Why Student Athletes Use Twitter

Understanding qualitative data is an important step in becoming a competent researcher. One such article that many college students study describes how student-athletes use Twitter and how they react to judgmental tweets. Through examining the population and purpose of this study, research questions, findings, and limitations and implications of this study, students can become competent researchers and learn why student-athletes use Twitter and how they react to controversial tweets.
Population and Purpose of the Study The population and purpose of the study is unique. The study used 20 student-athletes at a midsize private University in the southern region of the U.S. (Browning & Sanderson, 2012). In total, there were 17 males and 3 females who were interviewed in a semistructured manner. Out of 17 males, 10 were football players, 5 were basketball players, and 2 were baseball players. All 3 females were basketball players. The purpose sought to discover why student-athletes use Twitter and how they handle and react to judgmental commentary they receive from others. Another possible purpose is to help student-athletes understand …show more content…
One limitation of the research is that the sample population was student-athletes from only one university. Future research should focus on other Division I universities and other levels of competitions. Another limitation is that the information found in this study is cross-sectional, meaning that it pertains to one point in time. Future research should take a longitudinal view to understand how student-athletes use of Twitter changes over time. Another limitation is that the participants were mainly males. For future research, it is suggested that more females or even a larger diversity of sports are represented in the research. One other future implication of this study is to analyze how student-athletes influence one another to use Twitter or other social media