Participants
The study will have about 300 undergraduate university students participating in the study. Participants must be undergraduate students who are 18 years old or older. Participants will be recruited from introductory psychology courses. The compensation for participation will be extra credit for the psychology course and a $5 gift card. Participation time for the study will last six months (a semester).
Design
This proposed research is a correlational study between the predictor, Facebook use, and the criterion variable, anxiety level. Both Facebook use and anxiety levels will be measured using a longitudinal design. Participant’s Facebook use will be measured using an open-ended questionnaire that will log participants …show more content…
Once participants fill in their information they will respond to a closed-ended Facebook use questionnaire, anxiety scale, and social phobia scale. After answering the questionnaires and scales, participants will lastly be asked to provide an estimated monthly Facebook and social media use in an open-ended question at the end of the paper questionnaire, first provided at the beginning of the study. They will then be told to keep a log of their estimated weekly Facebook and social media use in hours.
Participants will come in every end of the month at an appointed time to take the same questionnaires and scales, along with the collection of participant’s monthly Facebook and social media use. Participants will be provided with the researchers contact information to set up an appointment for the monthly data collection. The researcher and research assistant will continue to gather data till the end of the six months (one semester).
Upon the end of the six month study, participants will be given their extra credit voucher for the introductory psychology course and a $5 gift …show more content…
The Facebook Questionnaire (FBQ; Levinson, Rodebaugh, & McCord, 2014) assesses participant’s frequent use of socially interactive Facebook features. The questionnaire has a total of seven questions. The response set is a seven point liker scale with a range of one (about once a month or less) to seven (many timers per day). Sample questions include “I post comments on friends’ status updates, pictures, etc.” and “I send chat messages to friends.”
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) assesses the fear of being in daily social interaction with other people. The scale has a total of 19 items. Participants are asked to indicate how true each item relates to them. The response set is in a five point liker scale (0-4) with descriptors being not at all, slightly, moderate, very, and extremely. Sample items include “I have difficulty making eye-contact with others” and “I feel tense if I am alone with just one other