgement about the positive peer pressure as well as their root
causes. Consequently, it leads to the large spread of misconceptions in the public.
Next, to be more specific about the effect of social media on those misconceptions (the
origin, the formation, the development,...), this research will classify and determine the
dialectic relationship of social media and the misconceptions of peer pressure. As a
result, the questions of this research are built:
1. What are the exact positive sides of peer pressure and its effects?
1.1. What are the effects of peer pressure on FTU’s students?
1.2. Have students, society members and even some academics in Vietnam still
not realized or ignored the positive effects of peer pressure?
1.3. To what extent do students misunderstand peer pressure in Vietnam?
2. What is the relationship between social media and the misconceptions of peer
pressure?
2.1. How can social media affect people’s behaviors and attitudes in general?
2.2. How can social media affect the misunderstanding of people about peer
pressure?
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3. What solutions should be made to prohibit the widespread of the

misconceptions in public and what are the plausible ways to acknowledge the
public about the truth of peer pressure?
Model

Figure 3: The causal relationship between variabes estimated.

Source: Our own work.
Methodology and Data Collection
Generally, the major methodology developed to support this research is
quantitative methodology. It will be conducted in the scale limited in the Foreign
Trade University (FTU2). For the selection of data and proof to enhance the
misconception mentioned before as well as the discovery of the effects of social
media, this section provides the methodology for all the issues. To conduct this
research, questionnaires are created and sent to the target students in FTU2. The main
constructions of the questionnaire includes the likert scales to ensure the most various
and precise results can be obtained.
Specifically, the methodology of quantitative research selected is the fastest and
most effective way to discover the relationship between two variables: the effects of
social media can be digitized as a variable amount and similarly with the cognition of
people about peer pressure. By digitizing these two amounts, the research conducted
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can discover the dialectic relationship between them as a function model and explain
the variation of one amount based on another one.
Next, the data collected by this research is totally primary data, additionally, the
methodology uses the authorized questionnaire by the conductors so it does not require
justification for the correction of data or the selection of them.
Most importantly, the validity and reliability in this type of research can be
ensured by the conductors because the scale of the research is large enough to be
generalized as reliable information. More specifically, this research will include some
reversing questions to test the commitments or the truth of the respondents' answers.
Furthermore, the research is conducted in the scale of FTU which means that the result
will reflect the case of FTU precisely. If there is any bias when comparisons occurred,
the explanation can be based on this point to be expressed.
For the more in-depth aspect, the questionnaire includes 3 main parts:
− About the peer pressure assumptions in general.
− About the orientation of social media in general.
− About the effect of social media on the cognition of people about peer
pressure.
The main form used is Likert scale along with multiple choices: the Likert scale
used is designed for 5 levels of agreement with the statement given. The reason why
the 5-level model is chosen is that it is the fundamental model and we can use it easily
with no confusion for the reader. Meanwhile the 7-level model seems to be more
complicated for this research with the huge data that needs to be collected. In addition,
the limitation of the research’s scale can not be plausible to gather the huge amount of
data when we use the 7-level model. Besides, the multiple choice section will be used
to classify the groups of objects and target students which means that this tool helps
the surveyors to move one more step to the expected result.
The data selected will be based on the age first. The division includes 3 main
groups:
− Freshman.
− Sophomore.
− Junior and Senior.
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Within these 3 groups, the Likert scale’s results will be applied to describe the
variables. The reason why these 3 groups are formed is that the misconceptions of peer
pressure is a social topic which is related to social cognition and knowledge. For that
reason, according to the number of years experienced at the university, students will
have distinguished memories, experiences, and obstacles. This division is approximate
but it can help the data collected be more transparent and straightforward to the
readers.
To ensure that the survey can approach all target groups, this questionnaire will
be both sent via email and conducted in-person. The goal of the questionnaire is
approaching about 300 students with an 80% response rate:
− For the questionnaire conducted in-person, surveyors will be given 10 minutes
to respond to all the questions and submit their full answers.
− For the questionnaire sent via email, the respondents will handle it online and
submit the answers back to our research.
With an expectation of 300 attendants, the research aims to get back 240
responses with the high commitment of truth.
As the information mentioned before, reversing questions will be used as a tool
to reduce the low-productivity responses. Stata and Simple linear regression will be
used to analyze the whole numbers. The dataset was examined for outliers and missing
data. The "outlier labeling rule" was applied in this case. Outliers were defined as all
values that fell outside the calculated range (Hoaglin & Iglewicz, 1987).
Objectively, the 5-model Likert scale model and the survey conducted can not
100% ensure the success of the research but it can be considered as an effective way to
identify the causal relationship between variables.
Contribution of the research
The aims of the research have been mentioned previously but for the
emphasization of the contribution, this section will repeat and expand those.
Firstly, it is important to understand peer pressure correctly. It is not just about
the negative sides but it includes the positive ones, too. Given that goal, this research
aims to provide for the public a precise perspective of peer pressure as well as the
appearance of its misconceptions for a long time.
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Secondly, with the unique topic which is the effects of social media on
misconceptions, the research will help people to have an overall knowledge about
these two issues. Especially, the relationship between them will be the most significant
feature in the research as it can explain the origin as well as formation of
misconceptions based on the data collected about social media in general.
Finally, by exploring the causal relationship of variables, the researchers will be
able to provide some possible explanations and solutions for dealing with this
proposed problem effectively in the public.
Structure
The research includes 6 chapters including the Introduction and Conclusion.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 aims to provide the rigid foundation for the knowledge of peer
pressure. To carry this mission, the chapter provides various views from different
authorities in the world about peer pressure that they researched before. Furthermore,
the comparisons among those definitions, ideas, and perspectives will enhance the
critical thinking of the readers with the clear classification of them. As a result taken
from certain references, peer pressure can not be defined correctly in particular words,
but at least, every single reader may have his or her own definition of peer pressure
and its two-side effects.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 turns the attention to the effects of social media. Social media created
such a huge influence on people's cognition and awareness. To clarify the research
question, this chapter aims to acknowledge the readers about social media and its
effects, especially the ability to orient the cognition or awareness of public (netizens).
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 discovers the causal relationship between social media and the
misconceptions of peer pressure. In this chapter the research methodology and data
collection will be explained in detail. It will present why the methodology is chosen
and how it can be conducted to complete the whole research. Besides, the data will be
critically analyzed to spot the relationship with the tools applied such as
questionnaires, multiple choice section, and Stata.
Chapter 5
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Chapter 5 provides the solutions for all of the issues aforementioned. The first
one is the solutions for the assumptions of positive peer pressure. The second one is
the solutions for the effects of social media on those assumptions. Lastly, the
formation of the solutions for dealing with the problem of the relationship between
these two issues will be made for readers for easier understanding and approaching.
Expected result
As the methodology and data collection given above, the results can be
expected as an increasing relationship between the effects of social media along with
the misconceptions of peer pressure (ab) and the variable of peer pressure (x). This
proposal estimates that - according to the different types of age groups - as the effects
of social media on the cognition of students has the tendency to increase, it will cause
the growth of the misconceptions of peer pressure of them, and vice versa.
These two amounts can be measured and shown the relationship via the third
amount (named as the so-called constant of peer pressure’s misconception). For the
representation of social media and misconceptions, a and b are given respectively.
ab
The equation =k (Moldes, Lyn , Moneva, & Gonzaga, 2019), as k is a
x
constant for the value of peer pressure and x is the exact value of the variable
presenting the relationship of these two variables: social media and misconceptions.
For the more detailed explanation, Table 1 whose sample taken for a small scale
previously by us is taken as an example:
Table 1
Variables collected by the small-scale pre-research.

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6

a 3.6 3.8 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.8

b 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.5

x 2.1 2.5 2.7 2.9 3.3 3.6

k 5.8 5.5 5.8 5.9 5.7 6.0

Δ 0.02 -0.28 0.02 0.12 -0.08 0.22

 19

In this sample, Δ stands for the standard deviation of k. k is considered as a

constant of the equation to measure these three vital amounts.
As one value increases, the other one has a similar tendency which causes a
causal relationship. We can use that equation to evaluate the final constant of k,
comparing with the values presented and collected from the last table (the last section
of the questionnaire). Finally, we can also measure the standard deviation, if it is less
than 0.5, the results can be approved, otherwise, it will fail or have some research gap
that has to be fixed.
Conclusion and Recommendation
In conclusion, the research will be conducted to acknowledge the public's
urgent knowledge about peer pressure and the true comprehension of social media’s
effects.
This research proposal provides the overview of the way to execute and the
brief methodology as well as the data collection. Based on the previous research,
literature review of this proposal also gives the readers a rigid foundation of general
knowledge of these two issues and the reasons why it is necessary to execute this
research. Furthermore, with the large number of authorities and articles from different
countries, it also enhances the reliability and prestigiousness of the research. Thus, the
literature review section provides readers with the various perspectives of two
prevalent issues in modern society and raises the concerns of the right way to obtain
knowledge from social media about common topics as well.
The methodology is explained clearly in the previous section. It is the most
accurate way to conduct the research because the relationship between these variables
is hard to measure by other methods such as qualitative or sample-collection methods.
We could also realize that the data collection also enhances the relationship between
variables and evidently proves the accuration of the expected formula. After deeply
understanding the causal relationship and the precise equation, we could comprehend
the rigid knowledge of peer pressure and effects of social media on it.
Lastly, with the opening of the misleading of positive peer pressure and the
effects of social media on the formation of misconceptions, the proposal also
recommends typical solutions for these issues. To begin with, acknowledgement is one
of the most significant solutions for every problem of assumptions. Second, the
 20

awareness of spreading the right information about objects is also the second crucial
one. Thirdly the activity of distilling the information is a concerning issue, especially
to ensure the well-educated know-how and general awareness of the special effect of
social media.
Limitations
This research proposal can include some limitations around the issues of scale
and the formation of questionnaires: The scale chosen for the survey can result in a
biased result because it is conducted merely for FTU2’s students. Next, the
questionnaires are based on the previous research of various groups of authorities so it
can be a model that does not reach the satisfaction of the research because of the
differences of culture and knowledge. Lastly, the data collection from the Likert scale
aforementioned could be a little bit simple for a large research, which means it can be
harder for the gathering and evaluating the final values.
Timescale
Table 2
Timescale estimated for the progress of researching.

Month January February March

Time
Week 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Tasks Read Literature

Finalize objectives

Draft Literature Review

Read Methodology Literature

Revise Research Approach

Draft Research Strategy and Method

Submit Research Proposal

Develop Questionnaire
 21

Administer Questionnaire

Enter Data into Computer

Analyze Data

Draft Findings Chapter

Update Literature

Complete Remaining Chapters

Submit to Tutor for Feedback

Revise Draft, Format for Submission

Print and Bind

Submit

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Appendix A

Figure 1: Forecast social network user penetration in Vietnam from 2021 to 2030.
Source: Adapted from Nguyen, 2021, published on Statista (2021).
Appendix B

Figure 2 Level of concern about the accuracy of news seen on social media in the
United States as of February 2022.
Source: Adapted from Watson, 2022, published on Statista (2022).
Appendix C
 31

Figure 3: The causal relationship between variabes estimated.

Source: Our own work.
Appendix D
Table 1
Variables collected by the small-scale pre-research.

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6

a 3.6 3.8 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.8

b 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.5

x 2.1 2.5 2.7 2.9 3.3 3.6

k 5.8 5.5 5.8 5.9 5.7 6.0

Δ 0.02 -0.28 0.02 0.12 -0.08 0.22

Note: Δ stands for the standard deviation of k. k is considered as a constant of the

equation to measure these three vital amounts.
Appendix E
Table 2
Timescale estimated for the progress of researching.
 32

Month January February March

Time
Week 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Read Literature

Finalize objectives

Draft Literature Review

Read Methodology Literature

Revise Research Approach

Draft Research Strategy and Method

Submit Research Proposal

Develop Questionnaire

Administer Questionnaire
Tasks
Enter Data into Computer

Analyze Data

Draft Findings Chapter

Update Literature

Complete Remaining Chapters

Submit to Tutor for Feedback

Revise Draft, Format for Submission

Print and Bind

Submit

Appendix F
Questionnaire
 33

Introduction
We are the group of students in FTU2 who are conducting the research about
Effects of Social Media on Misconceptions about Peer Pressure: Assessing the Case of
Students in Foreign Trade University in Ho Chi Minh Campus.
The research is conducted to evaluate the causal relationship between the effects of
social media and the assumptions of peer pressure in the society, especially the
students the area of research.
Thus, it is also important for us to gain the complete and truthful submission of
this survey. Besides, to commit the ethics of the research, we ensure that the
information of the survey attendence will not be publiced.
Thank you for your engagement.
Personal Information
Name :
College’s Year Ο Freshman
Ο Sophomore
Ο Junior and Senior
Ο Others
Gender Ο Male
Ο Female
Ο Others
Class :
Student’s ID :
Major :
Section 1: About the peer pressure assumptions in general.
1. You are influenced effectively to develop yourselves by the pressure created by
your peers.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
2. You feel motivated when witnessing the academic success or career achievements
of your peers.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
3. You feel engaged when you are in the group whose members are extraordinary and
 34

outstanding.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
4. You have tendencies to be more self-confident when being in a gifted group.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
5. You feel your social attitudes enhanced considerably when engaging a good group.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
6*. You feel depressed when facing a lot of talented people.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree

Section 2: About the orientation of social media in general.

1. You are frequently attracted by the hot news on social networks.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
2. You update the trends on social media pretty fast.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
3. You believed in the fake news or the intentional orientation of an online person or
corporation at least once.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
4. You have tendencies to buy or get into the products promoted in the social
platforms.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
5. The Internet could easily affect your behaviors and attitudes.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
6*. Social media hardly affects you in general.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
 35

disagree O O O O O agree

Section 3: About the effect of social media on the cognition of people about
peer pressure.
1. You feel stressed whenever you see a post on Facebook or Instagram with the kind
of title: “The 15-year-old boy gained an 8.5 in the IELTS exam.”
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
2. You always feel empathetic with the one who suffers from depression from peer
pressure.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
3. Merely can the negative sides of peer pressure be seen on social media.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
4. You have thought, at least once, that the stress of academic performance or the
increase of suicidal in adolescense mainly originates from peer pressure.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
5. You have felt unconfident about yourselves when comparing with each other.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree
6*. Media platform provides a significant foundation for your confidence with your
peers.
Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly
disagree O O O O O agree

Thank you
Thank you for your submission and support for this research. We truly
appreciate the time and efforts you have invested in this form.
We hope you will succeed in your academic as well as career path.
Try to contact us if there are any mistakes!
Sources for Questionnaire
 36

Table 3
The sample questionnaires used to develop the questionnaires of the research shown
previously.

SOCIAL BELONGNES 5 4 3 2 1

1. I spend much time with my peer group.

2. My friends and I share problems with each other.

3. My friends give me advice in my problems.

4. My friends and I do school activities together.

5. I and my friends share thoughts and opinions to strengthen our

bond.

CURIOSITY 5 4 3 2 1

1. I like to do something new.

2. I want to explore my capabilities to do things.

3. I am curious about having vices.

4. I want to explore my teenage years

5. I want to experience relationship.

6. I like starting a new activity.

CULTURAL PARENTING ORIENTATION 5 4 3 2 1

1. I have to ask my parents permission to do most things.

2. My parents worry that I am up to something they won’t like.

3. My parents want me to follow their directions even if I disagree with

their reasons.
 37

4. My parents encourage me to give my ideas and opinions even if I

might disagree.

5. My parents warn me not to go out along with my friends at night.

EDUCATIONAL 5 4 3 2 1

1. My friends help me on what to do in my academic performance in

school.

2. My friends inspire me to work hard in my studies.

3. We always help each other with academic difficulties.

4. I am always focused in class with my peers.

5. My friends assistance in group discussion assisted to improve my

grades.

Legend: Strongly Agree (4.01-5.00), Agree (3.26-4.00), Neutral (2.51-3.25),

Disagree(1.76-2.50), Strongly Disagree(1.00-1.75).