The Influence of Social Media to Humanities and Social Sciences Student’s

Political Stance

A Quantitative Research Study

In Fulfillment of the Requirements

for Practical Research 2

Anson, Andrei Rafael

Lacson, Zeus

Opiana, Pamela Bianca, D.

Segovia, Krystyn Jann

(Humanities and Social Sciences - E)

2022
 TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Scope and Delimitation of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Research Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Review of Related Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Background of the Research

This recent election has been hot subject this month of May. Everyone had

their own ways to promote and campaign themselves and their party list. One of the

means they used was through social media. As Merriam Webster defines, social media

is a form of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and

microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information,

ideas, personal messages, and other content.

Social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow

politicians to speak directly to voters without spending a dime. Using social media

allows politicians to circumvent the traditional method of reaching voters through paid

advertising or earned media. They allow like-minded voters and activists to easily share

news and information such as campaign events with each other. That is what the

"share" function on Facebook and "retweet" feature of Twitter are for (Murse, 2019).

One of main people who engage on social media are students especially

students from Humanities and Social Sciences strand. One of the topics tackled in

HUMSS Strand is Political Science. “Studying political science grounds students in the

importance of political participation and prepares them to take part in the political life of

their communities and the nation” (Fort Lewis College 2022). And because the election

happened during pandemic, the pandemic made the access to information in politics

through social media fast and easy. Literally speaking, the exchange of stands and

opinions took place as a factor to influence their political stance and beliefs.
 According to Dan Jasper (2016), social media can have a minor but still

significant influence on voter behavior. Social media has improved information flows,

outreach, mobilization, and fundraising; however, it has also increased surveillance,

political polarization, the spread of misinformation, and harassment.

Overall, this study aims to investigate the influence of social media to

Humanities and Social Sciences students’ political stance.

This study aims primarily to determine the influence of social media to

Humanities and Social Sciences’ students political stance. Specifically, this study aims

to answer the following questions:

1. Is there a significant relationship between Humanities and Social Sciences

student students’ use of social media and their political stance?

2. How long do HUMSS students spend their time in social media?

3. Are the students literate enough to identify reliable sources that they see

online?

4. What are the social media platforms that the students use when engaging to

political political related topics?

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of social media to

Humanities and Social Sciences students’ political stance. Specifically, the factors that

affect their stand in politics. This study aims to address the following problems:

• Recognize the influence of social media to HUMSS students political stance.

• Factors that made the HUMSS students conclude or decide what stand to

choose. choose.

The variables of this study are social media (independent) and political stance

(dependent). An independent variable is defined as the variable that is changed or

controlled in a scientific experiment. It represents the cause or reason for an outcome.

On the other side, the dependent variable is "dependent" on the independent variable.

As the experimenter changes the independent variable, the change in the dependent

variable is observed and recorded. When you take data in an experiment, the

dependent variable is the one being measured (Helmenstine, 2021). Cavite National

High School Senior High School will be the place where the study will be conducted

during the Year 2022-2023. The target group that will participate in this study will be the

Grade 12 students from Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) strand. The

researchers will use questionnaires (through Google forms) as the instrument for this

study since our research design is quasi-experimental design.

Family beliefs, religion, sexuality, and social status are the factors that we

consider as the delimitations of our study.

The primary objective of this study is to ascertain the impact of social media on

humanities and social science students' political stance. In particular, this study aims to

determine whether students are political or apolitical, how social media influences the

unsure students to decide on their political stance even if they already had a stand,

whether social media changed it, how long they spend using social media on a daily

basis, their viewpoint, and whether they apply what they have learned in the strand

subjects like Philippine Politics and Governance and Media and Information Literacy.

Factors that will determine the significant relationship of the two variables by conducting

the research.
 Theoretical Support

The study of social media use (SMU) and political participation (PP) has

been rapidly expanding (Boulianne, 2015; Ekstro¨m et al., 2014). Findings suggest that

the use of social media can promote various forms of political engagement (Boulianne,

2015; Dimitrova and Bystrom, 2013; Dimitrovaet al., 2014; Halpern and Gibbs, 2013).

The Internet has been long argued by scholars as a democratizing

medium for its capacity in accessing various information and interaction, bringing

individuals into the political process (Delli, 2000; Morris, 1999). The past survey reports

by Smith & Rainie (2008) suggest that the Internet is an important political information

source for young adults. For that occasion, social network sites provide users a unique

platform for sharing information. Social network sites which can be referred as social

media are web-based services that allow a construction of a public or semi-public profile

with a bounded system for individual, sharing of their list of connections, and those

made by others within the system (Ellison, 2007). In addition, social media has strong

associations with characteristics and communication relevant to protest activity such as

documentation, motivating information, content relay, and perceived content reliability

(Wilson & Dunn 2011). It enables various forms of interaction between voters and

political actors. User generated content can provide meaningful information that citizens

might not be able to obtain elsewhere.

the barriers of entry into politics, particularly for the group of less politically erudite

(Kushin & Yamamoto, 2010). Thus, social media can significantly influence the political

arena.
 Definition of Terms

The following words and terms that are used in the study are defined below:

apolitical. having no interest or involvement in political affairs

circumvent. to use an alternative way from traditional to using the social

media to promote and advertise

democratizing. to make democratic

disputing. to contend over

erudite. having or showing knowledge that is gained by studying

polarization. a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group

or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at

opposing extremes

quasi-experimental design. establish a cause-and-effect relationship

between independent and dependent variable

This study hypothesized that social media (independent variable) and political

stance (dependent variable) of the HUMSS students' have a significant relationship to

each other. Particularly, the social media plays a huge part regarding the views,

opinions, and especially stands of the students in Politics. The emerging use of internet

has been a way for political candidates and political parties to promote themselves and

have a virtually interaction to the voters.

This study aims to investigate the significant relationship of social media

use and the political participation of Grade 12 HUMSS students of Cavite National High

School Senior High School.

The past survey reports by Smith & Rainie (2008) suggest that the internet

is an important political information source for young adults. Social media platforms

allow politicians to directly communicate with their constituents and vice versa.

Constituents can easily participate in political discourse, influence political decisions,

and make their voices heard, while politicians can share their policy proposals, post ads

and fundraising campaigns, and so on. User generated content can provide meaningful

information that citizens might not be able to obtain elsewhere. A lot of participants

means a lot of information has been shared in the internet worldwide.

Brubaker (2014) stated that social media users sometimes only interact with

content that reflects their own views, which then leads to the apps suggesting other

similar content. News and information are pushed to user based upon the content they

engage with and the people they engage with online. As a result, if their friends are

more politically active on Facebook or Instagram, they are more likely to have higher

levels of exposure to political content. Additionally, a report from the Pew Research

Center states that the majority of surveyed teens said they felt social media exposed

them to people with different backgrounds and views and helped them show support for

causes and issues important to them.

chamber and only see posts from those with similar views, she feels she has followed a

wide enough variety of people to hear opposing opinions. Some users can feel extreme

on both sides and can almost be intimidating, but it is up to the user to manipulate how

much they want to see. It is still the users’ choice on what information they would want

to believe and absorb, and eventually, apply to their choice of stand in politics.

The increasing dependence on social media for information represents a

paradigm shift and its impact on the way the society perceives the social, economic,

and political issues (Johnson & Kaye, 2014). Some people rely solely on social media

platforms for news about politics, but research shows that these people are often less

knowledgeable about current events. Increased reliance on social media could stimulate

more political discussions both online and offline, but it also might limit the political

views and information users are exposed to. Hence, to stay politically informed, it is

important to expand our sources. We should rely on more than the news that’s pushed

to us.

Overall, the literature finds that politicians use social media to connect to

voters and that the emergence of social media affects their off-line behavior. However, it

is up to us people what information we want to absorb, read, and eventually apply to our

views and opinions about politics. In conclusion, if the students are influenced by the

misinformation spread in social media then they are standing on the wrong position and
misconceptions and confusion may arise if this is possible, most especially as a

HUMSS student.
 References

Helestine, A. (2021). Definition of Independent Variable.

https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-independent-variable-605238

Jasper, D. (2016). The Impact of Social Media on Politics: A Full Overview. 

https://streetcivics.com/the-impact-of-social-media-on-politics/

Knoll, J. M., et al. (2018). The Social Media Political Participation Model. A goal

systems Theory Perspective, 26(4), 1-22.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322694058_The_social_media_poli

tical_participation_model_A_goal_systems_theory_perspective

Madison, J. & Quanah, S. (2022). Why Study Political Science. Fort Lewis College,

Durango, Colorado. 

https://www.fortlewis.edu/academics/schools-departments/departments/political-

science/why-study-political-science

Merkley, L. (2020). How social media impacts political views. 

https://universe.byu.edu/2020/08/06/social-media-use-impacts-political-views/

Murse, T. (2019). How Social Media Has Changed Politics, 1-10. 

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534 

Nelson, J. (1984). Stands in Politics. The Journal Of Politics, 46(1), 1-26. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2130436

Sue, H. (2022). Effects of Social Media. 

https://socialmediavictims.org/effects-of-social-media