Does the Use of Social Media Affect Grades?

B1
Nicole Abbott
Stephanie Carrasco
Chad Parkening
Spring 2017
EDT 180B
Arizona State University
Gary Lewallen

Does Social Media Affect Grades?

 Each year students at the university or college level are faced with the everlasting
challenge of doing homework and staying connected with their friends and family. This can be a
challenge for some students as social media can be a distraction. However it would seem that
other students use social media to their benefit. This paper researches whether or not social
media is a hinderance or an advantage when it comes to getting good grades.
Our survey was administered on 6 April 2017 with 126 total respondents to the survey.
Google Forms was used to build and submit the survey to other members of the EDT classes.

Demographics
For the basic demographics data we asked students What is your gender? The majority
of the 126 students that were surveyed were women at (75.4%) and men were (24.6%) of the
total population of the class surveyed. This may be an indication that women are in a higher
population overall in the EDT class or it may mean that men may hold off on taking this class
further off in their studies.

Our follow on demographic question was What year in college are you? The majority
of the class (51.6%) stated that they were a freshman, followed by Sophomore at (22.2%) and
junior at (19.8) and senior was the smallest category with (6.3%). This information coincides
with the assumption that most women take this class early on in their studies while male students
may hold off.
 The average age of the respondents was between 17-21 years old (79.4%) followed by
22-26 age bracket. The 32-36 age group made up (4.8%) of the respondents with the 27-31 age
group reporting the smallest population(1.6%). There were many colleges represented in our
demographics as well with 52 students (41.3%) reporting that they were members of the Mary
Lou Fulton Teachers College, followed by 30 students (23.8%) which were from the College of
Health Solutions. The next major bracket was the College of Public Service Community
Solutions with 16 students (12.7%). There were many other schools represented however their
numbers were not substantial and can be viewed on the graph.
 Most students that were surveyed (36.5%) said that they have a GPA between 3.1-3.4.
Followed by (25.4%) of students in the 3.5-3.9 GPA range. Students with a GPA of 2.0-3.0
followed with 16.7% of the class and 2.0-2.4 students as well as 4.0+ Average GPA came in with
9.5% respectively. The smallest percentages reported were for the students with a 1.0-1.9 GPA or
(3.4%).
Discussion

Our main research questions asked were focused around trying to determine if the use of
social media affects grades. We asked How much time do you spend on homework per week?
Most people (32.5%) stated that they spend more than 6 hours per week doing their homework.
This is a lot of time doing homework but averages out to less than an hour a day so it really is not
that much. Other students said they spent about 3-4 hours (26.2%) per week on their homework,
followed by (25.4%) of the class stating they spend about 5-6 hours per week on their
homework. Some students studied even less per week with (15.1%) of the class stating they
spend less than 1-2 hours per week doing homework with the smallest percentage (0.8%) stated
that they spend less than 1 hour per week studying.

Our next research question asked How much time to do you spend on social media
altogether per week? We were surprised to see that many students (40.5%) spend over 6 hours
per week on social media. This could be anything from Facebook, Instagram twitter etc. Other
students (27%) stated they spent 5-6 hours per week on social media followed by other students
(23%) reporting 3-4 hours of social media per week. Some students spent even less time on
social media (7.9%) spent 1-2 hours and (1.6%) of students spent less than 1 hour on social
media. So it would seem that students are doing a great deal of social media in their spare time.

Analisis
From the data collected in regards to the average GPAs in the classes most students were
at the 3.1-3.4 GPA average or 36% of the class. Also students reported more than 6 hours of
social media and a large amount of studying time (more than 6 hours) consecutively. These
results do not show that the use of social media affects grades in a negative way. They do seem to
point out that students are using social media and studying more and that they are able to
maintain good GPAs while using social media. There could be another explanation in that users
with good grades and who use social media in excess of 6 hours or more may be using social
media to do their homework. These students may be using google docs or other study aids to
collaborate with their peers and these hours count towards their total social media time.

**
perform the following tasks:
1. How many students per grade level responded to your survey?
2. How many students of each gender responded to your survey?
3. If a person is selected at random from the group of students you surveyed, what is the
probability that:
a. The student is a freshman
b. The student is a sophomore
c. The student is a junior
d. The student is a senior
e. The student is a graduate student
f. The student is male
g. The student is female
h. From a particular major
4. For each gender and grade level and the entire group of students you surveyed, calculate the
min, max, mode*, median and mean for:
a. The hours spent on the Internet at a typical day of week for personal use
b. The hours spent on the Internet at a typical day of week for scholarly work
c. Total hours spent on the Internet
* Please note that mode might not exist for a certain group