Research proposal on Student Views on Social Media 2022

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research proposal on Student Views on Social Media
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Background Information and Issue........................................................................................5
Importance of the Issue..........................................................................................................7
Research question.......................................................................................................................7
Description of the proposed research methods and analysis......................................................7
Introduction............................................................................................................................7
Research philosophy..............................................................................................................8
Justification for the use of the Research Philosophy.............................................................8
Research Approach................................................................................................................9
Justification for the use of the Research Approach................................................................9
Research Design.....................................................................................................................9
Justification for the use of the Research Design..................................................................10
Research Strategy.................................................................................................................10
Justification for the use of the Research Strategy................................................................10
Sampling Technique and Sampling Size..............................................................................11
Justification for the use of the Sampling technique and Sampling size...............................11
Data Collection technique....................................................................................................11
Justification for the use of the Data collection technique....................................................11
Data Analysis Technique.....................................................................................................12
Justification for the use of the data analysis technique........................................................12

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Statement of the ethical considerations................................................................................12
Timeline...................................................................................................................................13
Table No 1: Timeline Table.................................................................................................13
Gantt chart................................................................................................................................14
Figure No 1: Gantt chart......................................................................................................14
References and Bibliography...................................................................................................15
Appendices...............................................................................................................................17
Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................17
Questionnaire.......................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
Today the world has become globalized and modes of communication is improving
day by day. With the increase in the use of internet, the world has been successfully captured
in the pockets of the smartphone users. On the other hand, the advent of Social Media has
changed the life of the people (Boulianne, S., 2015). It is playing a parallel role in the daily
working ways in both professional and personal life of the individuals. The field of social
media started with e-mail and blogging and is currently standing on platforms like Facebook,
YouTube and Instagram. Moreover, social media has helped in the transformation of the
business world and has emerged as the prime advertising and marketing hub for various range
of products and services (Creswell and Creswell 2017). The social media is emerging day by
day and playing an important role in shaping other organization. The social media has
become an integral part of the daily business life cycle.
According to, Boulianne (2015) several organizations to gain upper hand in terms of
market capitalization is not only using social media for the purpose of advertisement but uses
various features to understand the perception of the consumers through the process of active
participation. The huge user base of the social media industry is not only attracting big
corporates but it has helped many small businesses to use this as the window of opportunity
to grow in the market (Perloff 2014). Other virtual service based companies such as Amazon
and E-bay, which are technically service based companies use social media to provide offers
to the potential consumers and laggards to increase their consumer base.
In addition, these services can be analysed by the host company, which helps the
advertisers to know the exact consumer base and how their advertisements are being used
effectively unlike conventional broadcast media and outdoor advertisements.

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According to, Rapp et al. (2013) with increasing effectiveness of the mass media, a
huge proportion of the population has been observed to shift into the social media sector from
the conventional broadband sector. As a result the price or the cost of booking an ad space
has reduced on one hand and increased in the social media on the other hand. Digital
advertising has a benefit over conventional advertisement. It can target the consumers as per
the likes and dislikes of the people (Goh Heng and Lin 2013). The most important part is that
it has the ability to engage the users into the advertisement through comments and likes. Now
it is being used as an instrument, which helps in empowering economic and social networks.
Through the social media, billions of people are interacting with each other and sharing their
thoughts. The corporates find this platform as a lucrative ground to interact with the public on
a large scale. It has successfully replaced traditional marketing mediums such as magazines,
newspaper, handbills and leaflets. Moreover, the conventional methods were one way in
nature where the opinion of the public could not be incorporated. But the social media is two
way in nature which can inculcate the opinion of the people about the concerned issue or
advertisement.
Background Information and Issue
Social media has helped in forming opinion. The most introvert individual can also
speak up in this type of platform. It has helped the world to get a neutral media and people
can directly show the problems being faced in an area by an individual. Therefore, it is
helping the people to achieve awareness at the maximum (Goh Heng and Lin 2013). But
social media has many loopholes which are being exploited to influence people in a negative
way. Hatred has become the soul of social media today and people have moved from
community with a positive motive to a community with a negative ideology (Creswell and
Creswell 2017). On the superficial side the, the age group between twelve and twenty one has
become addicted to the social media to such an extent that they are getting negatively

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affected in their daily life. The enjoyment of the life itself has decreased and showing off to
the other people have increased over time. The social media due to huge financial backup has
the capability to provide services to the users for free. The chunk of money is being extracted
from the advertisements and marketing campaigns of various products and services.
Social media can be classified as the environment that adopts the attitude of receiving
and conveying as the mode of communication is free of cost in contrast with the conventional
media.
It is playing an important role in developing international brands. Through the help of
the social media the big brands are being able to analyse the acceptance level of the
population in the second world and third world countries. Conversely, countries like India,
China and Mexico are being able to establish their culture on the large platform and able to
incur huge profits in the process.
Social media is known to the people as an instrument, which helps the powerless to
gain power and support over the powerful indulged in the wrong doings of the society. It has
helped many people around the world to solve personal problems like to get donations for the
cure of a disease, saving the animals, saving the biodiversity.
Nowadays, social media plays the role of public relation by using their paid page
section. Specifically it can be seen that that these platforms are being regularly used to
influence the political opinion of the people.
A special case will be highlighted in the main paper involving the elections in the
United States Election and Cambridge Analytical Issue. For a brief overview it can be said
that a third party i.e. Cambridge Analytical conducted a quiz and successfully hacked the data
of 2.5 million people and their friends.

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Importance of the Issue
The issue is taking a wrong turn day by day. The importance of this topic are as follows:
a) Negative attitude: The people are becoming negative day by day and the attitude of
the people in the real world are becoming more attacking towards other people.
b) Religious Bias: Violence in the name of religion is becoming very common these
days and the social media is being used as a tool to provoke such issues. People are
becoming more violent and ganging up to fight against other people. On the other
hand, tools such as live streaming are being used to promote hatred and violence on
the social media.
c) Mapping perceptions: The most important adverse effect of social media is tracking
the minds of the people. They are daily getting in the personal life of the people. For
example: Facebook has the ability to access the gallery in the phone which allows
directly to upload pictures and videos in the application.
Research question
The research questions are as follows;a. How have social media impacted on students?
b. What are the perspectives that makes social media a bane for the students?
c. How can social media be used constructively to ensure that students use them in
a good way?
Description of the proposed research methods and analysis
Introduction
The research methodology chapter is one of the most crucial chapters of any research.
The research methodology chapter helps the research to select the best methods and proceed
with the following methods accordingly. The research methods explains a systematic

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approach to the description of the research topic with the use of the appropriate business
methods. The following chapter will be presenting the different tools and techniques that
have been used in the research in a detailed manner (Ledford and Gast 2018). However,
the chapter is made compact with the providence of the justification of the selected research
tools. The selection of the research tools and techniques will be done in accordance to the
demands of the research goals and objectives.
Research philosophy
Overall there are altogether three different kinds of research philosophy. The three
different philosophical stances in the business researches includes positivism, interpretivism
and pragmatism. These three philosophical stances are mostly used in different researches to
carry out the research in a proper and systematic manner (Ledford and Gast 2018). The
positivism philosophy of the research depends on the quantifiable observations of the
research (Flick 2015). These quantifiable observations is based on the scientific and
statistical analysis of the research topic (Hughes and Sharrock 2016). On the other hand
the interpretivism research philosophical stance allows the research to consider the
observations or perspectives of different research participants on a particular topic. Lastly the
pragmatism research philosophy is a mixture of the features of both the interpretivism and
positivism research philosophy.
Justification for the use of the Research Philosophy
The research will be selecting the positivism research philosophy in this particular
case to analyze the results of the following research. The positivism research philosophy
enables the research to address the hypothesis of the Justification for the use of the research
and the different research questions in the most positive manner. The positivism research
philosophy also helps the research to ensure statistical results for the research. The research

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will not be using the interpretivism or pragmatism research philosophy as this will restrict the
research to understand only the observations of the people.
Research Approach
The approach to the results of the research is an important part of the research as such
a step ensures the success of the research in the most effective manner (Flick 2015). There
are both inductive and deductive research approach that are used in most of the researches.
The deductive research approach helps the research to analyze and formulate the research
hypothesis. The hypothesis of the research in the case of the deductive research approach is
generally carried out by using the research concepts and theories prepared by other
researchers (Flick 2015). On the other hand the use of the inductive research approach leads
to the construction and formulation of new theories and models based on the subject of the
research.
Justification for the use of the Research Approach
The selection and use of the suitable research approach curves out the success theory
of the research in the most efficient manner. The research will be selecting the deductive
research approach in this particular case to analyze and address the different perspectives
related to the research topic (Kumar 2019). The use of the deductive research approach will
help the research to select the tested and trusted information and theories that were used
earlier. Apart from this the use of the earlier research theories also helps the management to
save time and resource as because the use of the inductive theory will need the construction
of new theories and models that are time consuming and also will push for the use of a large
amount of research resources.
Research Design
Research Design again forms an important part in the success of the business design
as because it is an important part in the success of the research in the most proper manner.

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There are three different designs of a research which are exploratory, explanatory and
descriptive research designs (Creswell and Creswell 2017). These three designs are used
widely in different forms of researches involving different subjects. An explanatory research
design can be said to be the design that explains different phenomenon related to the topic of
the research. On the other hand the descriptive research design helps the research to focus on
and emphasize on the characteristics of a certain group of people (Creswell and Creswell
2017). Lastly the exploratory research design supports the proper and scientific testing of the
research hypothesis.
Justification for the use of the Research Design
The following research design will be analyzing the research information through the
use of the descriptive research design. The selection of the descriptive research design is
highly justified as because it helps the research to focus on the students who are the main
characters in this particular research. The selection of the descriptive research design is also
justified as because it will allow the research to develop a deep understanding of the research
rationale. Lastly the following research design is also justified for the use in the particular
research as because it helps the research to predict the future occurrences or happenings
which will surely play a crucial role in the success of the following research.
Research Strategy
Each and every research needs a successful strategy. The selection of a successful
research strategy is highly essential for the success of the research in the most efficient
manner. Four most widely used research strategies include the likes of case study, action
research, interview and research survey (Creswell and Creswell 2017). The case study
will involve a research that will be based on a particular case while the action research will be
based on finding a number of different issues in a systematic and scientific manner. The
process of interview will involve the live data collection from a small number of research

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participants. Lastly the research survey will be using the survey results to analyze the results
of the research.
Justification for the use of the Research Strategy
The particular research will be using the survey research strategy. The survey research
strategy in this case will be using a selected number of live participants who will be providing
response to a selected number of questions provided to them in the form of the research
questionnaire.
Sampling Technique and Sampling Size
The sampling technique are of two types which includes probability sampling
techniques on one hand and non-probability sampling techniques on the other hand. The
samples for the survey will be collected based on the criterion for the research and also on the
criterion for the different demographic factors that will include the likes of the age, gender,
experience and many more as such similar perspectives.
Justification for the use of the Sampling technique and Sampling size
The following research will use the non-probability sampling technique and will be
selecting 60 different students based on the needs of the particular research based on the
views of the students on the use of social media.
Data Collection technique
Primary and Secondary data collection techniques are two of the most widely used
data collection methods of the research. The primary research will include the collection of
the data in the form of statistical analysis while the secondary research collection will involve
the collection of data based on the secondary resources like journals, research papers, articles,
newspapers, online sources and many such similar kinds of research sources.

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Justification for the use of the Data collection technique
Both the primary as well as the secondary research data collection methods will be
used for the particular research which will study the views of students on social media. The
literature review will be based on the secondary sources while the data analysis will be done
using the primary source of research analysis. The use of both the sources of data collection
helps the research to be more compact and transparent in nature. The selection of both the
techniques can also help the research to ensure a non-biased research.
Data Analysis Technique
The data collected from the secondary sources will be analyzed in the literary review
part of the research while the data collected via the primary sources of research will be
analyzed using a statistical or SPSS method of analysis.
Justification for the use of the data analysis technique
The following research will be using the SPSS method of research analysis in order to
ensure the success of the research to ensure the analysis of the data. The use of the SPSS
system will be used to achieve the accurate results of the research in a proper manner.
Statement of the ethical considerations
Ethics is considered to be one of the most important part of the research. It is
important for the research to maintain ethics as because the absence of the proper ethical
considerations can lead to the failure of the research. At the very begin in g it is important for
the research to ensure the privacy of the research data and also ensure the safety of the
research participants. It is highly essential for the research to ensure that the identity of the
research participant stays confidential. Apart from that the research data must be secured
under the data protection act of 1998 which ensures that the the researcher is not supposed to
disclose any data collected from the participant without their consent. The research must also

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be used strictly for the academic purpose and not for any kinds of the business or commercial
purpose before prior consent.
Timeline
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Research Proposal
Timeline New 2
104 days Mon 26-08-19 Thu 16-01-
20
Selection of the
Research Topic
1 day Mon 26-08-19 Mon 26-08-
19
Approval of the
Research Topic
2 days Tue 27-08-19 Wed 28-08-
19
Researching and the
Development of the Aims
and Objectives
6 days Thu 29-08-19 Thu 05-09-19
Selection of the Title 12 days Fri 06-09-19 Mon 23-09-
19
Selection of the
Objectives
2 days Tue 24-09-19 Wed 25-09-
19
Initial Research 12 days Thu 26-09-19 Fri 11-10-19
Assembling all the
Preliminary Data
8 days Mon 14-10-19 Wed 23-10-
19
Researching the Data 6 days Thu 24-10-19 Thu 31-10-19
Compiling the Data 14 days Fri 01-11-19 Wed 20-11-
19
Submission of the Draft 1 day Thu 21-11-19 Thu 21-11-19
Continuation of the
Research
20 days Fri 22-11-19 Thu 19-12-
19
Assembling New
Information
10 days Fri 22-11-19 Thu 05-12-19
Identification of the
Sample
1 day Fri 06-12-19 Fri 06-12-19
Selecting The
Number of Sample Size
4 days Mon 09-12-19 Thu 12-12-19
Interviewing The
Sample Population
5 days Fri 13-12-19 Thu 19-12-19
Researching on the
Available Data
20 days Fri 20-12-19 Thu 16-01-
20
Compiling the Total
Data
10 days Fri 20-12-19 Thu 02-01-20
Assembling and
Preparing the final
Report
9 days Fri 03-01-20 Wed 15-01-
20
Final Submission 1 day Thu 16-01-20 Thu 16-01-20

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Table No 1: Timeline Table
Source: (As created by the Author)
Gantt chart
Figure No 1: Gantt chart
Source: (As created by the Author)

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References and Bibliography
Boulianne, S., 2015. Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research.
Information, communication & society, 18(5), pp.524-538.
Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Goh, K.Y., Heng, C.S. and Lin, Z., 2013. Social media brand community and consumer
behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content.
Information Systems Research, 24(1), pp.88-107.
Hughes, J.A. and Sharrock, W.W., 2016. The philosophy of social research. Routledge.
Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in
special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in
special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475..
Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.

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Meyers, L.S., Gamst, G. and Guarino, A.J., 2016. Applied multivariate research: Design and
interpretation. Sage publications.
Padilla-Díaz, M., 2015. Phenomenology in educational qualitative research: Philosophy as
science or philosophical science. International Journal of Educational Excellence, 1(2),
pp.101-110.
Perloff, R.M., 2014. Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns:
Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71(11-12), pp.363-377.
Rapp, A., Beitelspacher, L.S., Grewal, D. and Hughes, D.E., 2013. Understanding social
media effects across seller, retailer, and consumer interactions. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, 41(5), pp.547-566.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Valenzuela, S., 2013. Unpacking the use of social media for protest behavior: The roles of
information, opinion expression, and activism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(7), pp.920-
942.

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Appendices
Appendix 1
Questionnaire
Open questions
To which gender do you belong?
 Male
 Female
Which age group do you belong to?
 18-22 years
 22-26 years
 26-30 years
 30 years and above
What is your experience in Social Media?
 0-1 year
 1-2years
 2-3 years
 4 years and above

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Closed Questions
Questions SA A N D SD
Do you think social media is useful for students?
Do you think use of social media can be
important for the overall success of students?
Do you think the implementation of social media
can be a bane for the students?
Do you think the use of social media can hamper
the life of students?
Do you think the social media be banned for the
students?
Do you think the use of social media in a
controlled manner can be a boon for the students?
Do you think the social media can change the
perceptions of students?
Do you think social media can help control the
decision making process of the students?

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