A Study of Association Between Students’ Behavioral Parameters and the Rate of the Effectiveness of Facebook Virtual Social Network: A Case Study About Girls’ Secondary Education at Nonprofit Schools

The purpose of this research is studying the effects of virtual social networks on students’ various dimensions and behavioral parameters. The research is of a descriptive-survey kind and the statistical society is composed of the whole 1500 girl students of non-profit secondary schools of Gorgan Province in 2011-2012 academic years. The sample volume was calculated 306 people according to Krejcie & Morgan table and a simple sampling method was used to choose the statistical samples. Although some samples denied answering and some did not have Facebook membership, finally there were 148 participants. Data-collection tool is questionnaires which have been developed based on Likert scales. Imagery and content suitability of questionnaires was studied and finally confirmed by some educational experts. The calculated Cronbachʹs alpha was 0.753. Also, Pearson Correlation Coefficient test was used for analyzing and studding the research hypotheses. The initial results showed that 48 percent (148 of 306) of students had been Facebook’s members. Other results also revealed that finding friend variable have the highest rate (0.682) of correlation with Facebook effects. The next variable is spending time (0.384). But according to research data, no significant correlation was observed about sharing variable (0.093).