Social media is becoming a more and more vital role in our society to make connections between our friends and family even when we are miles away from those people. Many new studies are now emerging that are attempting to find out the amount of time being spent online and what the main uses of social media are. I was reading a study (College Students Social Networking Experiences on Facebook, Pempek et. Al, 2009) about this idea. As I was reading this study, I questioned the validity and reliability of the methods when it came to where the information was gathered. The researchers gathered a group of college individuals who were different levels of education and different ethnic backgrounds and made them complete questionnaires about their usage of the site. My main query comes from the selection of the sample and whether or not it is an actual representation of the amount of time the average person uses social media. The results of this study are probably very accurate for the general population of university students but can they be generalized across populations of non-students? My guess is probably no. I personally believe that being able to apply the results of one study to an entire population (even with random sampling) is impossible on account of the diversity of people in the world. Even though the sample in this study appears to be reliable at face value, when we look deeper into the study it leaves out a vast majority of social networking users who are not in school. Would this have a huge change on the outcome of the study? It is tough to tell but it may have a massive effect (positively or negatively) on the results of the research by leaving them out.
This idea raises the question if we can ever have a truly reliable sample population for any study that will give an accurate representation of a general population as a whole. I am interested in hearing all of your opinions on this subject. What are your takes on whether or not we can ever achieve an unbiased and equal sample size that will allow for the generalization of the results to span over a population. What ways have you seen this be attempted and what are your thoughts on the effectiveness of these methods used?
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This is the Link for the study.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397308001408
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Hi Koelton!
Thanks for bringing up the issues of reliability and validity in sampling! I feel like this is a debate that has so many different angles.
Generalizability is a hard thing to achieve in any study. There needs to be an accurate sample from the population to begin with. And by accurate, I mean choosing people in a sample that are chosen at complete random, as in the hopes of finding equality within the range of ages, demographics, sex, etc. I believe that if taken at a large enough quantity, there is little room for error, and the reliability and validity of the study will be accurate and sound. Buuutt, we can’t interview millions of people for one study, as it would take a VERY long time to actually generate the results of the research, as well as I don’t think it would be very cost effective! (Shuttleworth, 2008). So creating a smaller group of people to study is a better option in that sense, but it also opens the door for flaws in the consistency and accuracy of the study, as well as the generalizability to the greater population.
I agree with you that this study would find it hard to adapt to a greater population of students. I like that they narrowed their study down to a smaller group of students, which their focus is primarily on college students. But with a narrowed group like this one, it may not cover time spent on social networking sites by, for example, high school students or students who are taking online courses, which may have totally different uses for social media sites than college kids! So it therefore would not be generalizable, at least to the population of students.
Reference:
Martyn Shuttleworth (Nov 15, 2008). What is Generalization?. Retrieved from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/what-is-generalization.
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(NM) * Koleton 😛
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The authors of the study do point out that the generalizability of their work is limited because of the sample population. Some of the issues noted were:
– only one type of social networking site was assessed ; other sites could be used in different ways
– developmental issues of college students may differ from younger students and non-college young adults
– students attending a private university which means they have easy access to fast internet connections; could lead to different amount of postings etc.
I think that an important take-away from this would be whether there has been enough corroborative research done that actually backs up the findings. There tends to be some overlap in research, but fairly limited direct replication (which makes sense from a publication angle), so it is challenging to determine which results are as relevant as we’d like them to be. Considering the number of researchers using college students as the guinea pigs over the years, it may be that a large swath of data is not as useful to a diverse population as we would hope. Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) (Heinrich, Heine and Norenzyan, 2010) test subjects are hardly the epitome of most human existence. This was first explored by Heinrich in his master’s dissertation when he realized that the Mapuche people of Chile found the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” completely ridiculous, and responded in radically different ways. (Heinrich, 1999)
One example of an often tested tool/research is the use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in clinical settings. The MMPI was originally developed in 40s, and has had several revisions since then. Like any personality measure it requires refinement as research continues. However, it has now been used enough, on many different groups of people that it is considered a reliable research and diagnostic tool. It is a robust enough measure that it has been translated into several languages and is now used around the world.
Forbey, Johnathan D., Lee, Tayla T., Handel, Richard W. (2010). Correlates of the MMPI–2–RF in a College Setting. Psychological Assessment, 22, 737-744.
Henrich, J. (1999). Cultural evolutionary approaches to adaptation, rationality, evolutionary psychology and economic behavior. University of California, Los Angeles, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Henrich, J., Heine, S., and Norenzyan, A. (2010). The Weirdest People in the World. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 33, 61–135.
Twenge, J. M., Gentile, B., DeWall, C. N., Ma, D., Lacefield, K., & Schurtz, D. R. (2010). Birth cohort increases in psychopathology among young Americans, 1938–2008: A cross-temporal meta analysis of the MMPI. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 145–154.
http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/products/100000461/minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-2-mmpi-2.html#tab-details
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Hi Koleton,
The way I see it, no study can truly be generalized. There are too many variables and factors involved that could hinder the generalization of research findings. With generalization being “the accuracy which results of findings can be transferred to situations or people other than those originally studied” (psychology dictionary) it is hard to believe that findings could be applied to the entire general population as a whole.
I feel as if the study you mentioned could perhaps be generalized across university and college students use of Facebook but not much else. As Leslie mentioned, the study does reflect on several limitations that the study has. They recognize that they only used one social media avenue, Facebook, and that their target subjects were in fact university students. They point out that by focusing on private university students and a site that was originally created for college students that their findings may not apply to people who do not attend post secondary institutions.
Even high school students and junior high students would most likely elicit different results. This could be due to a multitude of factors including parental rules, access to the internet, restrictions on accounts, access to friends etc. The study said that Facebook was primarily used to communicate with friends. Perhaps, students in high school and lower use it more for other reasons given that they see their friends daily, or perhaps not.
Given that undergrad students live different types of lives and have access to different things that secondary students, graduate students and non-students do the study, to me, can only be applied to those which the study was designed for.
I do not believe a study looking at the general populations internet use would be plausible or helpful. There are too many differing factors among the population and their reasons for use, time spent using, specific sites frequented, etc. I feel like smaller studies looking at smaller groups of specific people will give us the best answer. I feel like the current study brought up can be generalized over university populations as long as the limitations are addressed. For example the fact that the students in this study were from a private university while other students may not be.
Do I think we will be able to conduct a study showing a true representation of generalized social media use across the population? No. Do I think we can conduct studies that generalize use over a specific demographic of people? Yes.
I feel that more studies should be done on this subject in order to compare the findings and hopefully come up with a generalized answer for Facebook use among post-secondary students. One study is not enough to provide a generalization. Keeping in mind that, as I stated before, these findings could only be applied to the group it was intended for, not a greater population than that.
I think studies linked to social media usage among post secondary students could be used to determine things more useful than just how much time students spend on the sites and why. I found a study done by students trying to find a correlation between social media use and grades. Studies like this may help educate students and others on the effects of social media on education. They also have the power to trump stereotypes like the study I read did. The study was done by Whittemore School of Business and Economics and they found no correlation between heavy or light use of social media on grades.
I find it interesting how one subject matter, time spent on social media and why, can unfold into more things to research such as the effect of social media on grades. Do any of you know of any studies that counteract the findings brought about by the students at Whittemore?
Click to access UNHsocialmedia.pdf
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Personally, and this may be an optimistic approach, I do believe we can achieve research that is useful and can be generalized to the population. With the appropriate use of cross-cultural research, a diverse sample, and researchers ability to challenge each other I do feel it is possible. However I feel questionnaires and laboratory settings are not the way to valid results. I feel lab settings are often so disconnected from real life that people act in ways that are very different than they would normally. Also questionnaires and even interviews often cause people to give answers they feel researchers are looking for. Just like when an individual takes a personality quiz and picks answers to get the result they want. I personally feel research is best in the most natural settings possible where researchers observe people and animals in realistic settings without pressuring them in any way.
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This is a very good response. However I have one minor critique of your argument. Can cross cultural research ever truly be generalized to a whole population when each culture is different from the next? is it every plausible to use cross cultural research as a fact that is true across all cultures combined? I personally do not think so on account of the vast diversity of culturally bound beliefs and morals.
Also, research in natural settings is very difficult to achieve as well because of having to get peoples permission to be in a study. Observational research may work but it is still infringing on peoples privacy which may set some people off.
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Hi Koleton,
T
o dive deeper into your question related to validity over a generalized population, and I do not agree. To generalize something so broad such as social media is much too complex when many factors play a role in its use. Like you mentioned, social media is used to connect with distant relatives, and others may use Facebook as pure entertainment i.e., games, profile meandering, posting status’, etc.
It is not necessarily that people may not be reporting accurate social media use on purpose, but how can one really sit down and give a reliable estimate of their time (Hew, 2011). It would require, I feel, an unnecessary amount of time to keep track of that statistic. For example, I might check Facebook to see if pictures from a wedding I attended last week have been uploaded, which may take a minute or two, or I may extend that usage by finally answering my aunt’s message that I received two days prior.
There are even more ways that technology has tricked our minds into thinking that we do not spend as much time as we think we do on social media which is an additional barrier for validity of the questionnaire. For instance, having Facebook as an app on a smart phone makes it much more accessible to even quickly browse while waiting for a friend to meet up for coffee. In these scenarios, sometimes we may not even be as aware of their social media use as they are just using it as a way to pass the time. Also, depending on one’s own perception on social media use, they might underestimate how much time is actually spent if they do not like to admit it in the first place.
Hew, K. F. (2011). Students’ and teachers’ use of Facebook. Computers in Human Behaviour, 27(2), 662-676. doi: doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.11.020
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