ESSENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA – FACEBOOK ON ACADEME AREA: AN EDGE

OR A SETBACK

A Research Study Presented to the Local Board of Committee

Department of Education
Compostela National High School
Province of Davao De Oro

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of Science and Technology, Engineering

and Mathematics
Practical Research I

RAPHAEL MCREYMOND AMORES

KAREN FAITH BOLOTAOLO
LORENZ JAMES LORA
LOVELY JEAN SUPITER
MEGA MAURINE TIA

November 2019
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Over the past decades, technological advancements have evolve and brought

significant changes to the means of communicating, exploring and studying that

people handle their affairs globally. And due to its continuity of evolvements, it

also continues to break traditional means of communications and replacing them

with new methods of connecting people globally. With the availability of science

and technology, anyone who has access to Internet has the power to connect

through accessible social media platforms namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

Tumblr, Snapchat, Skype, Messenger, etc. regardless the distance. Social

media is an extension and explosion of traditional word of mouth networks. Word

of mouth has always been the most effective and trust worthy means of

disseminating information (Sajithra and Patil,2013).

Today’s university students consist of members of the ‘net generation’. That

is, children who have grown up understanding the power of all types of

technologies from early in their lives (Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010). Social

media is increasingly becoming popular among Nigerian students. As such it is

generating interests and concerns among researchers, school authorities and

parents as to their likely benefits and damages on students as they continued to

adopt social media to cater for their social and informational needs.

Researchers like Mehmood & Taswir (2013), Kist (2008) believe that the use of

technology such as social media is one of the most important factors that can

influence educational performance of students positively or adversely.

 Social media platforms – Facebook to be exact, have become very popular in

recent years due to increasing proliferation and affordability of Internet enabled

devices such as personal computers (PC), mobile devices and tablets. According

to statistics by National Bureau of Statistics (2016) as at September 2015, there

were total of 150,469, 438 mobile subscribers in Nigeria. Of all users, a total of

97,212,364 had an Internet subscription. As a result, social media are becoming

more and more fashionable especially among students in Nigera.

Teenagers and young adults have especially embraced these tools as a way

to connect with their peers, share information, reinvent their personalities,

and showcase their social lives (Boyd, 2007). As a result, a lot of students

happily make use of these opportunities by spending a substantial amount of

their time to use various social media platforms. However, the question remains

on how social media specifically Facebook have an essence on academe area.

In another case, Josan D Tamayo, Giselle Sacha, D Cruz. International

Journal of Scientific and Research Publications 4 (5), 1-10, (2014) Social Media

is considered as phenomenal in today’s generation. It conquered the world by

storm and became more popular to the youth of most nations including the

Philippines. This research aims to study the relationship of Social Media in

relation to the Academic Performance of the the students of Bachelor of Science

in Information Technology at Centro Escolar University-Malolos. Among the one

thirty eight (138) respondents drawn using stratified random sampling there are

45 first years, 37 second and third years and 19 fourth years. There are 102

males and 36 females participated in this study. Seventy one (71) or 51.4% of

the respondents have reached below satisfactory grade average while sixty

seven (67) or 48.6% students have successfully reached the satisfactory

academic performance from an average grade. Sixty one (61) or 44.3% falls

under the Occasional User of Social Media while seventy seven (77) or 55.7%

falls under Frequent User of Social Media. This represents that there are more

Frequent User of Social Media among the respondents participated in this study.

Students’ Prelim and Midterm Average and their Social Media usage were

correlated using Pearson (r) correlation and evaluated that there is moderate

significant relationship between Social Media and the Academic Performance of

the BSIT students of Centro Escolar University–Malolos, Bulacan.

Daluba and Maxwell (2013) posit that “millions of people are using social

media tools as part of their everyday lives for work, studies and play because of

its ubiquity”. The purpose students use media and the implication the activity has

on academic performance has recently become the fore of academic discuss.

Similarly, Aghaunor and Ekuobase (2015) remarked that “[social media] seem to

have a profound impact on the process of learning in higher education by offering

new possibilities for learners and teachers. However, with the recent proliferation

of ICT tools and services, students are finding it difficult to curtail its negative

appeal”. Others worry that the social media phenomenon in Nigeria is

making students to spend less time studying their books and that this has

resulted in dwindling academic performance.

It is assumed in some quarters in academe area of students are facing a lot of

neglect and challenges. There is a deviation distractions and divided attention

between social media activities and their academic work. This may be as users

continue to find them useful, comforting and amusing. In an examination of the

patterns of student’ ownership and use of cell phones and use of instant

messaging, Junco, Merson & Salter (2010) however submitted that excessive
 use of social media tools by students has led to debate over whether or not it

has changed the very shape and structure of students’ social behaviour and

academic practices. This has thus become a source of worry to many leading

educators who believe in knowledge and skill acquisition.

As several studies demonstrate, the use of social media could affect

academic performance of students negatively (Owusu-Acheaw & Larson, 2015)

or could positively impact academic performance (Buhari & Ashara, 2014;

Haseena & Rasith, 2016). In the light of the above, this study intends to explore

some of the trending issues facing among members of academe area as a result

of social media usage.

In spite of the above, however, studies on the essence of social media on the

students in the Philippines especially in Compostela National High School are yet

to be given adequate attention in the literature. As students, we sensed a gap

which needs a deep and thorough understanding on the issues, setbacks and

advantages related on how the essences of social media especially facebook

affects the area of education makes the study very significant.

Objectives

The main aim of the study is to know the real essence of social media

especially on Facebook on academe area to its members. Specifically, the objectives

are:

1. To tell the story about the experiences faced by the members of the

academe area on how social media platform – facebook became part of

their academic journey.

 2. To unveil and understand the way of managing the usage of social media

especially on Facebook in academe area among its members.

3. To know what are their strategies on handling the issues that they have

faced on using this new kind of platform.

4. To determine the edge and setbacks on using this platform as part of their

journey in academic life.

Review of Related Literature

This part solely focuses on different literary publications and published studies

concerning the essence of social media – facebook on academe area. These

readings and publications have assisted us in viewing different perspectives of our

study as seen by different authors, researchers and the community as a whole.

Various studies and materials helped us see our problem in a different height and

viewpoint and different matters surrounding and concerning our case study.

So cial Media – Facebook and Academe Area

Research on the reasons students embrace social media is still

deficient. Nevertheless the purpose for which social media are deployed appears to

be expanding. A handful of studies addressed some specific category of social

media rather than the generality of social media. For example, in investigating the
purpose students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka use the SNSs Eke, Omekwu

and Odoh (2014) surveyed 150 students and found that the students use the SNSs

to communicate with friends; watch movies; discuss national issues like politics,

economy and religious matters; and for academic purposes which particularly is

relevant to their academic pursuit. Citing the National School Board Association,

Klopfer et al. (2011) reported that the topic of most conversation on SNSs is

education—60 percent of the students’ surveys said they use the sites to talk about

education topics and more than 50 percent use it to talk about specific schoolwork.

Facebook has quickly become the social network site of choice by college

students and an integral part of the “behind the scenes” college experience (Selwyn,

2007). Researchers who favour the use of Facebook in education claim it can have a

positive influence on students’ lives, such as providing a way to contact fellow

classmates and instructors about course assignments or group projects (Miloševic

et al., 2015; Petrović et al., 2012). Others indicate that Facebook can have a

negative impact on academic performance, leading to lower GPAs and less time

spent on academic work (Skiera et al., 2015; Junco, 2011; Kirschner & Karpinski,

2010). Characteristics noted in the literature which recommend Facebook as a tool

that can contribute significantly to the quality of education are: fostering positive

relationships among students and encompassing students’ motivation and

engagement (West et al., 2009; Kabilan et al., 2010). Facebook researchers

claim that, “the experience with communication technologies that teenagers

today possess must be tapped by educators and connected to pedagogy and

content in order to address learning objectives in schools” (Fewkes & McCabe,

2012).
 Facebook allows students to ask more minor questions that they might not

otherwise feel motivated to visit a professor in person during office hours to ask

(Miloševic et al., 2015; Moody 2010). Further, Facebook enables teachers to:

provide constructive educational outcomes in a variety of fields (Pempek, 2009,

DeAndrea et al., 2011); practice a differential pedagogy, in the best interests of

the students (Hew, 2011); integrate diagnostic formative evaluation in the

learning process and to calibrate didactic activities accordingly (Pasek &

Hargittai, 2009); achieve a change in strategy, mentality, attitude and

behaviours by using Facebook (Petrović et al.,2012; Roblyer, 2010); establish

efficient educational relations on a social network (Selwyn, 2009); accept the student

as an interaction partner (Schwartz, 2009); analyse and compare ways of

learning and the knowledge achieved by students (Roblyer, 2010); develop

knowledge and skills in order to perform efficient didactic activities (Petrović et

al.,2012;Hew, 2011). To begin to understand how it can be used in an educational

context, Mazman and Usluel maintain that instructors should know how students use

Facebook and why it has become so popular.

In a similar study to ascertain how university students from a range of

European countries (Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Turkey) use

social networking websites; Lamanauskas et al (2013) found that the most

important function of social media use by respondents from all countries they

surveyed were communication, learning and exchanging information. Another study

by Ünal and Köroğlu (2013) revealed that prospective teachers (students) use SNSs

for social interaction and communication, identification and recognition, and

education. A similar study by Mehmood and Taswir (2013) revealed that of the 80

percent students who reported that they used a social networking site on
phone and that the smart features available on social networks like reading

RSS feeds, location tagging and status updates were popular uses of social

network on mobile phone. These were not directly related to their educational

pursuit. Other studies have delimit their attention to some popular platforms of the

major category of social media. One of such studies was carried out by Alhazmi and

Rahman (2013) when they studied the purpose students of Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia use Facebook.

Their findings revealed that the students use it to keep in touch with their

friends, to let others know what is happening in their life, communicate with friends

on classwork, sharing of news and other issues and these do not relate to their

academic goals. In an analysis among Serbian students, Milošević, Živković,

Arsić and Manasijevic (2015:584) showed that the implementation of Facebook

as virtual classroom that was aimed at Facebook student-users, who participated in

the study, use Facebook to improve communication with peers and professors,

improve and expand the discussion with other students, post announcement related

to lectures, exams and other events at the university, thus providing support in task

execution, quality improvement of educational process and expansion of the total

quantum of knowledge.

They point out that empirical research suggests the negative impact of multi-

tasking, or attempting to simultaneously process different sources of information, on

performance. They underscore that this leads to increased study time and an

increased number of mistakes on assignments. Junco (2014) examines the

relationship between Facebook activity, time taken for class preparation and overall

GPA for 1839 students. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that time

spent on Facebook was significantly negatively correlated with overall GPA, but only
weakly related to time spent on class preparation. Moreover, using Facebook to

search for information was a positive predictor of GPA while time spent on

socializing was a negative predictor.

Yet in a survey of German students, Skiera, Hinz and Spann (2015) found

that on average, students use platforms such as Facebook to gather valuable

information from their peers, as well as to cultivate relationships, which reduces the

time available for their academic studies. Similar, Akyıldız and Argan (n.d.)

surveyed 1300 undergraduate students and found that students use Facebook

for both social purposes and educational purposes. Some of the studies that have

paid attention to the generality of social media in this area include: Ebele

and Oghentega (2014) studied the impact of social media on academic performance

of students of four universities in Nigeria. They sampled 100 students-25

students each from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Delta State University

Abraka, Madonna University Okija and Anambra State University and found

that undergraduates in the four universities paved together, do not use social

media for academic purposes but mainly for general information that are not relevant

to their academics.

Similarly, Ezeah, Asogwa and Edogor (2013:29) sampled 300 students

from selected universities in South-East Nigeria and found that students in South-

East Nigeria “use the social media partly because of the pleasure and fun they

derive from the pornographic contents and watching movies using the social media”.

In another survey of 93 students in University of Benin, Aghaunor and Ekuobase

(2015:24) found that over 75% of activities carried out with the aid of ICT tools

(social media); do not have any direct link to students curricular. Implying that

students use social media in pursuing activities that do not have bearing with
their academics. In a similar study to ascertain the purpose students use social

media.

Evidence from a survey of 2605 students in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi

Arabia carried out by Al-Sharqi, Hashim, and Kutbi (2015) reveals that students use

social media tools for a blend of academic and non-academic purposes. And that a

significant number of students use social media for entertainment, information

searching and learning. In a survey of students of Koforidua Polytechnic in

Ghana, Owusu-Acheaw and Larson (2015) concluded that student use social media

to chat than academic purpose. Evidence emanating from a polytechnic

setting is provided by an insight from a study by Buhari and Ashara

(2014:304) who surveyed 932 students of Kaduna Polytechnic. The study

revealed that students of Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria use social media to

connect; interact; share information and chat with friends.

Theoretical Lens

This qualitative multiple case study is viewed from the proposition first

developed by the observation of Duncan, 2012 which he states that the social

interaction with educational process have been influenced the availability of modern

techniques of social media. These techniques of social media results a good

learning outcomes among students because it provides more than one channel

to communicate with other party to gain and enhance the knowledge, therefore

it has a great role to develop the educational process.

Social media have led in recent years a revolution, both for its rapid

generalization and by extension its subsequent applications. It is a revolution

perhaps comparable only with the advent and popularization of e-mail, because
of its power to alter human relationships through the network. Thus, social

media have increasingly become powerful interaction between different spaces,

some increasingly specialized social groups, where it is possible to get to know

people who share the same interests or reacquainted with them. (Alwagait et.

al., 2014)

According to Hrastinski et al. (2010), “Synchronous media were argued to be

more useful to support tasks and exchanges such as planning work.” social media is

useful for learners’ interactions, which fulfils different cooperative/collaborative

purposes, by enabling them to see receiver's reactions and get the results right

away.

They also have much to do with the collaborative work, essentially

because most of the potential of social media are fully useful for learning

environment to provide more enhancement for academic learning process, the

most common benefits are:

- Collaborative work increases motivation.

- Enhance the academic achievement through students’ feedback.

- Improves learning procedures.

- Enhance students’ critical thinking and deliver the knowledge in clear form.

Besides being a fantastic tool in the service of collaborative work, the

educational possibilities of social media are almost endless. Thus, the author

(Junco et. al., 2010) qualified social networks constructivist tools directly related to

their chances when the service interaction are placed within the group, between
the group and teachers within the faculty, and all outside the temporal and

spatial requirements of a school intoned.

1. What are the experiences of the students and educators on using social media
as part of their way on learning and teaching?
1. How students and educators handle their usage of social media?
3. What are the insights of the students and educators?
 Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology used in this qualitative case study.

This covers the research methods and design, research locale, research

respondents/ participants, data collection procedure, research instruments and

statistical tools/ data analysis.

Research Design

The investigation of how the essence of the social media – facebook affects

the essence of academe area which determines how it became a setback or an edge

to the selected respondents employed qualitative phenomenological design since

this method permits the researcher to dig deeper in each of the cases through the in-

depth interview which is required in this research design. A phenomenological study

portrays the significance for a few people depicting what all members share for all

intents and purpose when they experience a marvel (Creswell, 1998).

The objective of qualitative phenomenological research is to portray a "lived

experience" of a wonder (Waters, 2016). As indicated by Christiensen, Johnson and

Turner (2010), the fundamental reason for a phenomenological study is to explain

the importance, structure and quintessence of the lived encounters of the individual,

or a gathering of individuals around a particular marvel. Phenomenology does not

start with a hypothesis however rather starts with a wonder under thought. Since we

will be into studying the experiences and challenges on how the respondents

manage their usage of social media specially on Facebook, this will fit to

phenomenological approach. Then, an interesting phenomenon to study is identified.

In the study, the respondents will be delved deeper into the discussion on their

experiences on how social media became a setback or an edge to them in which the

phenomenological study is the most effective method.

Research Locale

The result of this study is specific to the context on students and other

persons involve in the academe area especially Senior High students at Compostela

National Highschool, Compostela, Davao de Oro. The possibility for general

applicability of the findings of this study was limited by the scope and sample. Shown

in figure 1 is the map of the Philippines highlighting the Region XI where the

municipality of Compostela is located at the Province of Davao de Oro.

Compostela National High School is located along Purok 7, Lapu-lapu St.,

Poblacion, Compostela, Davao de Oro. The three-hectare school site is bounded

west by Compostela Central Elementary School and Maputi Creek in the East. It is

facing south strategically located along municipal road while a wide oval field is

found in its rear area. At present, Compostela NHS has a total of 4634 student-

learners. These students are catered by 168 faculty and staff coming from both

Junior High School and Senior High School programs.

Looking back at its humble beginning,Compostela National

High remained true to its mandate in providing the most needed secondary

education of the town. It continuously aims to attain the highest standards of a

learning institution and its untiring effort to achieve academic excellence, discipline

and leadership.
Figure 1. Map of the Philippines Highlighting the Compostela National High
School, Compostela, Davao de Oro
Research Participants

In this phenomenological study, conferring to Dornyei (2007), the scope of a

focus cluster is between 6 and 10 (sometimes 12) people. Less than six people

would bound the probable of the 'collective wisdom' while too large a size creates it

tough for everyone to participate. When designing a focus cluster study, the two key

technical issues to consider are (a) whether members of a group should be

homogeneous or heterogeneous; and (b) how many groups to have.

There will be fourteen (14) participants in the study. Preferably, they are

Senior High students in Compostela National High School. In addition, these

participants are residents located at Compostela, Davao de Oro. This is to assure a

reasonable assessment to achieve the purpose of the study. There will be seven (7)

participants for the focused group discussion and another seven (7) informants for

the in-depth interview. They will be equitably gathered to be part of the study.

These informants and participants are chosen using the non-probability

sampling technique in which the samples or participants are designated based on

the personal decision of the researchers. According to Lund Research (2012), this

sampling technique gives researchers autonomy to choose a population they wish

studying. When sticking a qualitative investigation method, non-probability sampling

procedures such as reasoned sampling, can provide the researchers with strong

theoretical reasons including their subjects in the sample. This method requires the

authors to use their subjective judgments, drawing on theory, practice, and dig in the

intricacies of the problem being studied.

Data Collection Procedure

The technique that will be used in gathering to collect the data will be

conducted using two methods, whichare Focused Group Discussion (FGD) and In-

Depth Interview (IDI). Materials of other researchers and dissertations related in our

study will also be used for the basis of this study. Data collection methods helped the

researchers to gather more information and conduct first hand interviews as well.

According Freitas, et. al. (1998), focus group discussion (FGD) allows interaction

within the group, generates qualitative data and impact each other by their thoughts,

replies and imparts during the conversation.

The following steps will be used in gathering the data:

Firstly, using purposive sampling method, to achieve the number of

participants in the study, there will be a diffusion of information to the participants

and allow them, not enforce, to attend the discussion. Targeted participants will

receive an invitation, and it is on their free will to grant it or not. They will be

requested to sign an informed content to agree with the conditions specified that

their involvement is voluntary and they are willing to participate in the study. The

objectives of the said interview will be presented so as not to confuse the

participants.

Secondly, during the interview, a moderator, who is one of the researchers,

stimulates the conversation regarding the subject. Researchers will throw questions

and some follow up on the queries, to enter the conversation in a clearer and deeper

way. Focus group provide productivity and litheness in the gathering of facts that are

not usually realized when utilizing an individually tool and at the same time allowing
impulsiveness of communication among the participants. It also enables to explore

topics and generate a hypothesis.

Thirdly, topics discussed during interviews will be transcribed and recorded as

the information, to be told by the interviewees, will be documented in detail. A full

evidence about an individual’s views and behaviours regarding a topic or to enable

to discover issues in-depth are some of the benefits of in-depth interviews (IDI). This

involves the intensive one-on-one interviews, to discover perspectives on an idea,

particularly the insights of the informants, on the financial functioning of the

accountants in the family. Its primary advantage is the collection of more detailed

information and the provision of a more relaxed atmosphere to the interviewee

(Boyce &Neale, 2006).

There will also be a sharing of thoughts with the researchers and triangulation

is achieved. We will encourage them to fully cooperate and participate actively as

well as their active involvement, while encouraging them to share their experiences

relevant to the topic. It is vital to highlight that the conversation is about individual

understandings and encounters and thus there are no accurate or erroneous

responses (Dornyei, 2007). Lastly, when the interviewers finally meet the information

needed, the discussion will then be closed and will keep the confidential details.

Research Instruments

The data gathering instruments used in this study is an interview guide

created by the researchers. The purpose of this is to to seek answers to a question,

to systematically use a predefined set of procedures to answer the question, to

collect evidence and produce findings that were not determined in advance, and to

produce findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of the study.
Notwithstanding, this qualitative study pursued to apprehend a given research

problem from the standpoint of local population in involves.

The approach of this investigation is qualitative. One form of qualitative study

is the in-depth interview (IDI, one-on-one). This type requires an interview with a

single individual with a duration that may last depending on the subject matter and

the context. In our study, in order to obtain elicit comprehensive descriptions of the

study that included the viewpoints and challenges faced by the participants, we

adopted the in-depth interview in which questions were centered around the two

research questions and the interview guide directed and approved by the members

of the panel.

Moreover, the approach to research of this qualitative case study enabled the

examination and quest of a phenomenon within its context utilizing a different data

sources. This was to ensure that the case was not understood in one general aspect

and phase but rather view from a wider perspective. This was a type of affirmation

and pronouncement that the case hasbeen thoroughly examined and analyzed and

that the essence was revealed (Stake, 2013; Yin, 2011).

Data Analysis

After transcribing the focus group interview, statements that relate to the topic

were divided into essential ideas reflecting definite thinking. The participant’s

answers were clustered into major themes depicting the several features of the

phenomenon. The data on the focus group interview were analysed based on their

discernment on the query.

Once the data are collected from the participants experience in the

phenomenon through focus group discussion and in depth interviews, and then will

be the phenomenological data analysis: talking with, featuring noteworthy

articulations, seeing how the members encountered the marvel and creating

bunches of importance from these huge explanations into topics. The noteworthy

articulations and subjects are then used to compose a portrayal of what the

members experienced or the textural depiction.

The first principle of phenomenological data analysis is to

utilizeandevelopingapproach, to let the technique of examination to trail the nature of

the facts itself (Waters, 2016). As stated by Kleiman (2004), phenomenological

research data analysis involves processes such as coding, categorizing and

understanding of the essential meanings of the phenomenon. The researchers must

not be biased in translating the record. Reading and listening to the transcript in its

entirety must be done to get the holistic interpretation.

In Moustakas’ study (1994), data analysis involves the art of reading the text

or interpreting it in such a way that the intention and meaning behind the

appearances are understood. The researcher must describe the structure of the

experiences, founded on understanding of the research participant’s story, which

intends to define what the experience means and originate the general meanings of

testimonials.

Lastly, the organizational and textural definitions of the scholars are then

written to a compound description, which presents the core of the incidence, called

the essential invariant structure.

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