U06A1 (Methods and Findings) .docx
- 1. U06A1 (Methods and Findings) U06A1 (Methods and Findings) Student: Institution: Professor: Date of Submission: Introduction In this assignment, I was able to get a real chance to be in the actual field making first hand observations. It was such an interesting activity to move around and watch natural behaviour in the field. During this time, my main objectives involved making observations of random people in their natural environment and how they behaved, how frequent they were into social media. Their frequency to social media usage was
- 2. judged by how they were using their gadgets such as tablets and cell phones. Another objective involved getting close enough to hear their conversations and capture their attitude on some aspects. All this was done without their knowledge so as to ensure they had their natural behaviour free from influence. Another phase of my activity involved asking some questions about their opinions on some issues such as social media usage. These questions were designed in such a way that a response/behaviour would follow soon enough. The reason for these mechanism was to compare their attitudes towards something and how they actually behaved in relation to their attitudes. Most of my questions were social media related so as to ensure I remained relevant to my research and social psychology. The activity involved observation of ten random subjects and how they interacted with one another, how they behaved as a result of their peer surrounding since the experiment was conducted in a public setting. The observation occurred on two phases. Each phase taking approximately 20-30mins such that I had approximately two minutes for each person. The second phase was the most interesting since this is where I was asking the questions and observing whether the persons would behave in accord to their opinions and attitude. It should be noticed that, at times I would make the observation then pose the question about what I had observed just to see if their actions would match their opinions. Their entire time in the field was really interesting and mind opening. Ethical obligations and challenges Every research will always have some challenges associated with it. The challenges are even more when the subjects under study are humans. This is because we humans have rights and freedoms which ought to be respected and upheld. My study had several challenges. However, such challenges were tackled professionally such that my results were not biased and no violations of whatsoever kind were made. My first
- 3. challenge was to target selection. With so many people in a public setting, it is difficult to select a fair sample that would be representative enough. In addition to this, gender and age representation was yet another challenge in selection of my subjects. Another challenge that I had to deal with in the field was time factor. Since I had only around 20-30mins per session, I had to ensure time factored in my observations and interactions. With such limited time, it is somehow difficult to obtain 100% accurate results since observing and interviewing takes time. This challenge was overcome by maintaining a professional way conducting the research. By the fourth subject, it was almost becoming natural in how fast I could make accurate and timely observations. The biggest of my challenges was the ethical obligation I had to uphold. I had to ensure that the candidates I interviewed were okay in participating in the research. It would take some time to explain to them that it was a research. In addition to this, explaining to people that I was conducting a research posed another challenge. Such knowledge, if not delivered in a good way would trigger behaviour chance hence affect the naturalistic behaviour. I was able to overcome this challenge by first making the observation before I approached the subjects for the questions. Another ethical obligation I had to deal with was personal space and privacy. During my observations, which involved getting close enough to gather as much information as I could in my limited time, I had to ensure I didn’t violate their personal space. Observations Two major observations were dominant during the entire period. In most of the cases, I was able to observe that social media has played a very major role in influencing our day to day lives and interactions with others. For example, over 60% of all my subject would at one point refer to their gadgets, especially to their cell phones even amidst conversations with other persons.
- 4. Such gadgets would really pose as a challenge and interruption in conversations. This trend triggered the subject I would choose to find their attitudes towards such behaviour. In most of the cases, persons who I had observed use their cell phones amidst conversations would be against the idea of using such gadgets in between conversations with others. It should be noted that these same persons were not aware that I had been observing them the entire period hence were not consciously aware they had done it before the interview. On another case, I would observe the reaction of the persons who had to hold on their conversations while the other person responded to their cell phones. Most of them would sub- consciously get annoyed by the way they changed their facial expressions. I would then wait to see if such persons would respond to their cell phones when a chance presented itself. On most cases, some would respond just like the other person. On interviewing such persons on their attitudes towards the behaviour, they would admit that they found it rude! Lastly, I was able to observe that a small minority who were against the cell phone interruption actually respected conversations and ignored their gadgets when in conversation with their fellow peers. Results and Analysis From my observation, the theme of conflict was dominant. There exist and internal conflict between our opinions/ attitudes and our actions. What we are against does not necessarily mean we don’t practice it ourselves. A good example of this is the case of those majority who were against the idea of using their cell phones amidst conversations and yet used them when the chance presented itself. This mere contradiction can say a lot about human behaviour in general. Humans are creatures who are prone to change at any one given moment to something else in terms of opinions and action. This could hint something about the string of thoughts that run in our minds. What the mind has to offer may not necessarily be what we chose to act on. Our actions are sometimes, most of the times independent of
- 5. our opinions and attitude towards something. The main thing that was dominant from this observation was that attitude does not necessarily predict behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977). Just because someone’s attitude is inclined towards something doesn’t mean they would act in favour of their inclination when the time to act comes. These results were first discovered by LaPiere, in 1934 who from his several researches on the relationship between attitude and behaviour discovered that attitude is not necessarily a predictor of behaviour. His best example was that, just because a person think smoking is a bad habit and can lead to cancer does not necessarily mean that the person in question does not smoke (LaPiere, 1934). Such discoveries have continued to manifest even in our modern society of advanced technology and social media. At another level, I would still argue that attitude can predict behaviour, though the probability is very small. This would be backed up by the minority group who actually acted in favour of their attitudes. At the same time, I would argue that social media has really played a role in modifying these behaviours. Those that who behaved in accordance with their opinions and attitudes could be seen as a minority representative of the small portion left in society or are completely genuine with themselves. It takes genuineness and a lot of confidence for one’s inner to match their outer. These results could still be calibrated against confidence and a lot deduced from the results. On the other hand, the argument that attitude does not necessarily predict behaviour could be used to explain the conflict in behaviour and conduct that exist between the real world and the virtual world. There is a very big difference between who we are and what we wish/want to be (Jones & Hofstetter, n.d.). Social media has rally played a role in magnifying these behaviour and results. By introduction of a virtual world to compare with a real world, the conflict between our inner selves and our outer selves has been magnified and exposed in a bigger and better dimension. The results can
- 6. always be scaled down to confidence. Are we confident enough to express what we actually mean and feel? References LaPiere, R. (1934). Attitudes vs. Actions. Social Forces, 13(2), 230-237. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2570339 Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84(5), 888-918. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.84.5.888 Zimbardo, P., & Ebbesen, E. (1970). Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior: A Basic Introduction to Relevant Methodology, Theory, and Applications. Revised Edition. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Reading, Massachusetts, 01867. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED054640 Jones, W., & Hofstetter, C. Social and Media Influences on Growth Attitudes. Journal Of Environmental Systems, 18(4), 367-379. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/x9k0-5jq4-ggqm-w4lm
- 7. Unit three assignment one. (U03A1) Unit three assignment one. (U03A1) Student: Institution: Professor: Date of submission: Introduction This assignment will be focused on identifying a suitable research topic as well as defining the purpose of the topic and its appropriateness in this class. First, I would like to remind ourselves of some previous major terms so as to ensure a mutual understanding on the use of such terms in this assignment. First, I would start by reviewing the term social psychology which deals with the behaviour of a person in a social surrounding. Secondly, a naturalistic methodology, which involves the study of one’s subjects in their natural environment with minimal interference if any. The last term would be social media. This is
- 8. a collection of networks and interfaces which allow a virtual interaction among humans at different places. A good example of social media would be Facebook. Though there are several social media, Facebook would be our major focus since most of the research would be carried out here. Previous works related to my research directly or indirectly will also be considered and discussed briefly in an attempt to understand how the rest of the researchers view social media in relation to social psychology. These previous researches would also be used to relate to my theory and hypothesis. In addition to this, their findings would be really helpful in designing my hypothesis. Since every research is founded on some previous knowledge or a theory, I would find such literature review important in supporting my research topic. Lastly, the assignment will commence on discussing some of the issues I anticipate to face during my study. These would mainly focus on the challenges I may encounter in the field. However, I intend to solve the issues to my best of knowledge to ensure accuracy of my work is optimum. Research topic My research topic is simple. It is formulated on a question which would summarise the entire social psychology. “How much is our confidence?” Is my research topic. I find the topic interesting and my choice was based on several reasons which I found appropriate and in line with the impacts of social media in relation to social psychology. First, confidence is a necessary ingredient in the everyday life. How much confidence ne has is directly proportional to the choices one makes with some other factors held constant. It takes confidence to quit a bad or poisoning relationship. It takes confidence to express oneself in such a way that they pass across what they really mean. Confidence will always affect one’s choices on everyday life. Secondly, confidence owes its existence from social psychology. For instance, I would argue that confidence is a behaviour. It is like an inner dictator who determines how one
- 9. views and values themselves. The more confidence one has, the bolder they are in their actions, decisions and behaviour. Thus, confidence could be used to measure how you respond to your environment hence fitting under a social psychology setting which focuses on behaviour. At another level, social media will have some influence on the confidence of people. For example, some can learn confidence from others through lessons delivered through social media sites and as a result change their behaviour. At the same time, social media can greatly corrode one’s confidence in the real world whereas they may appear and act ‘confident’ in the virtual world. Thus, linking confidence, behaviour, social media and my research is an appropriate way of exploring social psychology. I would conclude that I find my research topic appropriate. Research setting I intend to conduct this research on one social media website, Facebook. My choice of the setting is because Facebook is among the leading social media websites with over a billion participants from all over the world. In addition to this, since I would like to research on all kinds of persons irrespective of age, gender, race and religion, I find Facebook a suitable setting for such. My data collection would be based on tallying similar responses for similar situations. However, di-similar responses will not be ignored. The second phase would include questionnaires to random people on Facebook through a common page whereby I would get a view of how certain reactions make them respond. This method would not be relied on too much since people are prone to lies when it comes to issues about themselves (Wittkower, 2010). This research setting has the following advantages. First, Facebook has a wide coverage in terms of specimen. This would ensure randomness is maximised hence reducing cases of biasness. Secondly, Facebook is the only place I am guaranteed to find all the types of persons I intend to work with. This ranges from teenagers, celebrities to college persons who are
- 10. the most affected groups by the social media. In addition to this, Facebook gives my subjects a really large social surrounding and thus the results would be really good since their responses will be influenced by a really large crowd. Lastly, Facebook responses have records. Thus one can come back, login and go through the responses that the subjects have written. In such a way, it is convenient in terms of time. Facebook as a research setting has its limitations too. For instance, people have the choice not to respond to a response if they don’t feel okay with it. As a result, their reactions would be assumed to be none. At the same time, in such a setting, people are prone to posting some information which is not actually true about themselves. On such a case, the researcher will capture data that it almost irrelevant. Another major limitation associated with Facebook is that how people behave in the virtual world does not always much with their true selves. Some will selectively post only what is good about them. This tendency somehow interferes with the natural behaviour where both good and bad would manifest. Despite the several limitations of this research setting, its accuracy in terms of capturing general behaviour in a social surrounding is quite high. This is because so many people are used to the virtual world such that it has become part and parcel of their natural lives. For example, what would be despised in Facebook would also be despised in the real world. Previous theories supporting my topic Social psychology is a science that revolves around society. On the other hand, social media is an interface that allows interactions of persons in a virtual network. Over the years, social media has evolved and is affecting almost every aspect of our society today. Thus, social psychology tries to understand and anticipate these technological changes in our society. By investigating and understanding how the social media is affecting our daily livelihoods, then we are able as psychologists to comprehend the very essence of social psychology. By understanding the new behaviours by studying
- 11. them, we are able to adjust such that this virtual world does not make us robots and puppets of the technology. Previous theories that have helped me formulate my research topic have found out that social media is really getting in between almost every activity. The study shows that a large percent of the human population is extremely dependent on their gadgets such as mobile phones and tablets. On a random, even in real social gathering, one would notice people actually on their gadgets instead of socialising! Every now and then they would look at their gadgets to see if there are new updates. Other studies have revealed that social media has infected our youth to the extent of forgetting how to actually socialise in the real world. We have more online friends than we have in the real life. In addition to this, some extreme cases reveal that there are friends who interact in social media but are not courageous enough to interact with the same friend in the streets! My study will be based on behaviour in this virtual world and comparing such findings with the real world behaviours. At the same time, it is aimed at gauging how deep humans are into the virtual world at the expense of the real world. Issues anticipated in study The major issue I expect in this study would be sincerity of my subjects (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Not everyone who posts that they are having a lovely Sunday are actually having one. One can simply post such information from the comfort of their blankets. However, I intent to tackle the issue by considering the posts in response to a certain stimuli such as comment by a peer. Another issue may be the tendency of people to delete bad comments in Facebook. This means that if the comment which may have given some useful information about my study subject is deleted before I get to it, then some useful data would have been lost. The issue however, will be tackled by frequenting the website as much as I can as well as setting a reminder to indicate when my subjects respond. The last issue I anticipate is the choice of my subject.
- 12. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to choose a fair representative especially from such a large number of persons (Aydin, 2012). I will ensure that my choices are the best possible representative I can get. Despite the issues I may come across during my study, I am positive they would be appropriately handles and that the research will be a success. References Aydin, S. (2012). A review of research on Facebook as an educational environment. Education Tech Research Dev, 60(6), 1093-1106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11423-012-9260-7 Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook effect. New York: Simon & Schuster. Pezzulo, G. (2008). The challenge of anticipation. Berlin: Springer. Wittkower, D. (2010). Facebook and philosophy. Chicago: Open Court.