Research method

To find out how much of an affect mobile phones have on the amount and quality of work done for university students aging from 18 to 22 a questionnaire will be used. The questionnaire will use closed questions producing quantitative data so that the data gathered from them can easily be put into graphs. It will also include an introduction to explain why the study is being conducted and what the results will be used for. Facebook and emails will be used to distribute the questionnaires to lots of people as this is easy and can be completed quickly as there is a limited time for the study to be completed. Facebook also has students from all areas and universities throughout England. A pilot study will be done to make sure that using Facebook and emails are a good and beneficial way of completing the study. A pilot study will also show any problems with the questions in the questionnaire. This smaller study will be sent out to 5 students and will be asked whether they think the questions are all satisfactory and easy to understand. The questionnaire itself will be sent to 50 students aged 18 – 22 through Facebook.

Each question will be represented in graphs making it easy to read and compare with the results and findings from previous studies indicated in the Literature Review. The graphs will show up any trends and whether mobile phones affect student’s university work.

Literature Review (mobile phones effect on society)

Dr Badre 2008 states that teenagers are becoming more and more addicted to their mobile phones due to a group pressure to be reachable by mobile phone round the clock. She goes onto say how this disrupts teenagers sleep patterns which not only affects theirs education and learning but can lead to ‘serious health risks’. Jessica Alexander, from the sleep council, adds ‘too many teenagers are stimulating their brains with mobile phones or computers late at night’ when they should be getting about 9 hours of sleep a night. As well as the sleeplessness that comes with excessive use of mobile phones Dr Badre also mentions how the pressure of friendship groups to constantly be available by phone brings stress and fatigue. Although Harper 2002 had similar results in that teenager’s feel the pressure to always be available by mobile phone he sees it in a different way. He argues that mobile phones have made teenagers a lot more sociable and forms their social lives, and those who didn’t not share their phones or reply to messages were left feeling socially isolated. However Woolcock 2009 found that excessive use of a mobile phone led to three out of ten teenagers used text abbreviations, such as L8 (late), in their coursework. Kakabadse said this research showed how technology and mobile phone in particular to be a hindrance in a students spelling and grammar and encourages plagiarism.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths –

• Work well in group activities
• Good problem solver
• Learn quickly

Weaknesses –

• Presentation to a large group of people
• Speaking in front of people or a class
• Setting clear goals for myself

Opportunities –

• Meeting new people
• Learning how to use new computer programmes
• Developing computer skills
• Job and career opportunities

Threats –

• Financial issues
• Failing the course
• Going out to much