Module 2 experiment

Experiment: Do You Have a MySpace or Facebook?
In the article, “MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites,” researchers conducted a survey among college students to figure out how MySpace and Facebook affect students’ lives. In the survey, a number of questions were asked. They type of questions that were involved were, are the students users or nonusers of these friend-networking websites, what makes them want to have an account, what makes them not want to have an account, the sex, ethnicity, and age of students. After the survey, the results show that the majority of the students had these friend-networking accounts. This survey was a good way to get the information that was needed.
If I were to conduct my own experiment related to the article, I would perform something similar to the survey that was incorporated with the article. First off, the group I will be experimenting on will consist of 100 college students between the ages of 18-24, 50 of them women, and 50 of them men. Race will not matter. This will take place in a computer lab that will fit all the people. The best time to do this will be on a weekend because that is when students have their free time. The purpose of this experiment is to find out how many people have a friend-networking account, how much time does that user spend on that account, and find out what applications on those websites gratify the user.
The experiment will go like this. I will tell each person that they can do anything they want on their computer for 4 hours. After the four hours are completed, I will give each student a survey packet. In the survey packet, the first question will ask, “how did you spend most of the time during this experiment?” I would expect that most will answer that they were on MySpace or Facebook. Then I would go on and ask the main question of my experiment, “Do you have a friend-networking account like MySpace or Facebook?” I will then ask questions concerning the age and gender of the student, why or why don’t they have a friend-networking account, and for the users, how would they have spent their time if they didn’t have any of those accounts. At the end of the day, I will hope to have gathered enough information about why people love MySpace and Facebook so much and how they affect their lives.