From "social media and learning" to a thesis question

1. Diagnosis

Right now the idea isn't a question. It's a topic with three vague terms and an implied causal claim.

• "Social media" covers TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, YouTube, Discord, and WhatsApp study groups. These do very different things to a student's day.
• "Affects" implies causation. With 8 months, no budget, and one faculty, you can't establish cause. Your realistic claims are descriptive ("what do students do?") or relational ("is X linked to Y?").
• "Learning" could mean grades, attention, motivation, study habits, or knowledge gained. Each needs different evidence.
• "Students" can be narrowed to your 200 education-faculty students. That is a convenience sample, so you can only claim things about this faculty, not students in general.

Your constraints point toward a descriptive or relational study using a survey, plus a few interviews. A causal experiment is out of reach.

2. Candidate questions (broad → narrow)

1. How does social media affect education students' learning?
2. How is time spent on social media related to the academic engagement of education students at [University]?
3. How do education students at [University] use social media for study versus non-study purposes, and how is each type of use related to their self-reported study habits?
4. Is the frequency of switching to social media during study sessions related to self-reported concentration and perceived study effectiveness among education students at [University]?
5. How do education students describe the ways social media supports or disrupts their coursework? (qualitative, 10–15 interviews)

3. Test table

Sample-size caveat: with 200 students and a typical 40–60% response rate, expect roughly 80–120 responses. That is enough for simple correlations and group comparisons, but not for models with many predictors. Keep your variables few.

4. My recommendation

I'd go with a blend of 3 and 5: a short survey on the whole faculty, plus about 8–10 follow-up interviews. It is feasible, it gives you both numbers and explanations, and a mixed design is easy to justify in a thesis. If your program prefers a purely quantitative design, use candidate 3 or 4 alone.

Framed question

How do education students at [University] use social media for study-related and non-study purposes, and how is each type of use related to their self-reported study habits and academic engagement?
Sub-question (interviews): How do students explain the ways social media helps or hinders their coursework?

Working definitions (draft)

• Social media use: self-reported time and frequency on platforms where users create and share content (you choose the list, e.g., WeChat, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Discord).
• Study-related use: use for coursework, such as group chats about assignments, watching educational videos, or asking classmates for help.
• Non-study use: entertainment, socializing, and scrolling unrelated to courses.
• Academic engagement: scores on an established engagement scale (find one with a literature search, and check its license for free use).
• Study habits: self-reported planning, concentration, and time management. Again, use an existing scale if possible.

Scope

• In: current students in one education faculty, one semester, self-reported data.
• Out: causal claims, actual grades (unless your faculty allows access, which is unlikely), other faculties or universities, and teachers' use of social media.

Assumptions

• Students can report their own usage reasonably accurately. This is a known weakness, so name it as a limitation.
• The students who respond are not wildly different from those who don't.
• Platform categories mean the same thing to everyone.

Possible answers

These are options, not predictions:

• Study-related use is positively related to engagement, and non-study use is negatively related.
• Total time matters less than the type of use.
• There's no clear relationship. This is a legitimate and publishable result.
• The relationship differs by year of study.

Evidence

• Survey: free via Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with existing scales plus a few usage items.
• Interviews: 8–10 volunteers from the survey, 20–30 minutes each, recorded and coded thematically.

What counts as an answer

You have an answer if you can describe the patterns of use and report the direction and strength of the relationships, with honest limits. A surprising result, such as study-related use being linked to lower engagement, counts too. The interviews could then help explain why.

5. Next steps

1. This week: write your definitions on one page, then run a literature search on three topics. These are social media use and academic engagement in higher education, media multitasking and study concentration, and existing validated scales for both. Use Google Scholar and your library database, and note which scales are free to use. I can't tell you what the literature says, so you'll need to check whether your question is already well answered for similar populations.
2. Ask your supervisor:
   • Does the program expect quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods?
   • What is the ethics review process and timeline? Surveys of students need approval, and so does any recording of interviews. Start this early, because it often takes weeks.
   • Is a survey of your own faculty acceptable, given that students may feel pressured to respond? You'll probably need to make participation voluntary and anonymous.
3. Small first task (about a week): write a 10-item draft survey and test it on 3–5 friends, without collecting real data until you have ethics approval.

Rough timeline for 8 months: months 1–2 are literature, design, and ethics. Month 3 is the pilot and survey. Months 4–5 are interviews and analysis. Months 6–8 are writing.

Questions for you

• Does your program require a particular method?
• Do you have a platform or context in mind, such as a messaging app students actually use for coursework?
• Are you more drawn to numbers, to students' own stories, or to both?
• Do you have a specific concern behind this interest, such as distraction, collaboration, or misinformation? It could sharpen the question considerably.