An Analysis of University Students' Internet Usage and Resources

This report, focusing on students' internet usage, explores how university students utilize online resources for their coursework. It begins with an executive summary and includes a problem statement highlighting the advantages and limitations of internet use in education, referencing research by Farley et al. (2015). The objectives of the study aim to identify the efficiency and impacts of internet use, as well as student perceptions regarding utility. The literature review examines research on internet behavior and addiction, and the impact of the internet on education, referencing works by Bashir, Mahmood and Shafique (2016), Reed and Reay (2015), and Skues et al. (2016). The report details the research methodology, which involves primary data collection through questionnaires, and outlines the timeline and budget for the study. The questionnaire includes questions about gender, age, internet usage hours, and purpose of internet use. The report concludes by discussing the reliability of internet resources and student opinions on the same, along with a comprehensive references section.

Running head: STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

1STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Executive Summary
Technology has proved to be a vital part in all spheres including education. Though being an
essential and indispensable part of a student’s life a need arises to understand the proper ways
in which student can utilize this facility rather than swaying away with the distractions it
comes with. The study is a proposal for the aspects of the internet based resources that are
generally used by the students in their course work. The paper will focus on the various ways
the internet sources are used by the students. The literature review on the specific aspect will
be considered and discussed. The way students access these informations will be a concern
and how reliable these resources prove to be will be considered as well. Lastly the paper
concludes stating some facts on the reliable and the unreliable nature of the resources and the
way student opinion on the same.

2STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Table of Contents
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................3
Objectives...............................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Questionnaire.........................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................8
Timeline.....................................................................................................................................9
Budget........................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

3STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Problem Statement
The usage of the internet in the domain of education has been advantageous to the
students as it has given easy access to the informations and numerous resources. The era is
laced with not only finding out informations but also provides the facility of sharing of the
informations thus gaining popularity. The concept of sharing has been a plus factor as it
benefits the students to access the information from any location and at the same time any
time if the day. The emerging topic related to this topic is how effective it is in the case of
students’ success and how reliable are these sources. There have been various researches on
this and the growing reliability on the internet sources have led to these researches. As per
research done by Farley et al., (2015), the university students being in their adolescence get
carried away by the available distractions on the internet and their focus gets shifted. This
serves as a basic limitation to the internet in education.
Objectives
1) To recognise the efficiency and effectiveness of students’ access to the internet resources.
2) To identify the impacts of the use of internet by the students of the university.
3) To recognise the perceptions of utility that includes the price, product, and promotion and
place accessibility.

4STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Literature Review
The researchers have been interested on the various impacts of Internet since the day
it has gained popularity and is focused on numerous plans. The behavior and the addiction of
Internet and the Internet users’ priorities and preferences are being researched on. As per the
research done by Bashir, Mahmood and Shafique, (2016), studies focus at determining links
in between the characteristic of the users and individual preferences. The domain mostly
affected by the emergence of Internet is the education sector and the usage of the resources
by the university students is increasingly gaining importance. The studies that have been
proposed on the usage of internet reveal the positive as well as the negative impacts of the
usage of these internet sources. As per the research done by Reed and Reay, (2015), the
decrease in the price of the computers and phones has made it available to the students and
cheap internet packs have added to the scenario. As per the research done by Reed and Reay,
(2015), the relation between usage of Internet, student performance, technology resistance
and technology satisfaction has been an issue among the students of the university. The
studies have concluded by saying that there exists a positive correlation in between the usage
of the internet and the students’ academic performance but it can be said that the students are
benefitted by the additional training that is required to improve the internet usage skills
overcoming the resistance in the case. Some of the researchers argued that excessive use of
the internet adversely affects the academic performance and the social well being as some of
the studies have found that the students have made use of the internet for gaming and other
purposes thus lowering their grades. The price, promotion, product and place accessibility
consist of the perceptions of utility. As per the research done by Skues et al., (2016), the
usage of internet in the academic projects and learning have been accelerated owing to its
affordable price and easy accessibility in the university campus. With the advent of
technology everyone is dependent on the internet for informations and data. The internet

5STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
almost has all answers and may it be any subject can help the student accordingly and is
preferred as a reliable source as for its low price and advantages. In case of promotion
internet serves as the best medium as online media helps in promoting stuffs much more
effectively than any other platforms. In case of the usage of resources in the university
projects and academic courses the promotion plays a vital part as it helps students share stuff
among themselves and thus a resource is shared and utilized by the students effectively. As
per the research done by Parkes, Stein and Reading, (2015), in the academic field product
refers to the internet facilities that are there for the students and this depends on the number
of students accessing the internet for their project and academic purposes. While referring to
the place of accessibility it is said that this is the main advantageous point in the above
scenario. Accessibility is an added advantage to the low cost as the internet services can be
accessed from anywhere and thus easy to use. The access points are present all around the
universities and thus this benefits the student to get access of the internet anywhere within the
university premises. The eBooks that the student is given access to help them in their projects
and research work. There is an earlier model of survey where the survey has been conducted
by using questionnaires that will study the relationship between various parameters of the
study such as usage of Internet, satisfaction with the technology, performance of the student
and the resistance that students faced with the technology in one if the universities of Wales.
The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between the student’s academic
performance and the usage of the internet but to remove the resistances and make the students
more skilful while using Internet could be done by providing the students with additional
training. However on further analysis of the report it was found that overuse of Internet has
affected both the academic skills of the students as well as their personal life on social
aspects. Reports revealed that degradation in academic efficiencies; social interaction and
satisfaction with learning are the prime disadvantages that the students suffered from

6STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
overusing Internet as compared to that of the students with the normal usage of Internet.
Besides most of them were found to be having depression, loneliness and health issues.
Report by researchers also discussed how the overuse of the Internet has brought down the
academic performance of the student with an unhealthy social life and self-control deficiency
and such issues can be dealt with an early detection of the issues and providing the students
with proper education about these issues. Studies by Suhail and Bargee analyzed that students
were able to realize the effects of overuse and benefits of proper use of Internet. They
reported that the time spent over the internet for recreational purposes has effectively brought
down the academic performance to a great level and also assure the fact of Internet being a
useful tool for them in order to achieve good grades in their courses if used at a proper way.
Questionnaire
1) What is your gender?
 Male
 Female
2) What is your age?
 15-20 years
 20-25 years
 26-30 years
 31-35 years
3) How many hours due you spend on surfing internet?
 Less than 1hour
 1-2 hours
 2-3 hours

7STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
 More than 3hours
4) What is the purpose of using internet?
Ans: ______________________________
5) How useful is it in your academics?
Ans: _______________________________


8STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Research Methodology
The research will be conducted based on the collection of primary data. The data will
be collected by conducting surveys based on questionnaires that will be having both closed
and open-ended questions. The survey will be conducted on the students of an Australian
university on their usage of internet for their academics as well as learning various
perspectives that will serve their academic profile. The questionnaire will consist of questions
that will be of both quantitative and qualitative nature. Hence, the analysis of the data will be
done both quantitatively and qualitatively respectively. Simple statistical measures will be
used in order to perform a successful analysis on the data that will be collected from the
survey (Kumar, 2019). Besides, the survey will be kept anonymous to keep the identity of the
students confidential and questions that may interfere in the personal life of the student will
be avoided as much as possible. Some of the questions will be provided with options where
they can opt for not answering the question at all if they do not feel like. Additionally the
survey will be conducted online that will not require any usernames or passwords to log into
the system.

9STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
Timeline
Task Name Duration Start Finish
STUDENT INTERNET USAGE 60 days Wed 8/1/19 Tue 10/23/19
Selection of the Topic 5 days Fri 6/29/19 Thu 7/5/19
Collection of Data from secondary sources 7 days Fri 7/6/19 Mon 7/16/19
Preparing the layout 8 days Sun 7/15/19 Tue 7/24/19
Review of Literature 5 days Wed 7/25/19 Tue 7/31/19
Developing plan for the research 8 days Wed 8/1/19 Fri 8/10/19
Selecting appropriate techniques for research 24 days Sat 8/11/19 Wed 9/12/19
Collection of Secondary data 14 days Thu 8/30/19 Tue 9/19/19
Data Analysis & Interpretation 10 days Wed 9/19/19 Tue 10/2/19
Findings and Discussion 15 days Wed 10/3/19 Tue 10/23/19
Conclusion to the study 2 days Wed 10/3/19 Thu 10/4/19
Preparing Rough Draft 6 days Fri 10/5/19 Fri 10/12/19
Completion of Final Work 7 days Mon 10/15/19 Tue 10/23/19
Budget
Activities Budget
Selection of the Topic $50
Collection of Data from secondary sources $100
Preparing the layout $50
Review of Literature $100
Developing plan for the research $30
Selecting appropriate techniques for research $100
Collection of Secondary data $200
Data Analysis & Interpretation $200
Findings and Discussion $150
Conclusion to the study $30
Preparing Rough Draft $50
Completion of Final Work $20
Total Budget $1080

10STUDENTS’ INTERNET USAGE
References
Bashir, S., Mahmood, K., & Shafique, F. (2016). Internet use among university students: a
survey in University of the Punjab, Lahore. Pakistan Journal of Information
Management & Libraries (PJIM&L), 9(1).
Farley, H., Murphy, A., Johnson, C., Carter, B., Lane, M., Midgley, W., ... & Koronios, A.
(2015). How do students use their mobile devices to support learning? A case study
from an Australian regional university. Journal of Interactive Media in
Education, 2015(1).
Kumar, R. (2019). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Parkes, M., Stein, S., & Reading, C. (2015). Student preparedness for university e-learning
environments. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 1-10.
Reed, P., & Reay, E. (2015). Relationship between levels of problematic Internet usage and
motivation to study in university students. Higher Education, 70(4), 711-723.
Skues, J., Williams, B., Oldmeadow, J., & Wise, L. (2016). The effects of boredom,
loneliness, and distress tolerance on problem internet use among university
students. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 14(2), 167-180.