Results of AIM survey and suggestions for your final paper
WRPR115a
Fall, 2004
d2

The Results

The survey was posted on a web page and the URL was emailed to friends and AIM buddies of the 14 class members. 99 useable responses were received, 60 from persons who identified themselves as female and 38 from persons who identified themselves as male. 44 respondents identified themselves as Haverford students, 2 as Bryn Mawr students, and 52 as "other." The raw data (including sample IM messages and chat sessions) is here.

For the full (n=99) sample, 60 persons identified themselves as female and 38 as male. Reported academic interests were 39.4% humanities, 30.3% natural science, and 27.3% social science.

• The average number of reported IM buddies was 116.3 (range 4-250). The average number of those chatted with regularly was 19.6 (range 0-150). The average number blocked was 2.9 (range 0-100). Females and males did not differ significantly on these variables.
• The average number of IM screen names was 2.3 (range 1-25). The average length of IM conversation was 27.2 minutes (range 4-180).
• Overall, subjects tended to disagree with the statement that "IM is a waste of time" (M=2.3) and to agree slightly with the statements that "Meaningful conversations happen over IM" (M=3.8) and that "IM tends to facilitate superficial communication" (M=3.6). Note: neutral/no opinion was coded 3. These results did not differ significantly by sex of subject.
• 46.4% reported that they were signed on to IM all the time, and another 18.6% that they were signed on more than five hours a day. 40.2% reported actively using IM for less than 1 hour per day, and 42.3% reported using IM 1-2 hours per day.
• Real life friends were the most common chat partners. The sexes did not differ significantly in the reported frequency of chatting with friends or acquaintances or with those nearby rather than far away.
• With respect to reasons for conversing on IM, most subjects (55.2%) reported that serious conversations accounted for less than 25% of their IM sessions. IMing "just to say hi" was relatively more common. Females and males did not differ significantly.
• The percentage of IM time involving only one conversation is less than 50% for most subjects.
• Most subjects (65.7%) report putting up an away message when they leave the computer, and most (75.8%) report having an IM profile.
• With respect to the content of profiles and away messages, humor and quotations were the most frequently reported. Females reported including their mood (M=2.6) slightly more often than did males (M=2.2).
• Only a minority of subjects (30.6%) reported worrying about the appearance of their away messages, but most (87.8%) responded "yes" to the question "Does form and content reveal information about an individual’s personality?" Females (91.5%) were more likely than males (84.2%) to respond "yes." On average subjects reported checking others' away messages several times a day.
• 21 subjects posted another person's away message they said they liked, 38 posted one of their own, and 22 posted a sample IM conversation. (Note: a couple of examples of these and your own generalization about their content will add interest to your paper.

For the bi-co (n=46) sample, 30 identified themselves as female and 16 as male.

• 89.2% reported using IM for three or more years. The average number of reported IM buddies was 122.9 (range 20-250). The average number of those chatted with regularly was 18.2 (range 3-80). The average number blocked was 3.8 (range 0-22). Females and males did not differ significantly on these variables.
• The average number of IM screen names was 1.9 (range 1-8). The average length of IM conversation was 23.0 minutes (range 5-100).

The bi-co sample appears quite similar on average to the full sample, so most statistics were computed on the larger sample.

The Paper

Your final paper should be in APA style and include:

• A brief (2-3 page) summary of what can be inferred in general about college students' use of AIM and other social software from the readings and class discussions
• A summary (1-2 pages) of what our AIM survey included and what we found (vide supra), including any generalizations you'd like to make about the sample away messages and chats pasted to the survey
• Your own discussion of two of the class chats we've discussed (2-3 pages, not including the chat text)
• A conclusion (1-2 pages)
• A list of works cited, in APA style, with links where possible.

HTML or Word format is fine, and email of the final paper is preferred.

I will be available until the end of exams to meet with you about your papers, and I urge you to communicate with me about your plans as early in the writing period as possible.