subject: What Device Is Most Important To College Students? Laptops Or Cell Phones? [print this page]
The study set out to find what devices college students rely on most, what device is most important to them and what do they value in the gadgets they favor.(what about Apple accessories wholesale)?
Six focus groups of four to 10 students met every week for 12 weeks during the late spring and early summer. They were given a hypothetical situation in which the focus group lived together in one house and were given 12 media devices: an HDTV, a laptop, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, an MP3 player, a DVR, a Blu-ray player, a radio, an IPTV box, a game console (PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii), a GPS and a tablet computer.
Every week, the group had to come to a consensus to eliminate one of the devices. At the end, only one device would remain. At the end of the 12 weeks, four out of the six groups chose the laptop as their last device, and the other two chose a mobile phone.may be you will be interested in best leather iPad 2 case with stand.
The concept wasn't a new one. The study was first conducted in 2004, said Jackie Martinsen, project supervisor for Insight and Research at CMD, who worked with her director to come up with the research method.
"Reality TV, it's still growing, it seems more and more every year," Martinsen said. "Shows like Survivor,' shows that have eliminations to them were really hot [in 2004]. We thought we could do like a real world Survivor' kind of twist on it and that would be fun for the students and it would be a neat way to see how dependent they are on certain media devices."
Another purpose of the study was to compare results from 2004 and this year. When it was first conducted, researchers realized it would be a good opportunity for a longitudinal study. This year, they decided to do a comparison study instead.
"We decided to revisit it because so many things have changed between 2004 and 2011 in terms of how students are using media in their personal lives as well as their academic lives," Martinsen said.
Martinsen said focus groups are a great way to get open-ended responses from participants because it is more of a discussion and they are talking with their friends and peers.
Beth Hawke, project manager for Insight and Research at CMD, worked on the analysis of the study. She said what stood out most to her was the fact that two of the groups willingly let their laptop go in order to keep their cell phone. The research from the study indicated the students "placed a premium" on connectivity.
"With the 3G and 4G access with the smart phone, you're literally connected all the time, everywhere you go," Hawke said.
Hawke has observed this connectivity over the past three years she has been on campus. She said it is rare that she will walk on campus and not see a student connected in some way.
"During some of the focus groups, a lot of the students would talk about the device being a part of them, almost like it's an appendage," Hawke said. "You're almost not a being anymore if you don't have a media device with you 24/7."
She said this change is neither a positive or a negative one it is simply reality.
Junior radiography major Suzanne Berry, on the other hand, said she thinks that it is a problem.
"I think it's getting worse," she said. "More people are relying on electronics nowadays. People say that they can't imagine living without their phone or their computer."
She said she would have eliminated her laptop last if she were in the study because it is useful and reliable. ipad 2 accessories best buy.
Freshman telecommunications major Logan Ferguson also would have chosen the laptop.
"It's definitely become almost mandatory for a college student to be well versed with different forms of technology," he said.
Given the option of only having one media device, Ball State students would pick either their laptop or cellular phone, according to a research study conducted by the Center for Media Design.
