What is the relationship between third-party activity on one’s Facebook profile and the amount of relational conflict?
This is the research question my group has chosen for my Communication Research Methods class (it’s as thrilling as it sounds) project. The overall topic: Facebook and how it affects romantic relationships was given to us by the professor. We’re doing an APA style research paper and have to give questionnaires out to over a hundred participants. Right now I’m trying my best to think up about 30+ questions for the survey.
Such as…
“How much does it upset you when a member of the opposite sex posts on your significant other’s wall?” 1 (not at all) - 5(very much)
“If you are in a relationship, but it is not defined on your Facebook profile, how often does this bother you?” 1(not at all) - 5(very much)
“How long were you in a relationship before you defined it on Facebook?” 1(0-3 months) - 5(2+ years)
“How stupid is this project?” 1(very stupid) - 5(oh not at all stupid)
“Are you insecure about how many friends of the opposite sex that your significant other has?” 1(not at all insecure) - 5(very insecure)
“Do you think one should defriend or block an ex after a break up?” 1(immediately) - 5(only if the break up was psychotic)
“Would you be more or less upset if your significant other was still communicating with their ex via Facebook but was not communicating with them any other way (i.e. texts, phone calls, emails)?” 1(much more) - 5(much less)
… and so on and so forth. I realize a lot of social science research is very “No, duh!” but this seems like such a stupid research question. It’s pretty obvious that if you’re insecure in your relationship and do not trust your partner than stupid shit on Facebook might piss you off, but that’s not what we’re studying. I am kind of curious what results the surveys will yield though.
