Introduction
In an article titled “The Impact of E-learning on end-users Satisfaction”, the author sets out to investigate the levels of satisfaction that come with e-learning experiences. In the second article, the main subject is Facebook and how it is used by students for learning purposes. The two articles follow the formats of scholarly academic research and they both use statistical methods to present a hypothesis. In addition, both articles present their findings in a manner that satisfies the needs of research papers. Nevertheless, there are fundamental differences between the writing formats that are used by the authors and the levels of scholarly elements within the two papers. For instance, the levels of accuracy when it comes to the articles’ hypotheses differ to some extent. The two articles are also structured in a different manner where the levels of grammar, research methodologies, and modes of research discussions vary. This essay is a critical reflection on the two articles.
Main body
The first article is authored by Sweta Singh and it was first published in the “Journal of Communications and Research”. The author of this article begins by noting that e-learning is part of the current revolution on knowledge acquisition. However, the article notes that there is limited data on the levels of satisfaction that come with e-learning. Consequently, the author of this article sets out to investigate how consumers of e-learning are satisfied by this mode of knowledge acquisition. The article’s research methodology involved standardized questionnaires that were distributed to various e-learners across the world. The author reports that the questionnaires’ response rate was approximately forty-one percent.
According to the article, the two major findings in this research study were that e-learning is a satisfying mode of learning, and expectation confirmation is a valuable component of e-learning. The author of this article conducted an extensive literature review on e-learning. This literature review revealed several things including the fact that having enough computer skills did not contribute to higher rates of e-learning satisfaction among the interviewed individuals. The author of this article also notes that this research can be used by managers to implement e-learning as a part of their training tools. The article concludes by giving a discussion of the study’s results. According to the article, this study can be applied in various real-life situations including online businesses. Further research into this subject could incorporate other aspects of e-learning such as compliance and satisfaction.
Article 2 is titled “Using Online Social Networking; Students’ Purposes of Facebook Usage at the University of Turkey” and it is authored by two university staff members. The authors of this article are Metin Argan a research assistant and Muge Akyildiz an associate professor. This article has a narrower scope of study than the first one because it focuses on students’ usage of the social-networking website. The authors of this article focus their attention on the social versus educational aspects of social networking. Consequently, the article’s research sets out to establish how Facebook affects the students’ educational and social time commitments. According to the authors of this article, over ninety percent of the sampled students have a Facebook account. Furthermore, all the interviewed students confessed to using Facebook a few times a day irrespective of their schedules. Social versus educational Facebook usage is the core element of study in this article. According to the authors, the educational usage of Facebook is limited when it is compared with other purposes such as socializing and having fun. The authors conclude that students do not mainly use Facebook for educational purposes. Nevertheless, the researchers suggest that future studies on the subject should focus on other education-related demographics.
Both studies propose simple hypotheses that focus on basic aspects of education. E-learning is a new and spreading phenomenon and it deserves additional investigation. For instance, e-learning is fast becoming a normal part of the learning process. The hypothesis that is forwarded by Singh in his article proposes the need to investigate if this mode of education offers any viable satisfaction to the learners. The author strives to prove this hypothesis throughout the paper. Nevertheless, the author assumes a very narrow path when seeking to prove the article’s hypothesis. For instance, the article does not expound on the expected goals when it comes to end-user satisfaction. Article number two prompts another simple hypothesis about how Facebook can be used by students for various purposes. Although this is a simple hypothesis, it is accurate. The hypothesis of the second article aligns with other types of hypotheses that have been used to study the rising usage of social media networks. The hypothesis of this article is that social media can be used for various purposes. The author is also able to use complex research methods to prove this hypothesis.
The first article lists twelve points and then forms a scale to gauge their suitability. In addition, the authors use Likert’s five-point style of analysis to test the variables of their research. The five-point scale is quite adequate for this research study because it is backed up by another three-point confirmation method. In the three-point confirmation method, the elements of perception, inference, and objective were used to add validity to the author’s five-point scale. Combining a new form of measurement with an existing model makes the author’s method of measurement suitable. In the second article, the authors combine several methods of measurement to come up with a viable way of testing the research variables. This mode of measurement is not suitable because it does not align with the simple nature of the detailed study. The authors’ method of testing variables is undermined by the fact that the study is simplistic in nature and the data that is to be collected is readily available within the University of Turkey. The study loses the element of ‘suitability’ when it encompasses complex methods of measurement. It would have been prudent for the authors to maintain the narrow but accurate methods of testing the variables.
The research types of both studies are only suitable to some extent. In the first article, the author chose to use the quantitative method of research to examine how various online students rated their e-learning experiences. This research method aligns with the needs of the author’s hypothesis. However, the author’s subsequent implementation of this research method lacks consistency. For example, the author only presents two tables to describe research findings. Furthermore, the presented levels of statistical analysis are not sufficient. In the second article, the authors use a similar quantitative method of research. However, in the second article, the authors are able to evaluate the available statistics from all possible angles. This research element adds validity to the article’s hypothesis and its subsequent discussion. The only element of research that is not adequately covered by the article is the study’s counter hypothesis. For instance, the research statistics do not investigate what individuals who do not subscribe to Facebook prefer to use. The use of adequate statistics provides readers with additional insight into the subject.
The success of the research that is provided by both articles depends on the authors’ sampling methods. In the first article, the researchers target sample size of over two hundred and fifty students. However, the researchers only managed to acquire responses from about one hundred and four students. A success rate of below fifty percent during sampling indicates that the author could have used a more accurate method. For instance, the author could have used the administrators of online-based institutions to obtain a sample of better quality. In the second article, the sampling method is aimed at a general population of students. In this study, there are no pre-qualifiers for the sample. In addition, the sample size is quite large and this eliminates the possibility of big error margins that are associated with small sample sizes.
Conclusion
Both articles employ the questionnaire method of collecting data in their research. Nevertheless, the questionnaire method works better in the second article because the authors are able to back-up the findings of their study with a good statistical analysis. The findings and subsequent discussion in the second article are also aided by the use of questionnaires in the research. In the first article, the use of questionnaires is obscured by poor sampling methods and a lackluster statistical analysis.