This Week's Discussion Will Help You Start The Final

This Weeks Discussion Will Assist You In Starting The Final Project

This week's Discussion will assist you in starting the Final Project. This is the only Discussion in this course that relates directly to this assignment. Ensuing work on the Final Project will be done as written assignments submitted to the Instructor for evaluation. To prepare for this Discussion: Review Chapter 3, "Elements of Research" in the course text Research Methods in the Social Sciences , as well as the quantitative sections of Chapters 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 in the course text from RSCH 8101, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Review the Final Project Description document, located in the Learning Resources.

Select an empirical research problem to focus on for this Discussion and, in turn, for the Final Project. Identify the units of analysis. How can you support that these are reasonable items to compare? How can you avoid the ecological and individualistic fallacies with respect to units of analysis? Determine two researchable hypotheses for the research problem you have selected and the independent, dependent, and control variables for each hypothesis.

What changes in magnitude and relations do you expect between the dependent and independent variables for each hypothesis? With these thoughts in mind: Post by Day 3: 2 or 3 paragraphs in which you do the following: Identify your selected empirical research problem and the units of analysis. Include support for these units as being reasonable for comparison and how you would avoid the ecological and individualistic fallacies. Determine two researchable hypotheses based on your research problem. For each hypothesis, identify the independent, dependent, and control variables. Moreover, estimate expected changes in the magnitude and relations between the dependent and independent variables.

Paper For Above instruction

The selection and precise definition of an empirical research problem are foundational to conducting meaningful social science research. For this discussion, I have chosen to explore the impact of social media usage on mental health among college students. The units of analysis for this study are individual college students across several universities. These units are appropriate because the research aims to understand personal behaviors and mental health outcomes, which are intrinsic to individuals. To support the reasonableness of these units, existing literature indicates that individual-level analysis is most suitable for assessing personal habits and mental health indicators, thereby avoiding the ecological fallacy, which would involve making assumptions about group data based on individual data. Furthermore, by focusing on individual students rather than aggregate data, the study minimizes the risk of the individualistic fallacy, which involves inferring individual-level behaviors from group-level data.

Based on this research problem, I propose two hypotheses. The first hypothesis posits that increased social media usage correlates with higher levels of anxiety among college students. The independent variable here is the amount of time spent on social media per day, while the dependent variable is the level of anxiety measured through a standardized scale such as the GAD-7. The control variables include demographic factors such as age, gender, and academic year, which could influence anxiety levels. I expect that as social media usage increases, anxiety levels will also increase, indicating a positive relationship. Specifically, a higher amount of social media engagement is anticipated to be associated with elevated anxiety scores, with the magnitude of this effect potentially growing as usage intensifies.

The second hypothesis suggests that social media usage negatively impacts students' academic performance. In this case, the independent variable remains the amount of social media use, while the dependent variable is academic achievement, measured by GPA or course grades. Control variables include study habits, socioeconomic status, and hours dedicated to study outside class. I expect that higher social media use will be associated with lower academic performance, demonstrating a negative relationship. The relation's magnitude is expected to be significant, especially among students who spend excessive hours on social media, which could detract from study time and focus. Analyzing these hypotheses can illuminate how digital engagement influences student well-being and academic success, guiding future interventions and policy decisions.

References

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• Riehm, K. E., et al. (2019). associations Between Social Media Use and Mental Health Disorders Among US Youth. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(12), 1216–1224.
• Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17.
• Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173-182.
• Calamaro, C. J., et al. (2018). Social media’s impact on the mental health of college students. Journal of American College Health, 66(3), 183-192.
• Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social media and mental health problems among adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), 261.
• Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), 311.