Analysis of the effects of Digital media to Youths with regards to information credibility and

quality

Background

A larger number of young adults and teens utilize the internet to search for information.

The implications of this particular practice are very profound, and the expanding research about

this particular issue have gone interdisciplinary to gain a deep insight how growing up of digital

is wired for distraction. Most research focused on finding the data regarding risk categories as

well as the related economic, legal, and social practices availing it and utilized to inform policy-

making and public debate. The issue of information quality among the youth and the digital

media context is yet to be explored. This particular research, therefore, is motivated by the

observation which reveals that the internet has resulted in various structural changes within the

information environment and hence affecting the quality of information. The research, therefore,

will provide the conceptual framework aimed at informing future research initiatives relates to

this topic as well as serving as the platform for exploring the slowly emerging policy debates.

Literature from diverse disciplines will also be presented to show the relationship between digital

media, youths and the information quality, especially in the education sector.

Purpose

The principal objective of the research will be to establish the point of intersection among the

digital media, information quality, and the youths. Therefore, the study will seek to incorporate

all digital media.

Research questions

The following research questions will guide the study:

I. Do the youths prefer to use social media as the means of communication to the traditional

methods?
II. What are the significant risks associated with the utilization of social media among the

youths?

III. What are the effects of digital media on the reading behavior?
IV. How do digital youths utilize the internet in their daily lives?

Scope

The research will examine specifically the relationship between youth, digital media, and

the information quality. It will only be limited to digital media and exclude the studies

concerning non-web based electronic media because the primary focus is not the digital

interfaces themselves but our interest incorporates the ecological changes as well which comes

from the possibilities of the networked communications. The research will primarily be based on

the works from three key fields including education, library and information science, and

sociology. The data included in the study will mainly be focused on the US. Finally, the research

will provide the illustration of the state of the research concerning the research aims outlined

above rather than just interrogating the individual studies. With regards to this, there will be less

illustration of the issues related to methodology.

Theoretical framework

The research will make use of the gratification theory. This approach will provide an

understanding of how and why different people actively seek out particular media to gain the
satisfaction of their specific needs. The leading question for using the gratification theory is: why

do individuals make use of media and what are the reasons for using it? The method illustrates

how users deliberately pick media to satisfy particular needs and permit enhancement of the

knowledge, social interactions, relaxation, diversion and escape among others.

Methodology

The descriptive survey methodology will be employed in to produce data which is contextual,

holistic, and descriptive in depth and very detailed. The adoption this particular research

methodology will permit the researcher to obtain data directly from the digital youths in their

natural environment to facilitate studying of their attitudes, comments, and views regarding their

day to day utilization of digital media. This will vanish the researcher with an opportunity to

explore different phenomena through the eyes of their audience in appropriate digital media

contexts via in-depth questions. This particular research is explorative. Its nature, therefore,

demands that the knowledge, understandings, interpretations, views, interactions, and

experiences are all taken into consideration. These aspects are important in developing the

situational knowledge of the effects of digital media to youths with regards to quality and

credibility of information.

Timetable

The research will take approximately five weeks after the approval of the proposal. The

following is the sketch schedule for the project:

Week 1: Complete the literature review

Week 2: Complete the data collections

Week 3: Complete the analysis of the findings

Week 4: give the presentation pf the report

Week 5: compile the final report taking into consideration the instructors comments.

Limitations of the study

The study will be limited youths who make use of the digital media in their day to day activities.

It will only focus on the aspects that are purely academic because the findings expected here are

meant to investigate how the digital media affects information quality and credibility.

Discussion

This section of the research will present the kinds of digital media that are frequently used by the

youths and the purpose they serve as well as their implication in the behavior of youths. It will

clear depict how digital media and the credibility and quality of information interrelate.