Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS 1

Social Media and Psychological Disorders

RCLS 425: Evaluation in RCLS

Danica Denny, Leah Edens, & Madison Hart

Dr. Matthew Chase

April 26, 2019

Eastern Washington University

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Introduction

In this paper, we will discuss why this topic is important, how it is going to be evaluated,

when and where it will be evaluated, who will be evaluated, and what is going to be evaluated.

First, we will touch on the history and background of social media’s rise to popularity, and now

its effects on people’s mental health. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the students of

RCLS 425: Evaluation in Recreation and Leisure Services view social media and it’s potential

relationship with psychological disorders.

Section I: The why?

Background.

Smart phones have been the largest unregulated experiment to date since their debut in

the 1990s. Smartphones have increased our ability to communicate with individuals across the

world with a touch of the screen. We can share pictures and videos a world away from each other

in the form of social media apps. We have been able to communicate with friends and family

from across the street to across the country which have positively impacted our society. But, is

social media negatively impacting how we are as individuals? What is it doing to our mental

health? According to Ahmad et al. “social media is not basically good or bad like other types of

media. It is the type of frequency of use that make it good or bad. Social media users receive

short-term enjoyment when they go online every time and this enjoyment compels them to go

online more to seek this pleasure” (2018, p.78). Individuals now are constantly posting pictures

and videos of their lives, or tweeting about their life struggles or successes. According to an

article we researched an “increase [in] adolescent generalized anxiety symptoms were associated

with increased facebook behavior and repetitive facebook behavior” (Muzzafar et al., 2019,
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p.254). Being in college induces high stress situations because of school work, juggling a job,

parents’ expectations, and living situation. College students are always finding ways to release

the pressure of life by drinking and participating in drug use. But, is social media another form of

addiction? According to Yubo et al. “studies have shown that the symptoms of social media

addiction can be manifested in mood, cognition, physical, and emotional reactions, and

interpersonal and psychological problems” (2019, p.2). With the increase in smartphones and

social media, we want to study if social media has a positive or negative psychological

relationship with the RCLS 425 spring students.

Purpose Statement.

The purpose of this study is to explore RCLS 425 students views on social media use and

its potential relationship with psychological disorders.

Resources.

Items Cost ($) & why it’s needed

Personnal $0, they are coming out to our help with our research topic

Tech Fees $120, we are using technology to create our research proposal
and questions

Copies $0, copy our survey, paid through the tech fee

Recording Device $0, need to record in our focus groups, paid through tech fee

Food (coffee, water, $30, for the participants so they do not get irritated/ also an
crackers, fruit) incentive/ stay focused

Pens $5, need to write with on the survey

Gas $0, we are all coming for eagle point at cheney

Section II: What?

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Model.

For this paper, we will be using the goal free model for our evaluation. The reason that

we are doing a goal-free model is because we want to learn the affects that smartphones have on

psychological disorders. We have no conceived notions of how they are currently impacting the

RCLS 425 students and how the sample will respond. The goal free model will help us examine

the unbiased outcome of our test.

Criteria.

Due to smartphones being unregulated and largely impactful in our lives we need to be

aware of what social media sites are being used for and how they impact us psychologically. We

have narrowed down the sites that we are going to be looking specifically to. These sites include:

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr. We want to measure how often students

use the sites per day, per week, etc. and the average time spent on the site(s). This will help

establish a bases of how often the individuals of RCLS 425 participate in smartphone usage and

if the increase in social media has an impact psychologically.

Data Types.

We are going to be using a mix of both qualitative and quantitative date with an emphasis

on Likert scales. Usually goal-free models use a qualitative approach; however, we are going to

be implementing both in our survey. The benefit of combining a qualitative and quantitative data

is that you can ask open ended questions in order to get opinions, but also, use close-ended

forced choice questions where you can rate how much or little the question pertains to the

individuals.

Section III: Who?

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Potential Audience.

For this evaluation, our group will be finding information about social media and its

correlation to psychological disorders. In addition to curiosity and interest, we can use this

information to better cope with out stress that is present in life, apply it to our lives by

controlling how much social media we are using on a daily basis, and continuing to see how that

control could better our mental health. This information could be useful for high school to

college students who regularly use social media. It is also useful for parents, teachers, and those

in psychiatric, psychological, or mental health setting. Next, we will identify our group members

and what their major is.

Group Members.

Our group consists of three junior standing students, Danica Denny, Leah Edens, and

Madison Hart. All three of us our in the Therapeutic Recreation major.

Next, we will look at our sample population that we are evaluating. This is importuning

because this will help reveal opinions on the topic of social media and how it related to

psychological disorders.

Sample Population.

Eastern Washington University is a 4-year regional, and public university located in

Cheney, Washington. Our sample population are students who are currently enrolled in the

course, RCSL 425: Evaluation in Recreation and Leisure Services at Eastern Washington

University. There are 45 students enrolled in the course. The Recreation and Leisure Services

Program at EWU, which is often abbreviated as “RCLS”, consists of 3 different majors. The first

is Outdoor Recreation Leadership, which is made up of thirty declared majors. Second,

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Recreation Tourism Management, which consists of thirty-four declared students. Lastly, is

Therapeutic Recreation which has twenty-eight declared students. The total of all three majors is

ninety-two students.

All students in RCLS are required to take RCLS 425: Evaluation in RCLS. The three

majors are accredited through the National Parks and Recreations Association. The RCLS

program is in the College of Arts, Letters, and Education program, as well as, Department of

Education, Health and Recreation (PEHR) in the Physical Education Building at the EWU’s

campus in Cheney, WA. The PEHR Department also contains five other majors including:

Exercise Science (Pre-Occupational or Physical Therapy, Pre-Physician Assistant), Health and

Physical Education, Public Health, Athletic Training, and Physical Education. This department

also offers a variety of minors including Aquatics, Experimental Education, Personal Training

and more.

Next, we will discuss our timing and timeline of the events that will occur soon regarding

this evaluation. This includes due dates and the type of timing that we will use.

Section IV: When?

Timing.

We are doing an assessment for our research using both quantitative and qualitative data

to help us better understand the correlation between social media use and its effects on

psychological disorders. This is an assessment because it takes into consideration biases, we

have a documented starting point, and we are using a set of guiding questions that help us find

information for our evaluation.

Timeline.
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The following list is the order of due dates that will take place in the future for this

evaluation.

 April 26, 2019: Phase I: Research Proposal

 May 7 or 8, 2019: Focus Groups (TBD in class), 8:00-9:50 a.m.

 May 16, 2019: Take home surveys, distributed in class, 8:00-9:50 a.m.

 May 20, 2019: Surveys are retuned

 May 18, 2019-June 5, 2019: Group presentation

 June 5, 2019: Phase II: The Focus Group Report

 June 5, 2019: Phase III: Survey Research Report and Final Recommendation

Section V: Where?

Sample size, composition, and technique.

The sample population we will be using are the students enrolled in the course RCLS

425: Evaluation, Recreation and Statistic in RCLS. There are currently 45 students enrolled in

the course, according to Dr. Matthew Chase’s numbers, which he provided for us. We will be

using convenience sampling method during this evaluation. We are using the convenience

sample method because this course is required for all students to take that are in the RCLS

program. The students in the evaluation are in the course RCLS 425 during spring of 2019,

which is when we are currently taking the course. These students are readily available to do the

interview guide and focus group. The convenience sample is cost effective because we do not

need elaborate survey engines, we do not need to travel far, and are not obligated to offer an

incentive for the participants. We will be using both a interview guide (focus group) and survey

to obtain our data.

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Our focus group will be conducted May 7th or 8th, which is still to be determined.

Students who are enrolled in RCLS 425, spring quarter 2019, we be apart of the focus group.

This type of sampling is purpose sampling. According to Dr. Matthew Chase, this type of

sampling will be useful because the students chosen to participate in our focus group will

represent this class. According to our text, purpose sampling is a type of non-probability sample,

which means that the sample is not chosen randomly from a certain population (Henderson &

Bialeschki, 2017). The disadvantage of convenience sampling is that the information we gather

cannot be spread to the larger population because it would no longer be a random sample. This

means that not all the groups of the population will be reported in the sample.

We will be representing the class with a survey, which will be distributed to the entire

class. The requirement for this type of sampling is that the participants are both willing and able

to complete the survey (Henderson et al.,2017).

Section IV: How?

Methods.

For this evaluation, we will be using a descriptive design with a mixed-method approach,

using both quantitative and qualitative methods. “…the idea of descriptive designs is to try to

encompass the breadth of possible explanations that include all empirically focus, non-

experimental projects conducted in world situations” (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2017, p.122).

With the descriptive design, we will be also using the qualitative and quantitative component

which is described as the triangulated method. With the use of qualitative and quantitative

components, this will help us gather empirical data in forms of numbers and words that we can

measure. We can collect data from both close-ended questions forced choice through surveys,
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and open-ended questions within the interview guide (focus group). Within the descriptive

design, the study will include the interview guide at the focus group, and surveys (Henderson et

al., 2017).

To gather our data, the approach we will start off with is the focus groups. The purpose of

focus groups is for the evaluators to listen and observe the ideas that the individuals in the group

stimulate (Henderson et al., 2017). The focus group is encompassed of individuals who will help

provide qualitative data through the interview guide. The interview guide will help us establish a

quantitative survey based of the answers and feedback. The focus group is organized within our

RCLS 425 class which will consist of 6 students. The interview guide will consist of open-ended

questions which will have 10-12 questions. We will give the students thirty minutes to complete

the interview guide. During the focus group, we will use a voice-recorder on our phone so we

can analyze any comments or feedback discussed. To be most efficient in collecting data, one of

us evaluators will take observational notes. The focus group will be held in the classroom and

there will be no fee for students to participate in the study. However, we will provide snacks and

beverages for the participants.

As stated above, we will be using the interview guide in the focus group to gather

qualitative data. After the focus groups, we will be able to construct a survey to collect

qualitative data. The survey will consist of close-ended forced choice questions. To construct

close-ended questions there are a few styles to choose from. These styles include Likert scale,

ranking, self-assessment and semantic differences. The Likert scale is a style of questions that

use a scaling system (Henderson et al., 2017). “Likert scales are most often used for attitude

measurement. Usually both negative and positive statements are used with four to six responses

including “strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree” (Henderson et al,. 2017,
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p.159). This style will most likely be used in our survey. Each student will take a survey which

consists of 12-15 questions. There will be four demographic questions and the remaining

questions will be more specific to each demographic question. The survey will be designed to

complete in five minutes or less.

Finally, the last portion of this section is the analysis techniques which we will use to

measure the results we receive from our interview guide (focus group) and survey.

Analysis Techniques.

For analyzing our qualitative and quantitative data that we will obtain through our

interview guide and survey, we will be using descriptive analysis. The purpose of descriptive

analysis is to determine existing conditions of what the group already believes. This type of

analysis is most commonly using in recreation and leisure service settings. It does not use

comparisons or build predictions. This involved gathering empirical data, which is data you can

see or observe. It is useful because we can utilize both qualitative and quantitative data

(Henderson & Bialeschki, 2017).

Gathering qualitative data from our focus group, we will use qualitative coding. After

reading the data, we can code by reducing words to numbers or short phrases. The most effective

way for us, would be to use descriptive words. Stated in the text, according to Corbin and Strauss

(2008), we want to use grounded comparison (Henderson et al., 2017). “Grounded comparison is

the method, and emerging of theory/theorizing or patterns is the outcome of this approach”

(Henderson et al., 2017, p.340). There are three types of coding: open, axial, and selective. For

qualitative data, coding “…then ranges from descriptive (open coding) to interpretive

(axial/focused coding) to explanatory (selective coding)” (Henderson et al., 2017, p.340).

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As for gathering quantitative data, the univariate statistical analysis will be the most

beneficial. The univariate statistical analysis falls under descriptive statistics which describe and

summarize our data characteristics. Univariate means focusing on one variable. When it comes

to describing the variable, we will be using central tendency which consists of mean, medium,

mode and standard deviation. The medium is the middle value and the mode is the highest

frequency of a response. Standard deviation is used to determine the variation in the data set

(Henderson et al., 2017). For the mean, this is the average response. In order to obtain the mean,

the values in the data set are added then divided by the number of values present (Henderson et

al., 2017). The mean is not generalizable to the entire population so it would not be as useful. As

for standard deviation, this will help us see where students fall in comparison to other students

participating in the research.

Special Considerations.

We are researching a topic that is important and relevant, but does not need a warning or

counselor on stand by at the event for someone that feels emotionally affected by our content.

We do not need to utilize any other special considerations.

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