At the start of this semester, I was unsure about what I wanted to research and how I would even approach it. It took some research before I found a topic I was remotely interested in, until I thought of something I’ve always been intrigued with and that is how social media has changed the way we now approach new friendships and relationships. I knew from the beginning that this topic had risks and I had to be very careful as to ensure that students weren’t triggered or uncomfortable to answer, and to ensure my survey was conducted with proper ethical standards.
With some feedback from both Kate and Pete, I was able to ensure my questions were worded carefully and allowed options for students to not answer if uncomfortable or embarrassed, or weren’t up to sharing their personal experiences. I also provided to opportunity for students to mention both online dating and friendships made online in general, providing a more broad range of connections made online whilst also allowing each individual to speak about their own connections. I also provided the details of both Kate and myself as well as got all participants to provide a fake username in this instance an individual wanted to take out their answers and involvement.
I also incorporated a question which ensured that all individuals who participated in my survey were all BCM212 students. This was to keep the results controlled, and in line with the guidelines for this research task.
I also ensured that my opinions didn’t cloud the overall aim of my research. Although I had one opinion, I created a unbiased survey which allowed participants to answer truthfully and provide the option for students to demonstrate their opinion.
With any project there is things that I would’ve liked to change along the way. One I regret is not putting together a focus group as I believe my results could’ve significantly benefited from some further insights into a few students on their experiences and feeling towards the online culture and how it has affected them in creating these connections.
I knew going into this topic that other students would have differing experiences and opinion to my own and I kept open minded to the possibility that individuals may prefer online as opposed to in person. However, the results proved that as close as the results were in some cases, a larger majority of students still preferred to form connections in persona as opposed to online.
Overall, I’m extremely happy with the my research project and the way it turned out. It was a learning experience that taught me the do’s and don’t of research methodology and what I can do to improve. I enjoyed this topic I chose as it was something I was interested in from the very beginning, and it showed that although the online world allows these connections to be formed online and allows easy communication with friendships and relationships we already might have, there is still a want and a need for these face to face connections.
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