Most have probably heard about, if not seen, the study out of Ohio State University that compares the grade point averages of college students who use facebook with those who do not. The findings are stark:
College students who use facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website … more than three-quarters of facebook users claimed that their use of the social networking site didn’t interfere with their studies.
“There may be other factors involved, such as personality traits, that link facebook use and lower grades,” said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University. “It may be that if it wasn’t for facebook, some students would still find other ways to avoid studying, and would still get lower grades. But perhaps the lower GPAs could actually be because students are spending too much time socializing online.”
What came to my mind when I first read this study was a piece of advice one of my college professors gave me when I, as a young college freshman, still suffered from a perfection complex. In short, if I didn’t get an “A,” I didn’t think I was good enough. The professor explained that despite academics insistance on numbers and letters, even the medical student with the lowest GPA in the class was still a doctor.
I don’t think the professor was advocating that we all do just enough to get by, but was saying that there has to be joy in the journey. I also can attest to the fact that no one has asked for my GPA or standardized test scores in more than a decade. So, if students are enjoying the college experience, and part of that experience includes the use of social networking sites, does it really matter if a GPA drops from 3.6 to 3.4 or 3.2?
One other piece of information from the press release about the study:
As for herself, Karpinski said she doesn’t have a Facebook account, although her co-author does.
“For me, I think Facebook is a huge distraction,” she said.
Most things in life are distractions, although I’d agree that the Internet is probably the world’s largest one. (I can’t count the number of times I set out to research topic A and ended up on a tangent path that included topics B, M and Z.) Still, unless this statement was taken somewhat out of context or with inflection that wasn’t noted, isn’t that a severe bias that could have inappropriately influenced the surveying and research behind the study?
Dr. Scott McLeod, an associate professor and coordinator of the Educational Administration Program at Iowa State University, has also blogged about this study, including some of his own number-crunching based on info in the press release.
We all should look at – and think carefully about – any research findings that get reported out like this. We need to ask questions like Does this make gut-level sense? and Are the generalizations limited to the data or overbroad? and What more do I need to know to be confident in these findings?. Being informed consumers of research is critical if we are to make research- and/or data-driven decisions to benefit our students.
Very good advice, Dr. McLeod. I’m also in favor of Karpinski releasing more information regarding the study. Since my viewpoint is often tilted by gender issues, I’m particularly interested to know if any differences along gender lines were evident.
I’d write more, but I need to click over to facebook and update my status. Come. Befriend me. (Or follow me on twitter for that matter.)
