Elon faculty, students played role in new Pew Internet report

A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on Internet use by teenagers includes data from focus groups at Elon University. The Elon work was coordinated by School of Communications faculty members Kelli Burns and Janna Quitney Anderson. Details...

Amanda Lenhart, one of the three authors of the Pew study, came to Elon in summer 2004 to conduct the focus groups, which helped establish the issues the survey addressed. Among the teens participating were the children of several faculty members. School of Communications faculty member Burns and student Lindsay Porter ’05 assisted with the focus-group work at Elon. (Click here to read the Associated Press story.)

Two focus groups were conducted at Elon with high school and middle school students. Burns moderated the groups. Participants were audio or video taped and a short online survey was administered to each student prior to the session.

Additional focus groups were conducted at other locations in the United States. Ages ranged from 11 to 17; 66% of the participants were boys and 34% were girls.

This project continues Elon’s partnership with the Pew Internet & American Life Project. A major study about the future of the Internet conducted by the School of Communications and Pew can be found at: http://www.elon.edu/predictions.

Click on the link below to download a copy of the Pew study related to use of the Internet by teenagers: