The usage of, and confidence in, social media as study sources among undergraduate students: A cross-sectional survey comparing it with traditional study sources

• Published in: Education and information technologies Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 2233 - 2252
• Main Authors: Viana, Ricardo Borges, Neves-Silva, Alex Vito Santos, Santos, Douglas Assis Teles, Vancini, Rodrigo Luiz, Andrade, Marília Santos, Teixeira, Cauê Vazquez La Scala, de Lira, Claudio Andre Barbosa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: College students; Comparative Analysis; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer Science; Computers and Education; Cross-sectional studies; Education; Educational Technology; Foreign Countries; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Physical Education; Self Esteem; Social Media; Social networks; Surveys; Undergraduate Students; Use Studies; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; Brazil; Undergraduate students; University; Social media; Social networking; Instagram; Internet; Facebook
• ISSN: 1360-2357; 1573-7608
• DOI: 10.1007/s10639-020-10357-3

The main purposes of this study were: to profile the usage of, and confidence in, social media as study sources among undergraduate students for academic purposes and to compare the level of usage of, and confidence in, social media with other study sources. A cross-sectional survey about educational sources and social media usage and confidence, composed of eight items with closed-end-type Likert scale responses (1 to 5 points), was answered by 406 Brazilian physical education undergraduate students (236 men and 170 women) recruited from two public universities. Of these students, 98.3% used social media. Social media (median: 3), books (median: 4), scientific articles in Portuguese (median: 4) and blogs/websites (median: 4) obtained similar usage scores ( p  > 0.05) but higher ( p  < 0.05) than other study sources. Books (median: 5) and scientific articles (median: 5) obtained a similar confidence score (p > 0.05) but higher (p < 0.05) than social media. Social media presented widespread usage as study sources despite the lower level of confidence attributed to them.