CAPSTONE PROJECT

Thank you for your willingness to help me with my senior capstone!

I have put together everything that you will need. If you have any questions please email me at jleavi32@dmail.dixie.edu anytime or you can phone me at 435-705-4189 between the hours of 9 am and 8 pm.

First: Read the informed consent form (below) before starting. If you wish not to participate that is just fine.

Second: Please fill out and return the “The Pre-Experiment Survey”. This needs to be done before you do the experiment.

Third: Here is the fun part! You get to track your social media usage. (No judgment on how often you use it, in fact this is a case where ‘more is better’.) Please do this using a digital journal. Either a word document, a google document or just in a body of an email. Please thoroughly read the experiment instructions that are below. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. While tracking your usage please be sure to date your entries. The experiment needs to last two weeks, marking your dates will ensure that you don’t do too much or too little. Please send me all of your entries. Be as open and honest as possible. Your entries will go directly to me and no one else will see them. The more truthful you are the more accurate my research will be.

Fourth: Once you have finished the experiment please fill out and return the “The Post-Experiment Survey”. This is in two parts and here is the second part. 

Fifth: Feel good about yourself for helping a college student fulfill her dream of graduating!

NOTE: You can send each section back to me individually or all at once. However, to ensure the most accurate results it would be better to return the “Pre-Experiment Survey” to me BEFORE you begin the experiment. 

INFORMED CONSENT FORM:

Dixie State University Institutional Review Board (IRB) Informed Consent (use this form if the research is anonymous)
Research Title	Social Media: Do You Still Trust Your Friends?
Principal Investigator	Eric Young	E-Mail and Phone	young@dixie.edu, 435-652-7801
Student Researcher	Jessica Leavitt	E-Mail and Phone	Jleavi32@dmail.dixie.edu, 705-4189
Department	Communication	Phone and Fax	435-879-4320
Department Address	Jennings Building 126
Voluntary Participation Statement
·         You must be 18 years old or older to participate. ·         Your responses will be ANONYMOUS.  Please do not write your name, social security number, and/or other ID numbers anywhere. ·         You may skip question(s) you do not want to answer and discontinue the study at any time for any reason without penalty. ·         The survey will be explained to you (i.e., why conducting the survey, how to do the survey, anticipated time to finish the survey, any risks/benefits or compensation for doing the survey). ·         You may ask questions at any time. ·         It will NOT affect your relationship with the researcher(s), principal investigator, the department, and/or Dixie State University if you choose not to participate. ·         Your return of the survey implies your consent to participate in the study.
I. Purpose, procedures, and duration of the study
For this research prospectus the design will be qualitative. The questions that are asked can’t be answered through a simple survey. They require an in-depth look at social media usage and its affects. The research will be made up of pre-experiment surveys and post-experiment surveys. The surveys will take approximately 15 minutes. The experiment will be two weeks long taking between 15-30 minutes a day.
II. Risks/benefits of and compensation or confidentiality for participants
There are no risks or compensation for this study. The benefits will be a deeper understanding of social media and its effect on our personal relationships.
Contact Information
·         Please contact your researcher, principal investigator, and/or Department listed above if you would like to see the results of the study. ·         Report to Andrea Brown, Chair, Institutional Review Board, regarding: (1) the conduct of the research, (2) your rights as a participant, and/or (3) a research-related injury at (435) 652-7595 or by e-mail abrown@dixie.edu.

Thank you for your participation.

EXPERIMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

1.     The duration of the experiment will be two weeks long.

2. Please monitor and record times and amount of time on social media.

3. Please record reactions to friend’s posts – do you think they are telling the truth as much as possible, or are they prettying it up?

4. Please provide a brief description of what you feel after each usage.

5. Please provide a brief description of the affects their social media usage has on your face-to-face interaction.

6. Please record whether your thoughts and reactions are different based on your social media usage.

7. Please also track what you post and record any differences in what actually happened and what you posted.