Virtually Collecting Data
As the future of the online work force affects people all around the world, I decided to obtain as much data as I could online via social media. I have used online surveys for countless research assignments, but this one was different. Even before deciding on a media platform, I had to create the survey to its optimal length. In other words, it could not be too short or else I would not get adequate research information, but not too long such that people would lose interest in sacrificing their time.
I purposely only used one social media platform to see how much coverage I could do with one application.
Even though I am active on most social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn, I decided to contain my scope to Instagram. I have the most connections on this platform (1,131) and my viewers are mostly college students or young professionals, narrowing down my results to the suitable demographic. I posted the link to my Google Form on my biography page and proceeded with posting one “Instagram Story” explaining the reason for the study.
Fortunately, the form received substantial results. Since Instagram Stories only last for 24 hours, my post automatically disappeared, and I obtained a total of 56 survey responses. A couple of my friends, who are all in college, also offered to share the link to their friend groups. This shows how people genuinely want to help others succeed even in a virtual setting. Moreover, I inputted an optional question for comments. Despite that it was not a required question, 13 out of the 56 participants actually typed down general feedback, either to support me in my study or to summarize their stance on remote working/learning.
Now for the center of attention; The results.
One of the questions I asked was,” On a scale of 1–10, how would you rate your online experience?” While most of the scores ranged from a 3 to an 8, 30% of people responded with a score of 7. This implies that the current online situation has generally been comfortable. Although there are a lot of glitches to improve on, people are at least open to the idea of virtual work. Moreover, around 85% of responses only started using online meeting platforms during the pandemic. This suggests that the majority of them had roughly the same duration to switch to a remote working environment.
Another interesting outcome was the overall negative reactions to the question,” How would you react if the workplace setting becomes fully online in the future?”. I received outputs like,” Productivity would definitely decrease,” and “Despair. Utter despair,”. It expresses how the young generation is not mentally ready for that new normal lifestyle of staying home. Fortunately, a handful of responses suggested a half live half home working environment could be negotiated. As comfortable as it is staying home, most participants missed the legitimate connection between peers. It shows how online communication cannot completely make up for the physical distance.
Overall, the primary data has shed new light to the topic at steak. Firstly, people are receptive towards a completely technological world. Secondly, the work from home initiative has provided the economy with a new work lifestyle which could be integrated with the traditional office hours. The current undergraduate population, and soon to be the next wave of the labor force, are hesitant but accepting to the online work place.
