final paper in research methods - melissa reyes

Running Head: FACEBOOK AND EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT 1

A study on how Facebook affects the Self – Esteem, Cognitive, and Socio – emotional

Development of Adolescents

Maria Ysabel Alyana L. Conty

De La Salle University

Abstract

FACEBOOK AND EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT 2

This research study focuses on how Facebook, a social networking site affects the self – esteem,

cognitive, and socio – emotional development of adolescents aged 15 – 18 years old. This paper

will examine the study conducted by Van Houtte, B.A and Jarvis, P.A (1996) in University of

Illinois on grade school students (grade 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9). The researchers conducted a part of

Van Houtte and Jarvis’ study, specifically testing autonomy, in the Philippine setting. The

research study included a total of 30 participants from St. Scholastica’s college, an exclusive

school for girls. These 30 participants range from 10-12 years old and are grade five students of

the said institution. This paper shows the difference of the autonomy development of children

having pets and not having pets in the Philippines. The study used Silverberg and Steinberg

(1986) autonomy scale to measure the autonomy level of the two groups: pet owners and non –

pet owners.

Keywords: social networking sites, Facebook, cognitive development, socio – emotional

development, self – esteem


A study between pet-owners and non-pet owners, and

How pets affect autonomy

Many of the people nowadays consider pets as their family. These pets give people

advantages, like being the escape-goat and/or saviours on circumstances. According to

Endenburg, N. & Van Lith, H.A. (2010), the influence of animals in child development is greatly

beneficial, especially for children who experienced psychological problems. These animals are

able to help children recover with such situations, and pets are able to become best buddies with

these children.

Experts believe that animals are curing agents that help people with disabilities. These

animals are called “Assistance Animals”. These animals are trained to nurse people with

disabilities and deficiencies in their daily activities. Being an assistance animal, it is very known

for them to help cure stress, and other psychological problems. These animals are agents in

making them live through their lives.

Review of Related Literature

A study conducted in University of Illinois, by Van Houtte, B.A & Jarvis, P.A. (1996),

was the guide of the researchers to conduct the study in the Philippines. “Roles of pets on pre-

adolescents’ psychosocial development” was the main literature where the researchers based

their study. In this research, Van Houtte, B.A. & Jarvis, P.A., had 130 participants wherein they

were able to implement the study. Their study included Autonomy Development, Self- Concept,

and Self-Esteem. These three aspects were tested using different instruments. It was concluded

that having pets, in USA help children build Self-Concept and Self-Esteem during the pre-


adolescent stages (grades five through six). Autonomous characteristics, on the other hand was

said to be built during their early childhood years. Van Houtte, B.A. & Jarvis, P.A., used the

instrument produced by Silverberg and Steinberg (1986), to measure the autonomy of these early

graders. This instrument was called the “autonomy scale” and was produced in the study

conducted by Silverberg and Steinberg in 1986.

The research produced by Silverberg and Steinberg in 1986 was entitled “The

Vicissitudes of Autonomy in Early Adolescence”. This research study was conducted in the

University of Wisconsin – Madison. Silverberg, S. B., & Steinberg, L., had a sample of 865

students (almost half of the city’s population), where they made these children answer a 20- item

test to measure the autonomy of children. These children’s age, ranges from ten to sixteen years

old. This is believed to be the early adolescent stage. The conducted research by Silverberg and

Steinberg was able to prove that the test used was efficient and effective on measuring the

autonomy of pre-adolescent stages. This has helped many researches to be valid, since the tool

was assessed using “Cronbach’s alpha” and computed how valid these results were to measure

autonomy.

Influences of animals in the emotional, cognitive, and physical aspects of human

development are integral. These animals help people become more active and social to help

people efficient, effective and productive. Emotional development of people with disabilities and

deficiencies are positively changed with the help of pets/ animals. These animals influence their

social skills and physical skills on being active agents towards society.

With these results, the researchers wanted to conduct the study in the Philippines in a

simpler way. The researchers focused on Autonomy Development of grade five students, and

only female participants were involved in the study.


Conceptual Framework

Figure 1.0 Independent Variables affecting Dependent Variable

The diagram above explains how the independent variables will affect autonomy

development. The researchers focused on students who have pets an student who does not have

pets. This research believes that this two groups, either one is a non-pet owner, or a pet-owner,

would affect the autonomy development of the student. The conceptual framework consists of

how the different variables correlate with each other, which will give the researchers the view of

how each group will affect the dependent variable. This figure shows that there is only one

Independent variable, with two levels. These two levels are the, Level 1: Pet owners and Level 2:

Non-pet owners. This diagram shows that those levels will affect the dependent variable which is

the Autonomy Devlopment.


Research Questions

The research study would only want to answer a general question. There are no sub sequent

questions; because it is believed that the general question will be the main focus of the

researchers. The general question is:

Is there a significant difference between the autonomy of girls ages 10-12 who are pet-owners

and who are non-pet owners?

Hypothesis

With this research question, the researchers believed on two hypotheses. These

hypotheses are the following:

Ho: There is no significant difference between the autonomy of girls ages 10-12 who are pet-

owners and who are non-pet owners.

Ha: There is a significant difference between the autonomy of girls ages 10-12 who are pet-


Ho, is the null hypothesis that will accept the insignificant difference of pet-owners and

non-pet owners. Ha, on the other hand will prove that there is a significant difference between

the autonomy developments of the two groups.

In this way, it is believed that one of the hypotheses may be proven wrong. This will

make or break the research study conducted in the Philippines.

Significance of the Study


Autonomy Development is an integral part in building a child’s character. This will help

them build their social development which is one of the needed aspects of child development. In

this study, the researchers believe that this will help the public to implement programs in schools

to include school pets to help build children’s autonomy and be able to enhance their social

skills.

Method

Design

The researchers used a post-test design non-equivalent value. It is considered as non-

equivalent, since the test sampling was not randomized, since the administration of St.

Scholastica’s College, which is the school of the participants, was the one who chose what

sections of the grade five levels will be used for the sampling.

Sampling Design and Participants

In choosing the participants for this study, the researchers decided for all participants to

be female and to be only in a range of 10-12 years old. The researchers chose St. Scholastica’s

College-Manila to be part of the research since it is an exclusive school for girls. Also, since the

research was conducted late March, it was too late for the researchers to conduct the study with

the other schools. The researchers found out that St. Scholastica’s College-Manila’s Elementary

level has a Trimestral schedule and was available.

The school allowed the researchers for 3 sections of their Grade 5 class, which consisted

of 10-12 year old female students, to be part of the study. However, the researchers do not know

the population of the entire 3 sections since the researchers distributed 60 copies of the survey

form only. The researchers planned to gather data from 30 pet-owners, and 30 non-pet owners,

but when the results came out there were 42 pet-owners and 18 non-owners, which is why the


researchers decided to reduce the participants into 30, with 15 pet-owners and 15 non-pet

owners.

In choosing the 30 participants from the 60 students, the researchers separated the pet-

owners from the non-pet owners. The researchers then conducted a random sampling technique,

specifically draw lots, choosing 15 female students from each group.

Instruments

The study contained a 20-item survey which was used from previous studies made by

Silverberg and Steinberg in 1986. This 20-item survey consisted of questions testing and

measuring autonomy development. The battery test was called autonomy scale, where students

are asked to answer these 20-item questionnaire with a 4 point likert scale (Strongly Agree = 4

and Strongly Disagree = 1). This will help the researchers identify whether students are able to

build their autonomy with the help of their pets.

Consisting of 20 items, the students are asked to answer the survey in 10-15 minutes.

With this battery test, they are rated according to how much the students were able to build their

autonomy, with and without pets.

After using the autonomy scale, the researchers used the Mann – Whitney U test, which

consisted of finding the U, the mean ranks and the raw data of the study. This will help

determine how significant the differences of both groups are with the results that will be gained

from these studies.

Procedure

The researchers were assigned to 3 sections, namely St. Ehrentrudis, St. Lioba, and St.

Frideswida . All of the sections answered the survey all at the same time with one researcher for

each classroom to guide them. The researchers first gave out the survey, and then explained the


instructions. The instructions included the shading of the circle about them being pet-owners and

non-pet owners, and putting a check on the number which would describe their relationship with

their parents. The participants were given the assurance that their information will be kept

confidential and will only be used for the purpose of the study. The students were given 10-15

minutes to answer the survey to avoid class disruption. After the participants were done

answering the survey, the researchers gave their gratitude and left the classes.

The researchers were able to collect 60 participants (42 pet- owners and 18 non- pet

owners). Rather than using all the participants, the researchers broke it down to 30 participants

(15 pet – owners and 15 non – pet owners). Each of the participant was tallied among their

answers and tabulated the results for easy computations with the use of the data analysis

provided (Mann – Whitney U test).

Data Analysis

This study made use of the Mann Whitney U test to interpret the data gathered from the 4

point Likert Scale survey that the students were asked to answer to measure their Autonomy. In

solving for the U, the researchers first acquired the sum of the answers for each item of each

participant, separating the 15 pet-owners from the 15 non-pet owners. The researchers then made

use of a website (http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/utest.html) which automatically solves for the U,

Mean, and P, upon giving the value of N1 and N2 and the sum of the scores of each student from the 2

groups.

http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/utest.html


U, p-level and Group1 and 2(Statistica 8)

Standard Deviation of Pet Owners(http://www.calculator.net/standard-deviation-calculator.html)


Standard Deviation of Non-Pet owners(http://www.calculator.net/standard-deviation-calculator.html)

Results

To use the Mann – Whitney U test, the researchers needed to find U. The researchers

were able to compute U, which was equivalent to U=73.5. With this, the researchers used the

results and found out the Critical Value (n1=15, n2=15). The critical value for this number of

samples was: 64. Since 73.5 is greater than 64, the researchers accepted the Null Hypothesis,

therefore, there is no significant difference between the autonomy of girls ages 10-12 who are pet


Discussion


In comparison to our reference study in knowing the level of autonomy of adolescents,

we believe that there’s a difference when it comes to where the study was conducted.

The culture of the participants where they were brought up affected the change of the results of

autonomy level of female students. As what the researchers have in the Review of Related

Literature, the study was conducted in the West, in this study, the researchers conducted the

study in the East. This shows the reason why the results changed as well.

Appendices

Name (Optional):_______________________________________ Section:_______________________________________ Age:________

I. Shade the answers that apply to you.

1. Do you have a pet? (If yes, proceed to question number 2, if no proceed to question number 3.)o Yeso No

2. If yes, how many years were you with your pet?o 1-3 yearso 3-5 yearso 6 years and above

3. If no, did you have a pet in the past? (If yes, proceed to question number 4, if no proceed to the table)o Yeso No

4. How many years were you with your pet?o 1-3 years o 3-5 yearso 6 years and above

II. Put a check mark on your chosen answer.

Questions Strongly Agree4

Agree3

Disagree2

Strongly Disagree1

1.My parents and I agree on everything2. I go to my parents for help before trying to solve a problem


myself.3.I have often wondered how my parents act when I’m not around.4.Even when my parents and I disagree, my parents are always right.5. It’s better for kids to go to their best friend than to their parents for advice on some things.6. When I’ve done something wrong I depend on my parents to straighten things out for me.

7. There are some things about me that my parents don’t know.8. My parents act differently when they are with their own parents from the way they do at home.9. My parents know everything there is to know about me.10. I might be surprised to see how my parents act at a party.11. I try to have the same opinions as my parents.12. When they are at work, my parents at pretty much the same way they do when they are at home.13. If I was having a problem with one of my friends, I would discuss it with my mother or father before deciding what to do about it.14. My parents would be surprised to know what I’m like when I’m not with them.15. When I become a parent, I’m going to treat my children in exactly the same way that my parents have treated me.16. My parents probably talk about different things when I am around from what they talk about when I’m not.17. There are things that I will do differently from my mother and father when I become a parent.18. My parents hardly ever


make mistakes.19. I wish my parents would understand who I really am.20. My parents act pretty much the same way when they are with their friends as they do when they are at home with me.

final paper in research methods - melissa reyes

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