This document summarizes a thesis on the effects of online social networking sites on the study habits and academic achievements of university students in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It begins with an introduction that defines social networking and discusses how technology has advanced socialization online through sites like Facebook and WhatsApp. The study aims to identify the social networking sites used by university students, examine the impact on study habits and performance, and investigate how much time students spend and for what purposes. A literature review discusses definitions of social networking sites and how they allow interaction. Previous research on both positive and negative impacts of social media on learning is also summarized.

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Synopsis M.Phil. Education
THE EFFECTSOF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON THE
STUDY HABITS AND ACEDAMIC ACHIVEMENTS ON UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS IN AJK.
Submitted By
MUHAMMAD AKHLAQ
Roll No. 41848
Department of Education
Hazara University Mansehra
Khyber Pakhtunkhaw, Pakistan
2016

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INTRODUCTION
Socialization is a lifelong process which continues as people changes jobs or
roles and as society itself changes. It is an age long human activity which entails
the relationship between human being and another in the environment in which
they live (Haralambos, Holborn & Heald, 2008). Socialization has been long
before the invention of new technologies and the development of new technologies
transformed socialization into a new system in the society.
The transition to technological era saw or brought about the advent of the
Internet as well as social networking. The advancement in technology has made it
easier for people especially the young people to have access to Internet and thus
social networking which they join in with friends (Ibrahim, 2012). Social
networking has revolutionized the way social interaction takes place. It is a process
by which people socialize online. Through it people seek and enjoy the
companionship of others online.
Social networking according to Young (2010) is the process of finding
friends and managing friendships through the Internet. Young further explained
that people who wish to meet others put up their most compelling and attractive
presentations through their profile pages. Although social networking is possible in
persons in the workplace, universities and high schools, it is most popular online.
Thus there are number of social networking sites that focus on particular interests
and others do not. Kuss and Griffiths (2011) described social networking sites as
virtual communities where users can create public profiles; interact with real- life
friends and meet other people based on shared interests. Arshin (2010) referred to
social networking sites as virtual places where people find themselves and share
information. These social networking sites have an open membership. As soon as
one opens an account and uploads his or her data on the profile page, the person is
entitled to create a network of friends. However, some social networking sites are
specifically designed for mobile phones, some are accessed via computers and
others could be accessed using both mobile phones and computers or other
information communication technologies. These social networking sites are so
numerous but a few would be mentioned, which include, 2go, friend wise, friend

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finder, e-buddy, Facebook, Facebook chat, Nimbuzz, Orbit, fubar, classmates,
Naijapals, Netlog, Nigerian social network, blackberry messenger, friendster,
MySpace, Whatsapp and so on.
According to Boyd & Ellison (2007), “Social networking sites are web-
based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile
within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by
others within the system”. Helou and Rahim (2010) also defined online social
networks (OSNs) “as virtual communities which allow people to connect and
interact with each other on a particular subject or to just ‘‘hang out” together
online. Social media sites around the globe provide users with a number of options
to interact with each other through entertainment, chats, gossips, and games”.
Through these social network platforms students are able to meet to interact with
each other on various topics and interests.
Social networks have become an integral part of student social life (Tavares,
2013). These networks have become important as they serve as platforms for users
to interact and relate with their peers. Social networks are now been seen as
learning platforms or communities that could be utilized to enhance student
engagement and performance.
A number of researchers have found several positive outcomes in online
community engagement among students and their peers. A study by Tiene (2000),
showed that “written communication on cyberspace enables students to take part in
discussions at a time convenient to them and articulate their ideas in more carefully
thought-out and structured ways. In support of Tiene’s (2000) findings, Deng and
Tavares (2013) also concluded that “Web-based discussions can contribute to the
development of students’ reflective ability and critical thinking skills. Also,
compared to face-to-face (F2F) interaction, students are more willing to voice their
views or even disagreement and are more attuned to others’ opinions in online
discussions”. According to Apeanti and Danso (2014), students believed that it
would be fun for their lecturers to use social media. Also, their grades would be
better if they could contact lecturers through social media and lecturers should hold
lecture hours on social media.

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Yunus et al. (2012), indicates that students gained more vocabulary and
improved their writing skills as a result of their participation on social networks
such as Facebook and Twitter. Asad, Mamun and Clement (2012) stated the
exchange of assignments, resources and discussions on academic work and other
issues on social networks among students.
According to Mehmood and Tawir (2013), the use of technologies such as
social media networks and the Internet is one of the most important factors that can
influence educational performance of students positively or adversely”. A study
conducted by Roberts and Foehr (2008), in the United Studies about student
extracurricular activity, rather suggested that new media, such as Facebook,
Twitter etc. replace or enhance other leisure activities, but do not take away time
from the youth. In other words, they were of the view that the time spent by
students on social network sites is the same time that normally use for
extracurricular activities and therefore do not take away their productive time for
studies. Negussie and Ketema (2014), study in Ethiopia also indicated that there is
no significant relationship between times spent on social networks such as
Facebook with students’grade point average (GPA). This was also consistent with
a study by Ahmed and Qazi (2011) who conducted a study in Pakistan among six
universities. They discovered that there no much difference between times spent on
social media networks and students’ academic performance.
1.1 Statement of the problem:
There are varieties of online tools which are available for
communication. Social networking sites (SNS) have become the most
modern and attractive tools for connecting people throughout the world.
The undergraduates used social networking sites in their study all the
time and therefore it is important to check the impact of online social
networking sites on their study habits. Moreover most of the studies
focused on the effects of social networking sites on moral behavior of
the youths. This study narrowed itself down to the study habits of the
undergraduate students in Public universities of Azad Kashmir.

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1.2 Objectives:
1. To identify the online social networking sites properly used by the
university students of AJK.
2. To find the effects of the online social networking sites on study habits and
academic achievements of university students.
3. To investigate type, purposeand amount of time spent by students on social
networking sites.
1.3 Research questions:
1. What are the types of online social networking sites are using by
university students?
2. What are the effects of online social networking sites on study habits and
the academic achievements of university students?
3. What is the purposeof using online social networking sites and how
much time students spend on these sites?
1.4 Significance of the study:
The study will be most beneficial for university students who are enrolled in
different programs. They should learn to explore the social networking potential
benefits as it will boost their creativity and technical skills but not at the expense of
their primary responsibility which is reading.
1.5 Delimitation of the study:
The study will be delimited to:
The students who are enrolled in any three natural sciences programs and
social sciences programs of Universities
1.6 Literature Review
SocialNetwork Sites
According to Boyd & Ellison (2007), “Social networking sites are web-based
services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a
bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection,
and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the
system”. Helou and Rahim (2010), also defined online social networks (OSNs) “as

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virtual communities which allow people to connect and interact with each other on
a particular subject or to just ‘‘hang out” together online. Social media sites around
the globe provide users with a number of options to interact with each other
through entertainment, chats, gossips, and games”. Through these social network
platforms students are able to meet to interact with each other on various topics
and interests.
Davis et al (2012), refer to social media technology (SMT) as “web-based and
mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations to create, engage, and
share new user generated or existing content in digital environments through multi-
way communication”. Popular social network platforms on mobile and web
applications include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, What Sapp, Instagram, snap
chat, Google Plus etc. These platforms have specific roles, functions and modes of
communication although their functions are mostly related. This relates the
definition by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), who defined Social media as “a group
of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-
generated content”. Ayiah and Kumah 2011), summed up the definition of social
network as a web platform where people from different settings can connect and
interact with each other.
EducationalUse of SocialNetworks
Social networks have become an integral part of student social life (Tavares,
2013). These networks have become important as they serve as platforms for users
to interact and relate with their peers. Social networks are now been seen as
learning platforms or communities that could be utilized to enhance student
engagement and performance.
A number of researchers have found several positive outcomes in online
community engagement among students and their peers. A study by Tiene (2000)
showed that “written communication on cyberspace enables students to take part in
discussions at a time convenient to them and articulate their ideas in more carefully
thought-out and structured ways. In support of Tiene’s (2000) findings, Deng and
Tavares (2013) also concluded that “Web-based discussions can contribute to the
development of students’ reflective ability and critical thinking skills. Also,

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compared to face-to-face (F2F) interaction, students are more willing to voice their
views or even disagreement and are more attuned to others’ opinions in online
discussions”. According to Apeanti and Danso (2014), students believed that it
would be fun for their lecturers to use social media. Also, their grades would be
better if they could contact lecturers through social media and should hold lecture
hours on social media. This was revealed in their study among students of the
University of Education, Winneba.
A number of researchers have outlined a number of student benefits in relation to
education as a result of social network participation. Yunus et al. (2012), indicates
that students gained more vocabulary and improved their writing skills as a result
of their participation on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Asad,
Mamun and Clement (2012) stated the exchange of assignments, resources and
discussions on academic work and other issues on social networks students.
According to Salvation and Adzharuddin (2014), students are able to formulate
group discussions to exchange ideas and communicate to their teachers as well as
appeal to their friends about assignments on SNSs. They indicated that teachers
share course related materials with their students and create student groups to
collaborate on projects and communicate with their fellow lecturers from other
universities through SNSs, thus facilitating teaching and learning process and the
enhancement of academic performance. English and Duncan-Howell (2008) also
used Facebook as a tool to enhance peer support among business education
students during their training programme and detected that students’ exchanges
were mostly of the affective type facilitating group cohesiveness through
encouragement and support.
SocialNetworksand Academic performance
There have been mixed reactions from academics and researchers with regard to
the impact of social networks and how they affect academic performance. Studies
have found that the participation of students and young people on social networks
may have both positive and negative impact on their studies and for that matter
their academic performance. Tuckman (1975) defined performance as “the
apparent demonstration of understanding, concepts, skills, ideas and knowledge of

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a person and proposed that grades clearly depict the performance of a student”.
Hence, their academic performance must be managed efficiently keeping in view
all the factors that can positively or negatively affect their educational
performance.
According to Mehmood and Tawir (2013), the use of technologies such as social
media networks and the Internet is one of the most important factors that can
influence educational performance of students positively adversely”.
A study conducted by Roberts and Foehr (2008), in the United Studies about
student extracurricular activity, rather suggested that new media, such as
Facebook, Twitter etc. replace or enhance other leisure activities, but do not take
away time from the youth. In other words, they were of the view that the time
spent by students on social network sites is the same time that normally use for
extracurricular activities and therefore do not take away their productive time for
studies. Negussie and Ketema (2014), study in Ethiopia also indicated that there is
no significant relationship between times spent on social networks such as
Facebook with students’grade point average (GPA). This was also consistent with
a study by Ahmed and Qazi (2011) who conducted a study in Pakistan among six
universities. They discovered that there no much difference between times spent on
social media networks and students’ academic performance. Conversely, a number
of researchers and studies have also found a negative impact that social network
participation has on students’ academic performance. In the study of Kirschner and
Karpinski (2010), they found a “significant negative relationship between
Facebook use and academic performance. Facebook users reported lower mean
GPAs and also reported spending fewer hours per week studying on average than
Facebook nonusers. A majority of students claimed to use Facebook accounts at
least once day”.
Malaney (2005), found that 8.9% of students in 2000, and 4.4% in 2003,
reported that their grades had suffered as a result of too much time spent on the
Internet as well as on social media networks.
1.7 Methodology:
The current study will be conducted to identify the significant impact of
online social networking sites on academic achievements and study habits of

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undergraduate students who are enrolled in different BS programs in public
universities of Azad Kashmir. The research conducted will be descriptive in nature
and both quantitative and qualitative method (Mixed Method) will be used for data
collection. This research was guided by descriptive survey research design.
1.7.1 Population:
The population of the study will be university students who are enrolled in
three natural sciences academic programs ( M.S.C Physics, Mathematics, Botany )
and three social sciences programs (M.A English M.A, M.A Urdu and M.A
History) of academic session (2016-2018) in three public universities ‘University
of Azad Kashmir Muzaffarabad’ , ‘MUST University Mirpur’ and ‘ Women
University Bagh’. The total No. of students who are enrolled in academic session
(2016-2018) in all these above mention programs are 1440.
1.7.2 Sample and sampling techniques:
1.8 Data collection tools:
After the thorough study of the related and updated literature of the problem
the data for the proposed study will be collected through validated
questionnaire and Sami structured interviews from the graduates.
1.8.1 Validity of the research tools:
The items of the questionnaire will be validated with the help of
supervisor and experts in this field will also be requested to express their
opinions about the validity of the each item of the questionnaire and
interviews will be validated with the help of recording the respondent voice
and themes will be drawn in the light of the objectives.
1.8.2 Reliability of the research tools:
To check the effectiveness of the questionnaire the pilot study will be
conducted and the questionnaire will be distributed among graduates of
Hazara University.
1.9 Data collection process:

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The researcher will be personally visited to all the universities and the
data will be collected through questionnaire and Sami structured interviews
from the respondents. The researcher will be thoroughly briefed to the
respondents about the purposeand benefits of the study.
1.10 Data analysis and interpretation:
After the collection of data statistical tools with the help of SPSS will
be used to analyze the quantitative data and interviews will be analyzed
through qualitative content analysis method. The data collected will be
classified and presented in the form of tables and graphs. The findings,
conclusion and recommendations will be drawn on the basis of analyzed
data.

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