Open AccessThe Role of Social Communication Networks in Constructing Public Opinion among Students at Saudi Arabian Universities (Umm AlQura University as a model)
Author(s) -
Osamah Ghazi Almadani
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of arts and social sciences/mağallaẗ al-ādāb wa-al-ʿulūm al-iğtimāʿiyyaẗ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2522-2279
pISSN - 2312-1270
DOI - 10.24200/jass.vol7iss2pp395-425
Subject(s) - the internet , public opinion , sample (material) , significant difference , scale (ratio) , psychology , medical education , public university , social communication , mathematics education , social psychology , medicine , political science , geography , computer science , chemistry , cartography , public administration , chromatography , politics , world wide web , law
The study aimed to investigate the role of social communication networks in constructing public opinion among students at Saudi Arabian Universities. This study is descriptive in nature and used the survey method. The sample of the study consisted of N 200 students from Umm Alqura university from the practical and theoretical colleges (College of social sciences- Colleges of medical sciences- Colleges of applied sciences). The tools of the study included a questionnaire – public opinion construction scale for the students at Saudi Arabian universities. The results of the study indicated that a high level percentage in constructing public opinion came from the students who used the social communication websites which was 41.86%, where the intermediate level was 55.23%, while the low level was 2.91%.The results showed also that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean score of the study sample in the scale of the role of social communication networks in constructing public opinion among the students according to the different levels in using different social communication networks. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean score of the study sample in the scale of the role of social communication networks in using social communication through the internet according to the different level of experience in using the internet among the participants.