Osmachenko, Aaron (2009) Social Network Analysis of First Year University Experience Students. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
It was found that students’ experience of first year at university has possibly lifelong implications and therefore it is worth considering variables that impact student learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of tertiary student social engagement on student learning outcomes in a First Year Experience (FYE) university course. The impact of student social engagement on student satisfaction was also addressed. This study follows Anglim, Wearing and Canty’s (2008) study, and replicates the use of two measures that they developed, namely the Satisfaction with Learning and Social Interaction Questionnaire (SLSIQ) and the Social Network Questionnaire (SNQ). Social network analysis has been used within organisational psychology, but is now starting to be used within the social sciences due to the valuable quantitative and qualitative information it offers. In this study student social engagement has been operationalised using measures of students’ social networks and peer recognition. From previous research it was found that individual trait levels of extraversion may act as a confounding variable when measuring student’s social networks and this was accounted for during the analysis. During the first lecture of an introductory psychology course, photographs of 73 consenting students were taken to be used as part of the SNQ. During the semester, students were encouraged by the examiner to form study groups and interact in order to assist each other in their university course learning. At the end of the semester, students’ social networks were assessed and then compared to their learning outcomes. Additionally student satisfaction, student course results, and individual personality attributes were ascertained. Analysis found that students’ social engagement was associated to and could predict student learning outcomes, but this was not the case once extraversion was accounted for. This has implications for students, educators and researchers, as it demonstrates the value of student-to-student learning at university. This also has implications for the use of Social Network Analysis within the educational psychology discipline to examine the social aspect of the tertiary learning. Although this theory and measure has only been used peripherally in this study, there is much scope for its use within the university learning domain. While there were no significant findings relating to student satisfaction, this does not indicate that this was not meaningful. There are a plethora of opportunities for future research in the area of measuring and understanding the role of students’ satisfaction within FYE and university learning with the possible use of qualitative and quantitative measures.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Albion, Majella |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 01:21 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 01:21 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52639 |
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