This document summarizes a student's third year undergraduate dissertation which examines the use of social media as a support network for students transitioning through further education and apprenticeships. The student conducted research through questionnaires of 72 participants from a university and apprenticeship program to study how social media can help during studies. The student followed proper ethics procedures and recruited participants through posters and emails. Data analysis found no significant difference in stress levels before and after using social media for support. Students reported wanting more change than apprentices. There is potential for social media to be used more widely as a support in educational settings.

1. University of Salford
Undergraduate Degree
Bsc (Hons) Psychology and
Counselling.

2. 3rd
Year Under Grad Dissertation
What do you know?

3. Social Media as a Support Network for Stude
Transitioning Through Further Education and
Apprenticeships
• Research conducted into social media, to study the
effectiveness of its use for students and apprentices
during studies.
• Much research into social media use in education
(e.g attitudes towards SM) but little research into
how it can help apprentices.
• 72 participants recruited from University and
apprenticeship scheme in North West to complete
questionnaire regarding social media activity during
studies.

4. The Process…

5. Ethics!!
• Apply to School ethical committee before conducting
psychological research.
• Ensuring that all ethics under the British Psychological
Society are adhered to
– Protection of participants
– Anonymity
– Right to Withdraw
– Etc.
• Risk assessment and organisational agreement also
provided, and rationale for research and anything and
everything you plan on doing.

6. Ethics doesn’t just stop at ethical approval…
Throughout the research other issues arose
that meant the further ethical approval was
needed, for example recruiting 16 year
olds rather than over 18’s.

7. Recruitment
• Posters placed round University and also
using online research database at
University (SOLAR).
• Management at apprenticeship emailed
participant information to apprentices at
company, giving details of the research
and contact information for researcher and
supervisor.

8. Questionnaires were developed through Bristol
Online Surveys, which made completion quick
and easy to analyse.
Questions were based around attitudes toward
social media in general, and how social media is
used within their learning environment, whether
it helps with stress or not, and how they would
change the use of social networking groups in
the future.

9. Data analysis…
• Data was exported into analysis programme SPSS.
• Results found that there were no significant differences
between stress levels before and after using SNP for
social support for both students and apprentices.
• Students reported more ideas for change than
apprentices, indicating there is a higher usage of social
networking pages among students.
• There was however a high rate of apprentices actually
wanting to have a social networking page set up in order
to keep in contact with other apprentices, and to access
information and support with NVQ work and other goals.

10. Limitations? What do you think?

11. What can I achieve from this?
• The purpose of this research is to identify how social media can be
used as a support within educational settings.
• Nearly everyone has at least 1 social networking app on their
phone, so getting help with studies has never been easier.
– Salford Psychology Twitter page @SalfordPsych
– Salford Psychology Facebook groups.
With developments in research into how social media can be used
for social support and its role in reducing stress when meeting
deadlines/revising for exams, perhaps every college/university in
the country could attempt to create support groups to aid
students, even if that page is ran by students themselves.

12. Questions?

13. Thank you.
Questionnaire link: http://
www.survey.bris.ac.uk/salford/socialmediaeducol
Email: j.a.bannister@edu.salford.ac.uk