Experiment conducted out of Modesto Junior College during the spring of 2020 analyzing if a relationship exists between phone use in social settings and amount of new friends made, titled "Smartphones: The Connection College Students Make".
About The Study
This is the culmination of work my research group of three compiled over the course of a semester. Conducting research in a group allowed for team building, collaboration, and work designation experience. Research design and data manipulation were the main roles I was assigned to. In doing so I curated an online survey using Google Forms featuring demographic questions, filler questions, and questions asking about habits/quantity of new friends made, and time on a smartphone. Using the data an ANOVA test was ran with SPSS to test for any significance within the findings (more on findings in Results section).
Research Design
A survey was sent out to fellow Modesto Junior College students and those who consented were selected to participate if they met the requirement of owning a smartphone. A survey on Google Forms was used as the assessment to collect new friends made since starting MJC, and time spent on a smartphone at school.
Results
We hypothesized those who use their smartphone in a social setting would have fewer new connections made compared to those who don't use their smartphone. Results did not show a significant difference of new connections made among participants at the p<.05 level as determined by one way ANOVA [F(2,9) =0.642, p=0.548]. These findings go against previous results finding a smartphone negatively effects social cues like smiling and eye contact. Research has found using a smartphone adds a presumption of privacy along with a limited capacity for others. Future research should use more exact measures of connections made rather than using a wide window of numbers possible. Additionally, use a larger sample size, along with more questions directed at assessing a a distinct group for further examination.
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